Dallas Stars Projected Surprisingly High In 2018 Stanley Cup Odds

After the Pittsburgh Penguins clinched the Stanley Cup on Sunday night, Las Vegas released the updated odds for the 2018 Stanley Cup. The Dallas Stars are a lot higher on the list than you might expect.

Defying the odds is never easy to do. When everything seems stacked against you, it can be hard to prevail in certain tasks.

For instance, Jamie Benn had the odds stacked against him in his race for the Art Ross Trophy in April 2015. Being a handful of points out of the league lead with just three games remaining in the season, Benn tallied six points in the first two to get within one point of the league lead.

And after John Tavares tallied two points on the last night of the season to take the lead with 86 points, Benn scored a hat trick and tallied an assist with 8.5 seconds to go in the game to bump his total to 87 and win his first ever Art Ross Trophy all while skating on two injured hips.

That’s defying the odds in the most dramatic of fashions. It’s always fun to defy the odds, especially when they seem to have the clear edge.

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But what happens when the odds are leaning in your favor? And not just leaning in your favor, but significantly favoring you above a lot of others? That’s apparently what the Dallas Stars have in regards to the 2018 Stanley Cup race.

Just after the Pittsburgh Penguins were awarded the Cup on Sunday night after defeating the Nashville Predators in six games, the sportsbook and gambling site Bovada released the 2018 Stanley Cup odds.

The Penguins, who have now won two consecutive Cups and are not expected to take any significant roster hits anytime soon, come in as the favorite with 9/1 odds. At the bottom of the list, the Vegas Golden Knights are expected to be the longest shot to win at 150/1. Considering it will be their first season in the NHL, these odds are acceptable.

The other 29 teams filled in accordingly, between these odds. Most are where you would expect them to fall, but one team stands out rather significantly (at least at first). That’s the Dallas Stars.

The Stars are given 16/1 odds to win it all next year, putting them eighth on the list. While there are a few other teams tied with Dallas on the list at 16/1, one thing separates the Stars from the others: they were the only team that didn’t make the playoffs this past season.

The Dallas Stars, as we all know, finished with the second worst season in franchise history this past year. A record of 34-37-11 and 79 points pinned Dallas heavily behind the eight ball, cementing them in 11th place in the West and stranding them 15 points away from the final playoff spot.

It was an ugly step down from the 2015-16 season where the Stars won the Central Division and fell one win short of the Western Conference Finals.

Once their ugly season ended on April 8 this past year, a long offseason haul began for GM Jim Nill. There were multiple things on the to-do list that Nill had to improve, and he’s already made significant strides in the right direction. But there is still some more to be done.

That’s why these odds are so surprising. The Stars beat out six 2017 playoff teams on this list, almost half of them. They are tied with four others. That definitely labels them as a “surprise” team for next year.

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Ken Hitchcock, Ben Bishop, and whoever else the Stars rake in this offseason could definitely help this team shock the league next year and make a giant leap back into contention. It’s a long stretch to consider, but it’s always nice to defy the odds. It’s even nicer when the odds are in your corner.