Rare early betting action on Knights to earn repeat title

Fresh off the Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup, bettors already are banking on them to repeat as NHL champions next year.

“There’s a lot of interest on them. There’s actually been some money,” Circa sportsbook manager Jeff Davis said. “It’s been a pleasant surprise. Usually when you put these championship markets out a year out, outside of the NFL, you usually don’t write a lot of business to it right away. People don’t want to lock up money a year out.

“But Vegas winning the Stanley Cup has definitely kept the buzz going a little bit.”

The action on the Knights has caused Circa to make them the 9-1 favorites to win the 2024 Stanley Cup after they opened at 11-1.

“We opened them 11-1 thinking there would be an influx of recreational money, and there kind of has been,” Davis said.

In similar fashion, the Westgate SuperBook has lowered the Knights from 12-1 to 10-1 to win the title again next season.

“When a team ends up winning the title like that, you anticipate people looking to be involved with them, just based on what they’ve seen,” SuperBook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “People will naturally gravitate to the team that recently won, especially in this market. We’ve seen some Knights tickets, even (Monday).

“They’re No. 1 in tickets and money already.”

The 2022 Stanley Cup champion Avalanche are the 8-1 favorites at the SuperBook, South Point and BetMGM to win the title next season, and 6-1 favorites at Station Casinos.

The Knights are 7-1 favorites at Caesars Sportsbook and +450 favorites at Boyd Gaming. BetMGM has the best price on the Knights to repeat at 12-1.

Davis said their true odds are higher.

“I just don’t think the prices that are out there on Vegas right now are any bargain,” he said. “If somebody said to me, ‘I think their true price to win the Cup is 20-1 or 22-1,’ I don’t think I will argue.

“They played really great during the playoff run, and the team that won the Stanley Cup deserved to win the Stanley Cup. But I’m not sure anyone would have thought Adin Hill would’ve played as good as he did, and they were pretty fortunate to play a broken-down Panthers team.”

Davis expects all the other teams in the Pacific Division to be better next season.

“The Pacific Division is going to be really tough,” he said. “The margins are so thin in hockey, anything can really happen.

“Would it surprise me if they won the Western Conference again? No. Would it surprise me if they missed the playoffs? Not really. No.”

The Oilers are tied with the Knights and Maple Leafs as the 10-1 second choice at the SuperBook.

“The Oilers are still technically power-rated higher than the Knights,” Sherman said. “We expect to see interest in them because people like to bet on offense.

“The one thing about the Knights is they’re returning most of their entire roster. They have a couple question marks in Hill and (Ivan) Barbashev. But other than that, they basically have everyone intact.”

Suns’ odds improve

The Suns’ 2024 NBA title odds have improved after news broke Sunday that they’re acquiring three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards for Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and draft picks.

The SuperBook recently lowered Phoenix from 10-1 to 7-1 when there was talk of a possible trade and settled at 6-1 after it was reported.

“They really didn’t have to give up much to acquire him,” Sherman said. “Now they need to trade (Deandre) Ayton to improve their bench. If they can make the right trade, they could possibly pass Denver and become the favorite at that point.”

The Nuggets remain +550 favorites to repeat as NBA champs. The Celtics are 6-1, the Bucks are 7-1, and the Lakers and 76ers are each 12-1.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.