With their 3-2 win over the Red Wings Saturday night, the Boston Bruins became the first NHL team to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the fastest team in league history to reach win No. 50. Boston got there in 64 games, two faster than the previous record of 66 held by the 1995-96 Red Wings and 2018-19 Lightning. The Bruins now have 105 points and are the only team in triple digits — second place is the Carolina Hurricanes at 94.
Is a Boston Stanley Cup run a foregone conclusion at this point? Vegas is certainly liking the Bruins more than anyone, but several other teams are not far behind despite the Bruins’ historic run. Let’s take a look at the Boston Bruins odds heading down the home stretch of the season.
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Stanley Cup Odds Update: Are the Bruins Uncatchable?
Check out NHL Stanley Cup odds as of this morning on DraftKings Sportsbook:
The Bruins are clear favorites at the moment, but not overwhelmingly so. The Avalanche and Hurricanes are just a hair behind at +650, and Carolina is only slightly behind Boston to win the Eastern Conference — +400 and +225, respectively. Colorado is actually further ahead of the field in the West at +275 to win the conference, all despite sitting third in its own division.
Obviously, the Avalanche being defending champions is driving this, but they have lost four of their last six games (one in overtime) and have gone through some incredibly shaky stretches. The Bruins, on the other hand, have won 9 of 10 and have only lost nine games in regulation all season.
Carolina is the real threat to the Bruins at the moment, as the Hurricanes have only four more regulation losses in 2022-23 and are the only team that has the defensive numbers to compete with Boston. They do, however, also have middling offensive production, and with Linus Ullmark the heavy favorite to take home the Vezina Trophy, a Hurricanes-Bruins playoff series will need to be low scoring for Carolina to knock off Boston.
The top of the odds is entirely dominated by Eastern Conference teams, with only Colorado occupying a top-7 spot. Edmonton checks in at eighth, but that probably has a lot to do with the Oilers having runaway Hart Trophy favorite Connor McDavid. They are in fourth in the Pacific Division standings, though they are probably safely locked into a playoff spot.
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The two division leaders in the West, Vegas and Dallas, are ninth and 10th, respectively. They are not getting a ton of respect from the sportsbooks, however, and their records would be third in either Eastern Conference division.
Boston is still chasing history — the record for standings points in an NHL season is 132, set by the 1977 Montreal Canadiens. The aforementioned 1996 Red Wings — whom the Bruins passed by getting to 50 wins two games faster — fell just shy of the Canadiens’ record, with 131 points. Boston has 18 games to record 28 point and surpass Montreal’s mark. At their current pace, the Bruins project for a record 134.
All that said, there is a recent history of the NHL’s best team struggling come playoff time. The last Presidents Trophy winner (given to team with most points in the standings) to win the Stanley Cup was the 2012-13 Blackhawks, and seven straight Presidents Trophy recipients have gone out in the second round or earlier. All told, the Presidents Trophy has been given out 36 times, and the winner has taken home the Stanley Cup in just eight of those seasons. By the way, the 131-point Red Wings were not one of those, as they were knocked out in the conference finals in 1996.
So the Bruins, while still the clear top team, have a long road ahead. They will almost certainly finish as the top team, but almost all legitimate Stanley Cup contenders are also in the Eastern Conference. This season is still wide open.
