After rolling over their competition en route to a Stanley Cup championship last year, the Chicago Blackhawks will enter their season-opening game against at home against the Washington Capitals as the favorites on the updated NHL futures.
NHL odds: Blackhawks favored to repeat as Stanley Cup champions
Hockey is back! Not big news to many bettors, but NHL odds are big news to others. The defending champs are favored to win the Cup again and favored Tuesday.
Rob Carr
The sportsbooks have Chicago pegged as the 6-to-1 favorites on the odds to win the Stanley Cup once again this season. They were expected to open as -160 favorites in their Tuesday opener, according to OddsShark.com. Two other games highlight the first night of the NHL betting season -- Montreal vs. Toronto and Winnipeg vs. Edmonton.
Chicago dispatched the Boston Bruins in six games in last year's Stanley Cup final. That came after Boston swept Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in just four games in the Eastern final.
Pittsburgh and Boston are second and third on the Stanley Cup odds at the sportsbooks heading into the season, with the Penguins at 15-to-2 and the Bruins at 10-to-1 on that list. Pittsburgh and Boston will both get their NHL betting campaigns underway on Thursday night. The Bruins host Tampa Bay and the Penguins get a visit from a Devils team that saw winger Ilya Kovalchuk defect to the KHL in the summer.
The Los Angeles Kings (12/1) and St. Louis Blues (14/1) round out the top five teams on the odds to win the Stanley Cup heading into the season while the Vancouver Canucks and the Detroit Red Wings both sit with 16/1 odds.
Detroit lost in seven games to Chicago in the second round of the playoffs last season, but they won't meet again in the playoffs this year unless it's in the Cup final -- league realignment has seen both the Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets get shifted over to the East.
The San Jose Sharks join the Toronto Maple Leafs at 18/1 on the Stanley Cup odds right now. The Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, and Ottawa Senators all at 20/1, and the Philadelphia Flyers set at 22/1.
The Capitals round out the top half of the Stanley Cup odds at 25/1 to win the championship this season. Alex Ovechkin is coming off a Hart Trophy campaign, but his team lost in seven games against the Rangers in the first round last spring.
See NHL odds daily here at SB Nation.
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