2022-23 NHL Stanley Cup Odds: Vegas Golden Knights Drop Down Three Spots

We’re in the dog days of the NHL offseason. The draft is over. We’re nearly a month into free agency with just about every big-name free agent finding a new home. And so there’s very little happening right now. But the odds for the NHL’s big prize have shifted since our last update.

The top two teams still remain at the top of the Stanley Cup oddsboard with the Colorado Avalanche at No. 1 with +400 odds and the Toronto Maple Leafs behind the Avs at +850 according to sportsbook Bovada.

But below those top two teams, there’s some movement that we should talk about.

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Here’s a look at the Stanley Cup odds for all 32 teams vying to win it all in the 2022-23 campaign.

2022-23 Stanley Cup Odds

Odds as of August 4 at Bovada

Who Are The Stanley Cup Favorites?

Colorado is still the favorite to hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2022-23 season. The team that won the Cup in 2022 has lost little in the way of personnel going into next year, so there’s no real suggestion they can’t repeat as Cup champions again in ’22-23.

Goalie Darcy Kuemper (2.51 GAA, .921 SV%) signed with the Washington Capitals as a free agent, but Avalanche GM Joe Sakic’s plan to replace Kuemper is to split time in the crease. Newly acquired New York Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev (2.92 GAA, .898 SV%) will split starts with Pavel Francouz (2.54 GAA, .916 SV%).

There’s the potential that Colorado loses free-agent center Nazem Kadri, but there’s also the potential for them to replace Kadri with in-house options like 21-year-old Alex Newhook. Losing Kadri would be a blow to the Avalanche’s offense, but they can still be a top team even if they’re not the top offensive team in the league.

Biggest Movers In Stanley Cup Oddsboard

Vegas Golden Knights (+2000) | Dropped 3 Spots

The Golden Knights had to perform some salary cap gymnastics this offseason. They sent Evgenii Dadonov to Montreal for the rest of Shea Weber’s contract. Then they traded sniper Max Pacioretty to the Carolina Hurricanes for … future considerations.

Sure, Pacioretty isn’t in his prime anymore but he still scored 97 goals over 224 appearances for Vegas. Last year he put 19 goals and 37 points on the board in 39 games. He’s still a good player and a dangerous goal scorer that Vegas literally gave away because of the cap. That’s going to hurt them.

Vegas is still a good team with good players like center Jack Eichel and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, but from missing the playoffs last season to losing Pacioretty months later, there’s some doubt creeping in.

Perhaps the hiring of Bruce Cassidy as the next head coach can fix some of the perceived issues with the Golden Knights and at +2000 now might be a good time to buy in on the Knights.

A winning $100 bet on the Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup at +2000 would return a $2,000 profit.

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Pittsburgh Penguins (+1800) | Jumped 4 Spots

Since our last update, the Penguins have signed Kasperi Kapanen to a two-year, $6.4-million deal ($3.2 million AAV) and also acquired Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling from the Montreal Canadiens.

Kapanen has been a solid depth winger for the Penguins, putting up 22 goals and 62 points in 119 games for the Pens the last two years. Keeping him around to continue being that depth guy on their third line was a smart move. 

Petry might have had a down year in 2021-22 with 27 points in 68 games for the Habs, but he scored 40 or more points in each of the previous four seasons. There’s a chance that Pittsburgh is getting a 34-year-old defenseman who’s in a rapid decline, or they get a good skating top-four defenseman who can move the puck and put up about 40 points on the year. If they get the latter, the Pens fixed their puck-moving gap that was made painfully obvious when Kris Letang had to sit out for injury.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby currently holds the 19th-best odds to nab the 2022-23 Hart Trophy. 

Nashville Predators (+3500) | Jumped 7 Spots

Not only were the Predators able to retain pending UFA Filip Forsberg, signing him to an eight-year, $68-million deal ($8.5 million AAV), but they were able to sign UFA winger Nino Niederreiter.

The Preds had the 13th-best offense last year, thanks in large part to Forsberg and his 42 goals and 84 points in 69 games. Now they’ve strengthened their top six with Niederreiter, who put up 24 goals and 44 points in 72 games for Carolina last year.

There’s a real sense that the Predators can take a step forward from last year when they surprisingly made the playoffs as the second wild-card team in the Western Conference. We should expect the Predators to not only make the playoffs in ’22-23 but maybe make a bit of a run as well.