By: Ryan Gilbert
2020 Stanley Cup Odds: Rangers Must Weather Storm as Underdogs
The 2020 NHL season is close to resuming with 24 teams in the qualifying round and round-robin tournament. One of the 16 teams playing in the qualifying round is the New York Rangers.
The Rangers are one of the teams that were outside looking in when the regular season was suspended in March. They had recently lost Chris Kreider and were no longer on the hot streak that carried them toward playoff position. They were falling fast, and then the season came to an abrupt halt.
With the unique return to play format, the Rangers will have a decent chance at making the playoffs after the qualifying round. They must win a best-of-five series against the Carolina Hurricanes, and while they are the underdog in the series, they can’t be counted out.
New York Rangers’ odds vs. Carolina Hurricanes: +110
The Rangers are slight underdogs to take down the Hurricanes in the qualifying round. The Hurricanes are the favorites at -135, but there is room for the Rangers to sneak in and beat them.
In fact, the Rangers maybe should be the favorites in the series. If it goes anything like the regular-season series, the Rangers will prevail as the underdogs. The Rangers went undefeated in four games against the Hurricanes in the regular season, outscoring Carolina 17-9 in the four games – including a 5-3 win in December and 5-2 win in late February.
The Rangers seem to have the Hurricanes’ number this season, which makes them a pretty good value bet a +110 in the series.
If you want to get a bit risky, you could bet on the Rangers to sweep the Hurricanes at odds of +750, or to win the series 3-1 at odds of +400. Hell, even the Rangers to win in five games is +435.
If they do get past the Hurricanes, could they make some noise in the playoffs?
New York Rangers’ odds to win Eastern Conference: +2000
The Rangers have a good chance to get past the Hurricanes, but that might be where their journey ends. Despite a 12-3-0 run from late January through late February, they haven’t fared very well against the top teams in the conference.
They went 0-2-1 against the Bruins, 1-1 against the Lightning (including a 9-3 loss), and 0-3 against the Flyers (including back-to-back losses on February 28th and March 1st).
The Rangers have the fourth-worst odds to win the Eastern Conference, and for good reason.
New York Rangers’ Stanley Cup Odds: +4300
If you want to bet on the Rangers, I highly recommend betting on them to win the first round – perhaps even to sweep. Beyond that, the Stanley Cup odds of +4300 provide better value than just +2000 to win the East. If the Rangers make it out of the Eastern Conference, they’ll be hot enough to take down whoever comes out of the West.
