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NHL Futures Bets After A Busy Trade Deadline: Vegas Does It, Again

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Pencils down. Everyone stop. The NHL Trade Deadline has passed. While trades can still technically occur, any players involved would be deemed ineligible to play for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. It never happens.

A couple blockbusters went down between Pittsburgh & Carolina, Vegas dropped a mega-bomb on the league, acquiring Tomas Hertl from San Jose after acquiring Noah Hanifin from Calgary. Some teams are positioned well for future seasons, while other teams bolstered their chances of winning the Stanley Cup this season. Here’s what you can expect from a few teams that made big splashes and how to bet on them.

The Contenders Who Made Waves

Have they found a way to create cheat codes?": Analyst in disbelief as Vegas Golden Knights trade for Noah Hanifin

Vegas Golden Knights Continues to Be Ruthless

There is no team that operates with the level of ruthlessness as the Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas is looking to win back-to-back Stanley Cups and are completely unafraid to use their futures to go all-in. That’s exactly how it should be. When you’re in a contending window, there is no sense in pearl clutching your top prospects or draft picks. The goal is to win and if those futures help you get the best defenceman on the market, you do it.

Vegas acquired Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames, giving them the best defensive corps in the NHL. What Vegas lacks in an elite goaltender, they make up for in spades with their defence. A top-4 of Theodore-Pietrangelo, Hanifin-Martinez is one of the best top-4s in modern history. All of them skate well, move the puck well, and defend with ease in transition. This significantly bolsters the depth Vegas has on the back-end and makes them a favorite in the West.

TOMAS HERTL IS A VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHT!!!!!! #VegasBorn https://t.co/GM0QTbzl4J

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 8, 2024

Vegas wasn’t done there, two minutes before deadline, in a one that no one saw coming, Vegas acquired Tomas Hertl from San Jose. They also added Anthony Mantha from Washington. Vegas’ forward depth was a huge area of concern, as they’ve been depleted by injuries. Once he returns from injury, Hertl will be an immediately impactful player on the second line and top power play. Mantha is a good middle of the lineup addition for Vegas who is likely to be on the third line when Hertl and Mark Stone return from injury.

Within the hockey community, Vegas is widely considered the team to beat now. For some strange reason, they have the third best odds to come out of the West and that presents tremendous value. Anything +300 or better is fantastic bet for a team that has the deepest defensive core and added the best player in Hertl, at the deadline. Vegas is going to be a tough team to beat in the spring.

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Shirey: Trade Jake Guentzel? Forget about it

Carolina Hurricanes Adds Guentzel & Kuznetsov

Carolina’s achilles heal in the last few playoff runs has been in ability to score. The organizational edict of not dealing top prospects or high draft picks has handicapped their ability to get the biggest fish at the trade deadline in past seasons. They threw caution to the wind a little bit and acquired Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh. On paper, Guenztel should slide in next to Sebastian Aho. He’s a difference maker and a game breaker, he’s the guy Carolina will rely on to score at key times in the spring.

Carolina added Evgeny Kuznetsov from Washington. He was one of the most entertaining players in the league for quite a while, scoring huge goals en route to Washington’s Stanley Cup in 2018. However, his play has fallen off a cliff, but in a new environment, this is wroth the risk. If Kuznetsov is 70% of the player he once was, Carolina has a great playmaker who can find guys like Svechnikov, Necas and Guentzel in scoring positions. This bolsters Carolina’s forward depth in a low-risk move.

The rizz is insane pic.twitter.com/fZNOhgwPJj

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) March 8, 2024

Carolina’s deep blue line was set long before this deadline as one of the best in the Eastern Conference. Their goaltending has been shaky this season, but the return of Freddie Andersen and development of Pyotr Kochetkov should be enough to keep Carolina in games and allow their newly acquired sniper to score goals. Carolina should win the Metropolitan Division and is worth a bet at +165 to win. They are also worth a bet at +360 to win the Eastern Conference.

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Florida Panthers Adds Scoring With Tarasenko and Okposo

Carolina’s main competition in the East this year is Florida. We are likely to see a rematch of last year’s Conference Final between Florida and Carolina. Both teams are deep up front, defend well and have good goaltending. Florida addressed their need on the second line by acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko from the Ottawa Senators. Taranseko should fit in seamlessly in the top-6 beside one of Barkov or Bennett. Regardless, this allows Florida to slot guys like Nick Cousins and Evan Rodrigues in bottom-6 roles, where they should thrive. Florida has the deepest forward group in the NHL, arguably. Am embarrassment of riches to have Lundell and Rodrigues on the third line.

Florida wasn’t done adding, picking up Kyle Okposo from the Buffalo Sabres. He’ll play a fourth line role with the Panthers, provides leadership and can chip in up the lineup should Florida run into injury trouble. An NHL veteran, Okposo plays the checking role very well and has solid defensive impacts. The depth to have that experience down the lineup is fantastic for Florida and no one would be surprised to see the 4th line be a real difference maker in the playoffs.

The Panthers are the favorite to win the Eastern Conference as things stand. The price is a little juiced at +250 and not worth the risk given how heavily they relied on goaltending during last season’s run. While the Panthers will be a very tough out in the Eastern Conference, waiting to get a better number around +280 or +300 may be a better strategy.