Trent Reinsmith
The Tampa Bay Lightning, winner of the past two Stanley Cups, had the best odds of any Eastern Conference team to win the 2022 Stanley Cup. The Western Conference — and overall — favorite was the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado remains at the top of the board after a month of play. Meanwhile, the Lightning have tumbled down the rankings.
Several teams who seemed like longshots before the start of the 2021-22 NHL season have made big jumps in the odds. Those teams include the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, and Edmonton Oilers.
Let’s look at the odds for all 32 NHL teams to win the 2022 Stanley Cup.
Be sure as well to check out resources on hockey betting sites and tips and our guide to betting n the Stanley Cup.
2022 Stanley Cup Odds
Hot Hot Hot
The three hottest teams in the NHL at the start of the current season are the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers. None of those three clubs opened the season as a top-five pick to win the Stanley Cup. Today, they have all moved to the top four picks to win the NHL championship trophy in 2022. The only team with better odds than those three teams are the Colorado Avalanche, who are not as strong a favorite as they were at the start of the season.
Florida opened the season on a 10-2-2 run and has improved from +1800 to +950. Carolina, with a record of 10-1 moved from +2200 to +900 and the Oilers, who are 10-2 improved their odds from +2500 to +1000. Florida has never won a Stanley Cup, Carolina has one title to its name (2005-06) and the Oilers have not hoisted the Cup since 1989-90.
With just five regulation losses between them, these three teams will be hard-pressed to sustain the trajectory they are on, but they have built up some strong momentum and deserve to be seriously considered contenders for the 2022 Stanley Cup.
Cooling
Despite a 5-5-1 start, the Colorado Avalanche are still the front runners to win the 2022 Stanley Cup. The club opened the season at +500 and have dropped to +675. One reason the Avalanche have not tumbled down the rankings is the fact that the team has been hit hard by injuries in the early going of the season. If the team gets healthy and continues to struggle, don’t be surprised if they plummet.
Tampa Bay is 6-3-3 to open the 2021-22 campaign. That start has seen the team go from +650 to +1100. Like Colorado, the Lightning has been hit with injuries, none bigger than the loss of Nikita Kucherov, who is expected to be out of the lineup until mid-December.
The Dallas Stars have dropped pretty far down the rankings from the start of the season. Dallas was listed at +1800 in October. Today, the Stars are +4000. The team started the season with a 4-6-2 record. The Stars struggled in late October and into November with just one win in seven games. If there is something positive to take out of that stretch, it’s that two of those losses were in overtime.
On the Lookout
The Calgary Flames are a team to keep an eye on. The Flames opened the season at +5000 and have moved up to +2800. Calgary is 7-3-3 in the early stages of the 2021-22 season, and the play of Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau has the Flames on the move.
Pick
My early pick was the Lightning to beat the Avalanche in the Cup finals. I’m sticking with that pick for now, but if both teams continue on the path they are on — injuries or no injuries — my confidence in Colorado and Tampa Bay will likely wain.
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