The Washington Capitals haven’t even been Stanley Cup champions for 24 hours yet but Las Vegas oddsmakers have already started thinking about next season.
On Friday, Bovada released its first list of each team’s odds to win the Stanley Cup next season and the top five includes two Canadian franchises.
Topping the list for next season as of right now are the Tampa Bay Lightning with 9-1 odds (up from 20-1 the previous season), but the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets are right on their tail with 10-1 odds. While it’s a little shocking that they placed the Golden Knights so high up on the list, it’s even more shocking that they didn’t include the current Stanley Cup champions on there.
Here’s the list in its entirety.
The next closest Canadian franchise to the top five after the Leafs and the Jets are the Edmonton Oilers with 18-1 odds, followed by the Calgary Flames at 28-1 odds, the Montreal Canadiens at 50-1 odds, the Vancouver Canucks at 80-1 odds, and the Ottawa Senators at the very bottom of the list with 100-1 odds.
To be fair, the oddsmakers are probably expecting the Capitals to lose some major pieces in the offseason with John Carlson heading to free agency and Tom Wilson, Devante Smith-Pelly and Philipp Grubauer all being restricted free agents. But these odds don’t mean anything considering the Caps were given 10-1 odds heading into this past season, tied with the Edmonton Oilers for second best odds.
(H/T nhlonnbasports via Bovada)
