The puck has dropped on the 2014-15 NHL season and the “D” word is being whispered in arenas around the league – “dynasty.” The Los Angeles Kings are seeking their third National Hockey League championship in the last four years and are bidding to become the first back-to-back winner of Lord Stanley’s Cup since the Detroit Red Wings, and that happened in the last century. The Kings’ dominance began in 2012 with a magical run as the only conference eighth seed to advance through the playoffs to capture the Stanley Cup. The Rink Royalty have lost no impact players from their 2014 Cup-winning roster and looked primed for a title defense.
Before that comes to pass the Chicago Blackhawks are certain to wave their sticks in disagreement. Were it not for the Kings coming back three times and scoring a game-winning overtime goal in Game Seven of last year’s Conference Finals the Hawks would be stalking their third straight Stanley Cup this year. Chicago possesses more firepower and has beefed up its depth on the second line for the current campaign. Oddsmakers are clearly paying attention to the “hunger factor” lingering in the Windy City after last year’s near miss and「Sportingbet」installed the Blackhawks as pre-season favorites to capture this year’s cup at 7.50.
Los Angeles and the Boston Bruins, who dominated the East last season before being rudely and unexpectedly dismissed from the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, were each given pre-season odds of 9.00. Also receiving respect in the betting shops were the Anaheim Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins and St. Louis Blues. Anaheim (12.00), St. Louis (12.00) and Pittsburgh (11.00) are all contenders for this season’s Stanley Cup but also favorites to take home the season-ending Presidents’ Trophy for most points by a team.
【2014-15 NHL Season Stanley Cup Winner Odds】
What about teams for longshot players? Nine teams racked up more points than either of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finalists during last year’s regular season.
【2013-14 NHL Season Standings】
※ Credit:「nhl.com」
So there are NHL value plays lurking down the tables. One team drawing attention is the Tampa Bay Lightning at odds of 17.00. The Lightning lost to the eventual Cup winner Bruins in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals and have been chasing their Beantown rivals ever since. With experience catching up to their youth and speed Tampa Bay is poised to make the ultimate leap this season and bring the cup back to the Florida Gulf Coast where it last resided in 2004. Oddsmakers are predicting a 2015 Stanley Cup between Chicago and Boston in a rematch of the 2013 Cup Finals.
【2014-15 NHL Season Western Conference Winner Odds】
One team history does not favor in 2014-15 is the New York Rangers, last year’s runner-up. Only once since the National Hockey League expanded beyond six teams in 1967 has the loser of the previous year’s Finals come back to win the Stanley Cup the following season. It does not bolster their chances that puck-moving defenseman Anton Strålman, who was given much of the credit for the New Yorkers’ surprising playoff run, has himself moved on – to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Oddsmakers of「Sportingbet」have taken note – the Broadway Blueshirts skated into the season at 17.00 to take the Stanley Cup back to the Big Apple.
A darling of prognosticators this off-season was the Dallas Stars who nosed into the playoffs for the 2014 Cup as the eighth seed in the West after a six-year absence. Young and aggressive, the Stars have acquired the label around the league as “the team you don’t want to face in the playoffs.” Odds dropped on the Stars from 34.00 to as low as 21.00 at one point over the summer only to come back to 29.00 in time for the beginning of the season.
Futures odds on the Stanley Cup fluctuate during the season and after almost one month’s play all the favorites appear to have gotten off the gate well, with perhaps Anaheim showing the friskiest early speed. Montreal has won seven of its first eight games and the Habs have announced themselves as a Stanley Cup contender, moving from 19.00 to 11.00 in some shops while「Sportingbet」has them at 15.00. Holders of pre-season futures tickets on the Nashville Predators at 51.00 can continue to dream as the Preds, winner of only one playoff series in franchise history, have broken on top in the Central Division of the Western Conference.
Betting on individual futures performance in hockey is always spirited and the 2014-15 season serves up the usual suspects. Penguins superstar center Sidney Crosby (3.00) is the favorite to win his second consecutive Hart Memorial Trophy – and third overall – as most valuable player. Twenty-four year old Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos (5.00) and three-time Hart winner Alex Ovechkin (7.00) firing from the left wing for the Washington Capitals have also drawn attention from the oddsmakers. The same trio also have short odds for the Maurice Richard Trophy for most goals in the season and the Art Ross Trophy for most points.
On the darker – yet popular side – are the odds placed on “the first coach to be fired” in every NHL season. The frontrunner to be gone from behind the bench for 2014-15 is Randy Carlyle (3.50) of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The homeboy from Azilda was drafted by the Leafs as a defenseman in 1976 and played 17 years in the National Hockey League. After moving into coaching he won a Stanley Cup with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2007. Hired by Toronto in 2012 his tenure began well but a 2-12 collapse to finish last season to miss the playoffs and a contrasting style with new-thinking management has rendered the old-style coach’s future tenuous at best.
Bringing it all home
Two teams standing on the brink of a dynasty lead the contenders for the 2015 Stanley Cup. If pre-season favorite Chicago wins it will be their third Cup in six years; if the defending champion Los Angeles Kings carry home the Cup it will be their third title in four tries. But, as past seasons have consistently shown, in the National Hockey League when 16 teams make the playoffs one is always waiting to jump up and surprise. Who will it be this year?
