Why the St. Louis Blues are worth a Stanley Cup futures bet before free agency

The NHL offseason is starting to percolate. Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings have already made some significant changes and plenty of others seem on the cusp of joining in on the fun.

Saturday was filled with rumors of blockbuster trades on the verge of being completed, others being scuttled by no-trade clauses and some under-the-radar moves being completed to free up space for some bigger swings down the line.

It was the type of day that, had it taken place in the NFL or NBA, would have stopped the entire sporting world. But since the NHL doesn’t have the same kind of impact as other leagues, there was very little fuss made of all the jockeying that was going on. While that can be frustrating from a fan perspective, it presents opportunity for bettors.

Whereas bookmakers need to be quick to react to news, rumblings and rumors in the NFL and/or NBA, the money doesn’t pour in as quickly or as heavily in the NHL — especially in the offseason. That means that bettors stand a much better chance of beating line movement in futures market in hockey than they do in football or basketball if they can get ahead of the news.

So which team should bettors have circled as we head into the busiest week of the NHL offseason? In my mind, the obvious choice is the St. Louis Blues.

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The Blues were a massive disappointment in 2022-23, but they’re expected to try and bounce right back next season and there’s reason to believe that they can do it. For one, there’s still plenty of talent on this roster. And secondly, the Central Division could be wide open next season.

Colorado and Dallas figure to be the heavyweights in the Central, but every team behind them has more questions than answers right now. Chicago, Arizona and Nashville are at various stages of a rebuild, Winnipeg is trying to blow up its core while somehow remaining relevant and Minnesota has nearly $15 million of dead cap space. The door is wide open for St. Louis to charge through if they can make a couple of tweaks this offseason.

Having two extra first-round picks should help St. Louis in that regard.

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The Blues have made it clear that they won’t be using all three of those picks on Wednesday and were very close to pulling a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for Kevin Hayes and Travis Sanheim on Saturday. The deal was reportedly killed when defenseman Torey Krug refused to waive his no-trade clause, but the message is clear: St. Louis is going to do everything it can to get back into the postseason.

At the time of writing St. Louis is sitting at +6000 to win the Stanley Cup and that number makes plenty of sense as things currently stand. But it’s a near certainty that this roster will look different by the end of this week and that should raise the profile of the Blues as we head into the summer.

My guess is that the Blues are still a relative long shot when the season kicks off in October, but the +6000 number won’t be around for much longer.

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