NHL Hockey Bets: Best Stanley Cup Final Futures To Place Now

The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been as good as advertised. Now, after several weeks of nonstop excitement, just three teams are left standing in the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers are in the midst of a thrilling Eastern Conference Final that’s all tied up at two games a piece. The winner of that series will face the Colorado Avalanche, who swept the Edmonton Oilers in the West Final. But that doesn’t mean it’s too early to start thinking up Stanley Cup betting.

There are two main bets for the Stanley Cup Final: the overall winner and the Conn Smythe. Both bets have options that provide significant value, particularly for the Conn Smythe.

Should you want to make some pre-Cup bets now, here are two of the best possible options that have legitimate shots of cashing while also providing tremendous value.

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New York Rangers to Win Stanley Cup (+650)

The Rangers are two wins away from the Stanley Cup. They’re also just two losses away from their season coming to an end. But that doesn’t mean the Blue Shirts should be overlooked when it comes to betting a winner of the Stanley Cup Final.

New York’s Cup odds are +650, easily the third lowest out of the three teams remaining. Not only that, but the discrepancy between them and the Lightning (+300) is massive. And the difference between them and the Avalanche (-213) is massive. Simply put, there’s too much value to pass up.

The Rangers may be in a best-of-three series at this point, but those of those games are at home. Should they advance past Tampa, they’ll face a loaded Avalanche club that has a couple of serious injuries that leave them shorthanded. Finally, Igor Shesterkin is one of the league’s best goaltenders who’s capable of shutting anyone down.

New York has just as much talent as Colorado or Tampa Bay, with an elite goalie to boot. Based on the odds, the Rangers easily have the best value to win the Cup.

Steven Stamkos to Win Conn Smythe (+2300)

Should the Lightning advance to their third straight Stanley Cup Final, there will be several players in Conn Smythe contention for the back-to-back champs. But Stamkos easily provides the most value among them.

Stamkos has only had seven goals and six assists this postseason, so it’s not as if he’s stringing together a Connor McDavid-like playoff run. But the 32-year-old is clearly heating up as the Eastern Conference Finals move along, registering a goal in three out of four games against New York.

This recent stretch is far more reminiscent of his regular-season numbers. This season, Stamkos scored 42 goals and registered a career-best 106 points, proving to the world that he’s still increasingly capable of putting on a scoring clinic.

Tampa Bay has already had goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and defenseman Victor Hedman secure Conn Smythe honors over the last two seasons. Perhaps this time around will be Stamkos’ time to shine.