With the start of the 2016 NHL playoff set to get underway in just over 24 hours, let’s take a look at the top betting favorites to win the 2016 Stanley Cup championship hardware this postseason.
Favorite NHL Betting Picks to Win the 2016 Stanley Cup
Team Odds
*Washington Capitals 7/2*Chicago Blackhawks 13/2*Pittsburgh Penguins 15/2*Anaheim Ducks 8/1*Dallas Stars 8/1*Los Angeles Kings 8/1The Washington Capitals won just four of their final 10 regular season games, but they had nothing to play for. Still, they’re the odds-on-favorites to win it all and I say they should be!The defending-champion Chicago Blackhawks are the second favorite on the board, but I just don’t see them winning the Western Conference title this season. Still, they’re very legitimate contenders as long as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are suiting up for them.The Pittsburgh Penguins caught fire at the end of the season and now have the look of a team on a mission. Sidney Crosby and company won eight in a row and 14 of 15 before resting Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang in their regular-season finale.”To be honest, it doesn’t mean we’ve played great every game but we’ve found ways,” Crosby said. ”I think the main constant is just we’ve given ourselves a chance with the way we work every night and we play as a team. That’s the biggest thing is nobody’s been taking any nights off.””It’s pretty crazy to see how things are changing and how a team jumps from out of the playoffs right into their own division past the wild card,” Penguins forward Eric Fehr said.The Anaheim Ducks are more of a contender than anything to me despite advancing one round further in each of the last three postseasons. The Ducks keep advancing, only to lose Game 7 at home. The good news is that this season, they also became the first team to lead the NHL in both power play and penalty kill since the 1984-85 Islanders.The Dallas Stars clinched both the Central Division crown and the top seed in the Western Conference and look like they could very well dethrone Chicago as the Western Conference champs at the very least, making them a great bet at +800. Make no mistake about it, the duo of forwards Jamie Benn & Tyler Seguin combined for 74 goals and 87 assists during the season and are as good as any pair in the league today.No one is really talking about the Los Angeles Kings it seems, but I believe they’re legitimate contenders for one huge reason – their stellar third-ranked defense! Let anyone forget, goalie Jonathan Quick is as elite as they come as if his .918 goals against average doesn’t say so.
