NHL: Stanley Cup Value Picks

Tomorrow the puck officials drops on the 2016-2017 season.  Yesterday we talked about the upcoming New York Rangers season, we are big time homers at AVS but we didn’t want to leave out the rest of the league.  Here are a few Stanley Cup value picks we like going into the year, not saying we are playing all of these but they caught my eye.  Lines are from my current book as of tonight.

East 
Rangers +1800

photoWell duh! Of course we like the Rangers at 18/1, as we mentioned yesterday there are several holes the Rangers need to fill but we have to take them.  Won’t go into too much detail here but if you make the playoffs and have a HoF goalie anything can happen.  Rangers will make the playoffs and Hank is still freakish handsome.

Tampa Bay Lightning +700

Not much a sleeper pick here as Tampa is tied with Washington for the second best odds to win (behind the Blackhawks at +450 ewww).  But I can’t write an NHL article without talking about the Lightning, they should feast on the East all year and cruise to home ice in playoffs.  They have come up just short the past two years and big money chips in the ’17 basket.  Stamkos stayed this offseason and they just locked up Kucherov so this could be the beginning of a dynasty in the East.  Bishop in net for now but last year we saw that Vasilevskiy is very capable under pressure.  7/1 isn’t great but they are too good to not throw something on them. Don’t hate the over 105.5 points but would love it a few points lower.  During the season we will be on the boys in Tampa a lot.

West
Dallas Stars +900

As the Lightning will be our betting team in the East, the Stars will definitely be our West team.  This team should score at will every game.  Jamie Benn has a chance to win the scoring title and Tyler Sequin continues to make Bruin fans regret that trade every day.  Veterans like Sharp and Spezza can help this team finally make the deep run they are built for.  If you dig real deep into the AVS archive you will see we have been fans of the Stars for years now but this is the year… maybe

Nashville Predators +1400

The Predators are one of several teams that haven’t been able to break through that ceiling in the West and figure it all out in the playoffs.  But that doesn’t mean they aren’t a solid value.  Nashville made biggest trade of the offseason acquiring PK Subban.  PK took over the league a few years ago but he defensive struggles stopped his talk about the best D man in the NHL. The offense will definitely be there though and thats what Nashville needs.  If Pekka Rinne stays healthy the Predators will have a shot, 14/1 I like it.p-k-subban

Canadian Long Shot Eh?

No playoff teams from Canada at all last year, first time in 46 years.  I am all American, all the time but the NHL Playoffs should have at least 2 teams from Canada.  The atmosphere is pure electric so here are our two long shot north of the boarder.

Winnipeg Jets +4000 – You want to talk about electric take a look at the below video of the first playoff goal for the Jets after they returned hockey to Winnipeg.  The Jets are young and hungry.  Look for them to make the playoffs and for 2nd overall pick Patrick Laine to jump right in and win rookie of the year.

Edmonton Oilers +2400 – Edmonton has really been in the gutter the past few years and have traded away former top picks and were happy to receive not much in return.  I guess their hope was to rid themselves of the bad years but they are officially ready to turn is around.  Conor McDavid is must watch hockey and was named the youngest captain in NHL history recently.  The Oilers singed veteran Lucic and need to show their fans they aren’t the Sixers of the NHL, a playoff appearance might be necessary this year and McDavid can lead them there.  They won’t win the Cup but they are getting ready to soon.

Drop the puck boys!!


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