The first round of the NHL playoffs concluded last night with three Game 7s. Before we dive into what’s ahead and look at the NHL Division Finals betting odds, I need to open by expressing my condolences to the fans of the San Jose Sharks.
March Madness might be over, with UConn winning the 2014 NCAA Tournament, but Spring Madness is about to begin. The NHL playoffs are every bit as unpredictable as the NCAA Tournament is, and in the case of hockey, the Madness goes all the way into June. The NHL playoffs begin on Wednesday night, so let’s set the tone with a look at the Stanley Cup betting odds.
The race for the Stanley Cup has seen four favorites emerge on the betting lines (Chicago, St. Louis, Anaheim & Pittsburgh), along with two solid challengers (Boston & San Jose). The Los Angeles Kings deserve a high level respect as a recent champion (2012) with a top-flight goalie in Jonathan Quick. But the NHL is nothing if not chaotic—the playoffs are a best-of-seven version of March Madness really—so let’s also take a brief look at seven viable Stanley Cup longshots…
The NHL has been off since February 9, as its players compete in Sochi on various Olympic teams around the world. The league will resume play on Tuesday, February 25. TheSportsNotebook is going to be running a series of articles between now and then to get us ready for the final portion of the regular season, leading into the playoffs in April. We’ll start here with a review of the Stanley Cup betting odds…
The NHL season hits what I would consider its first real breakpoint of the regular season, and that’s New Year’s Day. The league’s new tradition of the Winter Classic will feature the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs playing outdoors at the University of Michigan football stadium on January 1, and its good a vantage point as any to see how the new season is shaping up.
The NHL season begins tonight. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that TheSportsNotebook was writing post-mortems on the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals, as Chicago beat Boston in a thrilling Game 6. Now we’re back for more, and in an new era for the NHL.