NHL betting: Picking the Predators at long odds to win the Cup?

One main reason sportsbooks may not be jumping on the bandwagon and favoring Nashville is because the competition at the top of the league is very fierce. DK is still favoring the Florida Panthers, whom Yardbarker discussed back in February as a legitimate competitor. The New York Rangers were the first team to clinch a playoff birth and are listed at 9-1 while a streaking Colorado Avalanche squad comes in at 7-1 odds. The Dallas Stars have been streaking in the right direction and have taken over the same Central Division the Preds are in, and they are listed at 10-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup alongside the Boston Bruins.

That's a lot of competition at the top of the odds list. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't consider putting money on Nashville to win it all.

Teams that get hot at the right time are often the best bets to dominate in the Stanley Cup Final. Remember what the St. Louis Blues did in 2019 when they rebounded from being the worst team in the league to finishing third in the Central? Who's to say the Predators won't be the surprise at 40-1 odds?

There is also, of course, the fact Nashville has a very impressive roster. The Predators can get scoring from any of their four lines — third-liner Mark Jankowski got Nashville on the board against Vegas to start that big comeback. They also possess a two-way defense led by captain Roman Josi, who has registered 73 points (19 goals, 54 assists) in 72 games this season while also being a plus-19.

And then there's Nashville's goaltending, and any hockey fan will tell you that a playoff run can be made or broken by the performance between the pipes. Juuse Saros may not be getting the attention that Connor Hellebuyck and Sergei Bobrovsky are in the Vezina Trophy race, but the Finnish netminder has been nothing but stellar down the stretch. Saros is currently tied with Hellebuyck and Bobrovsky at 32 wins on the season, along with a .909 save percentage and three shutouts through 52 starts.

With just a couple of weeks left in the NHL regular season, this is a great time to look at who's getting hot at the right time and which of those teams you should wager on in the quest for the Cup. And while the favorites at sportsbooks clearly have their upsides, you should really consider betting on a team like the Nashville Predators that is playing their best hockey at the right time in the season.