How to bet the Rangers, Oilers in futures market

The NHL playoffs are down to just eight teams. By the end of the night on Monday, it could be seven if the Tampa Bay Lightning complete the sweep of the Florida Panthers. The other three series currently have 2-1 scores, with the Carolina Hurricanes, Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche holding advantages.

The Colorado Avalanche are the current favorites to win the Stanley Cup at +155. The Tampa Bay Lightning are -110 to come out of the East, making them the favorites to represent the conference in the Stanley Cup Final. While those teams are favorites for good reason, it’s hockey and anything can happen in the playoffs. Betting Stanley Cup futures can be fun and profitable, but there’s two teams you absolutely should not bet on in that market, and it might not be for the reason you expect.

Correlation to the Conn Smythe winner

Hockey is the ultimate team sport. You likely can’t win in the playoffs in this league without elite talent, good goaltending and depth throughout your lineup. The best teams are the teams that can beat you with any number of players or any style of play.

Take for example the Colorado Avalanche, who are +155 favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Currently, they have five players with odds of 20-to-1 or better to win the Conn Smythe, which is given to the playoff MVP. Nathan MacKinnon is their star forward and he’s +600. Cale Makar, arguably the best defenseman in the sport, is also +600. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is 16-to-1. Captain Gabriel Landeskog is 16-to-1, while Mikko Rantanen, their top point producer from the regular season is 20-to-1.

Any one of these players could win the Conn Smythe and it wouldn’t be overly surprising. You can even throw names like Nazem Kadri (66-to-1) or Devon Toews into the mix. They have many players who can impact a game, and that’s a large part of the reason they’re favorites to win it all.

The same thing applies to Tampa Bay. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (+950), defenseman Victor Hedman (12-to-1), and forwards…