We look at next year's betting odds for teams to win the Confrence Finals with one to bet on and one you should avoid.
The next NHL season is months away and with free agency opening on Monday, we look to take advantage of the new odds posted for next season, that could be changed over the next few days. We've looked over the available odds listed as of today and pulled a team with odds that are likely to drop and should be taken as well as a team that should be avoided as of right now.
All betting lines are from Bet365 and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
Bet: Tampa Bay Lightning to win Eastern Conference (+1500)
Tampa Bay is making serious changes as they moved on from Tanner Jeannot and longtime Bolt Mikhail Sergachev, which cleared up roughly $11.15 million on the cap. It's also appearing likely that longtime captain Steven Stamkos may not return to the team after GM Julien BriseBois said that he doesn't expect the two parties to reach an agreement.
This leaves the Lightning with $16.5 million in projected cap space and has allowed them to become interested in some high-profile like the recently-acquired Jake Guentzel and possibly 57-goal scorer Sam Reinhart.
They can also go out and find replacements for Sergachev in unrestricted free agents Shayne Gostisbehere, Brady Skjei and Brandon Montour. Tampa Bay is a free agent hot spot as the state of Florida has no state income tax and leads to many players moving to teams in states that have the same conditions, so they can keep more money as well as nice weather all year round. They should get more free agent adds along with Guentzel and propel themselves to higher odds by the end of next week.
Avoid: Golden Knights to win Western Conference (+800)
This one will be a popular pick for a rebound but we advise you to look away as it may be another down year for Vegas. After blowing a 2-0 series lead to Dallas in the first round, the Golden Knights will now look to return to the postseason with just under two million in cap space and will likely lose key players in Chandler Stephenson, Anthony Mantha, William Carrier and original misfit Jonathan Marchessault.
They should look very different next season as they won't have their signature depth that always helped them stay competitive. They will have a significantly weaker bottom-six and likely won't see any more notable additions to it due to their cap crunch.
Their depth in net with Adin Hill and Robin Lehner coming back will keep them good enough to stay in the conversation but will be challenging making it past deeper teams like the Oilers, Avalanche and Stars.
The other teams around the Golden Knights will likely add bigger name free agents and make them more interesting bets, which means even if you do have faith in Vegas finding a way, you can likely wait and get better odds in a few days.