The Boston Bruins have enjoyed a near perfect start to their season. Naturally, bookmakers have taken notice.
At 14-2, Boston owns the best record in the NHL through five weeks and has surpassed any expectation put on them heading into the season -- especially the ones that had to do with how their start. The Bruins started the year without a number of key contributors, including Charlie McAvoy, Matt Grzelcyk and Brad Marchand. By all accounts, they were only supposed to tread water until those players returned. Instead, they've continued to rattle off wins, seeing all three players return and immediately contribute to the cause.
Now, as close to full strength as an NHL team can get, Boston possesses the second-best odds to win the Stanley Cup Final, after being viewed as a middle-of-the-pack team prior to the season's start.
Here's a current look at the odds, courtesy of BetMGM:
Stanley Cup Odds
Colorado Avalanche: +475
Boston Bruins: +800
Carolina Hurricanes: +900
Vegas Golden Knights: +1000
Calgary Flames: +1200
Toronto Maple Leafs: +1200
Florida Panthers: +1400
Tampa Bay Lightning: +1400
Edmonton Oilers: +1600
New York Rangers: +1600
Boston has jumped from +2500 odds to that +800 number, by far the biggest leap by any team in the NHL. Of the other teams in the list above, only Carolina (+1200 to +900), Vegas (+1400 to +1000), Calgary (+1800 to +1200) and New York (+2000 to +1600) have seen their odds improve.
While the books have caught up to the Bruins, the betting public seems to be lagging behind. Boston has only commanded 5.1% of the total tickets placed at BetMGM, only accounting for 5.5% of the total handle. That is less than Colorado (17.3% tickets, 22.7% handle), New York (8.8%, 11.7%) and Toronto (6%, 5.8%).
If the Bruins can continue on their (absurd) pace, it will only be a matter of time before the public catches on and they leapfrog Maple Leafs and Rangers.
