Buy or Sell: Lightning Make Fourth Straight Stanley Cup Finals

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a modern-day dynasty, but is this the year their success ends?

Tampa Bay has made an appearance in three straight Stanley Cup Finals and will be looking to avenge last year’s losing effort against the Colorado Avalanche. There are still many things to like about this team, and they know how to win when the games begin to matter, but you have to wonder when they will eventually run out of gas.

Below, we will look into the Lightning’s current odds to win the Eastern Conference on the FanDuel Sportsbook and decide if their run of dominance will continue. 

It would be silly to count out the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it’s hard to fathom that they’ll be able to continue this extended run of success much longer. The Eastern Conference is catching up, and multiple teams could advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. Of course, the Lightning are still in the conversation, but teams such as the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils will have much to say about it. There’s no shortage of teams that can contend in the East this year, demonstrating how deep the conference is compared to the West. It will be hard for Tampa Bay to continue dominating the East with all of this competition on the rise. We’re not discrediting what they’ve been able to accomplish, but it’s not unreasonable to assume this could be the end of their Stanley Cup Finals run. 

One thing against the Lightning is they’ve run out of higher-quality assets to improve their club ahead of the trade deadline. They’ve moved multiple top picks over the last few years that paid dividends, but it’s unlikely they will be able to make similar impactful moves this time. If other Atlantic Division competitors like the Bruins or Maple Leafs improve, it doesn’t bode well for the Lightning’s postseason success. 

There’s not enough value in the Lightning’s price to win the East. If we were to back them for a fourth consecutive Stanley Cup run, we’d need their odds to sit in the +850 to +950 range. As a result, we’ll stick to other options in the East and hope the Lightning don’t find a way to bite us again. 

Buy or Sell: Sell the Lightning to win the East at +650