No Bostonians Left in Playoffs?! SCF Betting Odds

The cradle of American hockey has exactly zero lineup regulars remaining among the four teams still fighting for the Stanley Cup. The closest Mass claim is Colin Blackwell from North Andover, who is a part-time lineup fixture with the Dallas Stars.

As the teams careen toward a Florida Panthers-Edmonton Oilers rematch of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, the situation and the NHL betting odds this year are a bit different. Right now, bettors are evenly split between defending champion Florida and challenger Edmonton. Florida is +100, and Edmonton was going off at +115 before we learned of Zach Hyman’s surgery.

Florida could punch its ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday in Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

And Dallas seems to be on their way out. After the Edmonton Oilers steamrolled Dallas again on Tuesday in Game 4, Edmonton holds a 3-1 series lead in the Western Conference Final.

Florida also holds a 3-1 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final and will go for the kill Wednesday after they failed to do so Monday. Carolina ended a 15-game futility streak, winning their first game in the ECF in their last four series dating back to 2008.

Sure, the Boston Bruins have been done since late March, but no hometown boys, either?

Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed the worst on Wednesday when he revealed Hyman will have surgery and is lost for the remainder of the playoffs. Hyman’s absence leaves a big hole in the top-heavy Edmonton lineup and takes away one player able to absorb and give back the physicality that Florida so heavily uses to its advantage.

Bettors can get longer odds by scrolling down a little further and choosing the exact result wagers. By betting on Edmonton to beat Florida, bettors can get +130 instead of +115, and by betting on Florida to beat Edmonton, the odds go up to +125.

Of course, there is a chance–albeit very tiny, and smaller still if you’ve watched the first four games of either series–that Carolina comes back to beat Florida or Dallas rises from the ashes and play undertake to Connor McDavid’s emotional quest to finally hoise the Stanley Cup and become one of the greatest players of all time.

To be one of the five or six best ever, a Stanley Cup is the necessary ticket into that conversation. That’s just the rule.

However, as Canadians fill the rosters of the final four teams, the proud hockey hotbed that has essentially birthed the U.S. game is not just underrepresented but not represented at all. Sure, there are a few Connecticut and New Hampshire boys in the conference finals, but only one part-time player who is from the Boston area.

In fact, there are more Germans (2) and New Jersey-born skaters (2) than Bostonians. So, while Mass watches without a native son, we’ll continue to hedge our bets between the defending champs and the team of destiny, who came so close last season but eventually melted on Florida ice.