Despite the NHL regular season just wrapping up, it’s really never too early to start thinking about the playoffs and who might win it all. All the teams who have advanced will be hungry to try and win the Stanley Cup, which is without question one of the highest honors in all of sports. Who’s the top contender to take home the cup? In this article, we have our NHL Postseason futures picks.
Thanks to how great they’ve looked throughout the campaign, Colorado is the favorite to win the Stanley Cup. This should come as no surprise. As of this writing, the Avalanche hold an impressive 72 points, only behind Vegas’ 76 at the top of the Honda West standings. Their goal difference of +51 is enough to turn plenty of heads out there. Seriously, this team is absolutely stacked.
As things stand, the Avalanche hold +380 NHL odds, which is No. 1 out there according to the Las Vegas sportsbooks. The team is led in scoring by Nathan MacKinnon, and he’s also getting plenty of help from Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, Andre Burakovsky and many others. With Colorado playing at such a high level, it really has their fans dreaming of another Stanley Cup.
| Stanley Cup odds |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | +380 | +380 | +380 | +380 |
| Vegas | +400 | +400 | +400 | +400 |
| Tampa Bay | +750 | +750 | +750 | +750 |
| Toronto | +750 | +750 | +750 | +750 |
Other teams in contention for the Stanley Cup title include the Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and others. Once the postseason is in full swing, it really feels like it’s going to be a wide open field. Any team can beat the other on any given night, which makes the sport so exciting.
With Colorado’s +380 odds, they sure feel like a tantalizing selection to go on to win it all. However, as tough as this may be, we’re actually not going to go with them to end up taking down the field in the postseason and win the Stanley Cup. That’s because another team has our attention.
Despite them not holding the No. 1 odds, the Vegas Golden Knights are our pick to win the Stanley Cup this summer. Why? Because this team is loaded from top to bottom and they fully understand what it takes to get the job done when things are under pressure.
While the Golden Knights have never won the Stanley Cup in their short team history, they’ve made it to the final series, losing to the Dallas Stars in 2018, their first year in the NHL playoffs. Last season, Vegas held the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and made it to the conference finals against the Dallas Stars. Unfortunately for fans, they saw Dallas go on to win that series and advance to the Stanley Cup. They’d eventually fall to Tampa Bay.
With that said, Vegas is motivated to prove all of its haters wrong this year. Despite the organization being so young, they’ve had an incredible amount of success early on. In 2020-21, they’ve received some huge performances from Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Shea Theodore, Jonathan Marchessault, Williams Karlsson, Nic Hague, Chandler Stephenson and others.
It’s not like they’re huge underdogs either, as their +400 odds are right behind Colorado’s +380. Again, on paper, the Avalanche might be the small favorites to win the NHL Stanley Cup, but we don’t care about that here. We’re going with the Golden Knights to lift the Stanley Cup high into the sky in the coming months. If you’re feeling confident in them, go ahead and join us in making them your pick.
With us going with the Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup, that means one of their stars will be a favorite to take home MVP honors. That’s right, look for Mark Stone to push for the Conn Smythe Trophy in July, as he’s truly been a dominant force for the team. Whether it’s scoring goals or delivering some outstanding assists, Stone is ready to get the job done.
In the regular season, the Vegas team captain led the team with his 59 points, which was eight more than Pacioretty’s 51. Stone recorded 21 goals and 38 assists, which is truly some outstanding numbers. He also knows when to deliver in big-time situations as well. With ice in his veins, it really felt like Stone would come up massively for Vegas in pressure moments.
This was obviously something the fans of Vegas from all over the country loved to see. Will he be able to play at a high level in the postseason? Definitely. While the odds haven’t been released yet for the Conn Smythe Trophy, we’re no doubt rocking with Stone as our pick.
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