Avs Open Playoffs As Cup Favorites Amid Tepid Action On Florida Teams

Colorado tied for seventh in the NHL with 102 points during the routine season, but the Avalanche are opening the playoffs as the consensus favorites to win the 2025 Stanley Cup.


On the eve of playing host to Game 1 of a first-round series against the Dallas Stars-- who ended up with 106 points throughout the regular season-- Colorado was being provided as the +750 Cup favorite by DraftKings and at +700 by BetMGM.


It helps that the Stars will be minus leading goal-scorer Jason Robertson due to a lower-body injury sustained in the team's regular-season ending. Dallas has currently been playing without leading defenseman Miro Heiskanen (knee) and hops into the playoffs 0-5-2 in its past seven video games.


By contrast, after retooling the lineup throughout the season, Colorado has been getting momentum since mid-February. That has resulted in the Avalanche being backed by the most total wagers (10.6 percent) and money (11.0) to win the Cup considering that opening at +1000 at BetMGM.


However, Colorado is not amongst the book's 3 biggest Cup liabilities.


The leading honor in that regard would go to St. Louis, followed by Montreal and Dallas. With the Blues (+4000) and Canadiens (+8000) the two most significant longshots remaining, BetMGM is more anxious about the Avalanche.


It's the two Florida teams the book is pulling for currently. The safeguarding champion Panthers have drawn a modest 6.3 percent of the cash at +750 currently, while the Tampa Bay Lightning have been backed by simply 2.8 percent of the cash while moving from +2000 to +1100.


Tampa Bay tied with Colorado with 102 points throughout the routine season, while Florida was 11th with 98 points.


"The Panthers and Lightning are amongst the favorites to win the Stanley Cup however the general public is overlooking them," BetMGM senior trader Matthew Rasp stated. "BetMGM really wants the Stanley Cup to remain in Florida."


Winnipeg, which topped the league with 116 points while winning an NHL-best 56 video games, opens the postseason at +1000 at both BetMGM and DraftKings-- the eighth-shortest Cup odds and tied for the sixth-shortest odds at the latter.