We have arrived at the midway point of the 2024-25 NHL season, and now is a good time to take a look at some of the latest betting data at BetMGM to see where the money is and who is getting a lot of love to win the Stanley Cup when the season comes to an end. We all know that the favorites like Edmonton, Carolina, and Florida are always going to get a lot of tickets and money thrown at them, but that also doesn’t mean that the book minds it at all.
In fact, contrary to what many might believe, the sportsbooks generally want the favorites to win the Championship every year. This is because the odds for them to win aren’t nearly as long, so the payout isn’t as devastating as a longshot winning would be, even with more overall money on the favorite. Always keep that in mind when you go to bet your futures.
Right now over at BetMGM, you might be a bit shocked to find out that the New York Rangers are the biggest liability to win the Stanley Cup for them. However, you also get to see an example of why these teams never have a shot to win it all. Just look at the season the Rangers are having after making the Eastern Conference Finals last year. They are 19-20-2 on the season, sitting down at the very bottom of the Metro division.
It isn’t a coincidence that the teams that are the biggest liability for the book almost never win the title. They wouldn’t keep building new casinos, hotels, and books around the nation if they lost their biggest liability every year. It rarely happens, and that seems like it is probably going to be the case here. The top three liabilities at BetMGM include the Rangers, Capitals, and Maple Leafs. New York is the only team out of those three that is not currently in line to make the playoffs this season.
The Rangers have not looked anything like the team we saw last year, and have dealt with a ton of inconsistency in their play. They are 8-7-1 in their last 16 games, and the biggest issue seemingly has been defense. They have allowed 40+ shots on their own net in several games within this tough stretch, and winning is a hard thing to do when you are getting outplayed that badly. They have been outscored 59-23 in their last 14 losses, and the team has looked out of sync on many occasions. Their power play has also been lethargic, failing to score on the man advantage in 14 of their last 20 games.
Still, we have seen other teams have terrible starts and come back to win the Stanley Cup, such as the St. Louis Blues in 2018. They can certainly still turn this thing around, but it seems like a longshot at this point that they will have anything like the seasons they have had over the last few years.
With 8.0% of the tickets and 16.3% of the handle, New York has a lot of work to do if they want to cash out for these bettors. Interestingly, the Oilers are getting 9.1% of tickets and 10.3% of the handle, yet they aren’t in the top three biggest liabilities for the book. This is because their odds have remained short from open, and even with that kind of money on them, it isn’t a massive sweat for BetMGM.
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