Stanley Cup Market Report: Colorado Avalanche Creating Liability for Sportsbooks

Oftentimes, the biggest liabilities for sportsbooks are teams with slightly longer odds due to a combination of tickets and higher payouts. But despite being a +600 favorite to win the Stanley Cup, the liability is adding up on the Colorado Avalanche.

According to data released by BetMGM, the Avs are the biggest liability on the board, meaning the book would lose the most should Colorado win the title. The Avs are loaded entering the year, and bettors believe they're motivated after losing in the second round in each of the past three seasons.

From Michael Leboff's season preview:

Most of Colorado’s core is back for another spin with a few exceptions. Starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer is now in Seattle, but the team moved quickly to bring in Darcy Kuemper to fill the void. Ryan Graves was traded to New Jersey, but by signing Ryan Murray the team made a pretty like for like switch. Joonas Donskoi is also in Seattle now, but the Avs have enough depth on the wings that Donskoi shouldn’t be a huge blow. This team is so loaded at the top of the roster that some moving parts in the middle won’t be a huge deal.

A massive 23% of tickets are on the Avalanche to win it all, more than double the bets the New York Islanders have taken. The Islanders are the second-biggest liability with 10% of bets and 15% of handle. The Islanders have dropped from +1800 to +1400.

The third team seeing the most action is another favorite. The Tampa Bay Lightning are down from +750 to +700 with 6% of all tickets and 18% of all dollars bet on Stanley Cup winners coming in on the Florida team.

After those three teams, no other squad has taken double-digit percentage in handle. In fact, only the Vegas Golden Knights are above 5%, coming in at 6.5%.