Buy or Sell: Florida Panthers to Win the Eastern Conference

After being the last team to qualify for the postseason, the Florida Panthers have gone on a run and look like genuine contenders. The Panthers have been getting elite goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, which is exactly what they thought they’d have for the duration of the lucrative long-term contract they signed him to. 

Florida boasts the shortest odds to win the Eastern Conference at +135 on the FanDuel Sportsbook. If you had said this would transpire before the playoffs kicked off, you’d likely have been laughed out of the building, but maybe we should have seen it coming. The NHL playoffs often offer a lot of unpredictability.

You can throw seeds and records out the window, knowing very well that a hot goalie or timely goal-scoring can knock off a juggernaut, which is exactly what transpired when the Panthers eliminated the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Boston Bruins in Round 1.

It almost would have been easier for the Panthers to roll over when they fell behind 3-1 in the series to Boston. Still, since then, they’ve won six games in a row and are one victory away from moving on to the Eastern Conference Final. If they can do that, they’ll face the winner of the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes matchup.

Florida was again an underdog, albeit not as big when they entered Round 2 to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. You can make a real case that the Leafs were the better team in two of the three games, yet the Panthers have a stranglehold on the series.

Whichever team advances to the ECF will present a different challenge for the Panthers. The Hurricanes currently own the second-shortest odds to win the East at +165. With their relentless style of play and strong defensive structure, there’s merit in them providing something that Florida has yet to see in the playoffs. 

No matter what happens the rest of the way, the Florida Panthers have continued to prove the hockey world wrong. In our eyes, the Panthers and Hurricanes are very close together as the top two remaining teams in the East. In saying that, we also view the Canes as just a small tier above the Panthers.

With Carolina sitting just below Florida in odds, mainly to their series being closer, there’s slightly more value with the Hurricanes. The Panthers aren’t a bad secondary choice, though, knowing they can pull off an upset like they’ve already shown. Still, if you had to pick one, siding with Carolina at +165 to win the East has slightly more value.