Say what?! Canucks now Stanley Cup favourites, according to analytics site
The Vancouver Canucks are the favourites to win the Stanley Cup this season, according to at least one analytics site.
The team has outpaced expectations with a 5-2-1 start to the season that is good for second place in the Pacific Division. They’ve impressed the hockey world, including the people behind analytics website MoneyPuck.
It’s the Canucks that stand above everyone, not the Boston Bruins (8-0-1), Vegas Golden Knights (9-0-1), or Carolina Hurricanes (6-4-0), as Stanley Cup favourites according to MoneyPuck.
MoneyPuck.com
The Canucks are given an 8.9% chance to win the Stanley Cup, almost an additional 1.5% more than any other team. Listed directly behind them are the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, and New York Rangers.
The Canucks are also projected to win the Presidents’ Trophy with 107.3 points. That would be their best season since the 2011-12 campaign when they finished with 111 points.
Despite trailing the Golden Knights by eight points at the moment, the Canucks are also given a better chance at winning the division. MoneyPuck has Vancouver at a 37% chance to win the Pacific Division while the Golden Knights are at just 31%.
According to MoneyPuck, the Canucks are projected to finish a whopping 12 points above the Edmonton Oilers, something that seemed inconceivable at the start of the season but perhaps isn’t so crazy after the start each of these two teams has had.
Before the season, MoneyPuck projected the Canucks to finish just outside of the playoffs with 90.3 points. They actually had a slightly pessimistic viewpoint on the team as they projected a worse finishing position than many other comparable analytic models. However, the team’s strong start has clearly changed their perspective.
While MoneyPuck’s current predictions are certainly optimistic compared to the rest of the hockey world, the Canucks have gotten off to one of their best starts this century.Ā Ā This has caused them to rise up different projected standings and power rankings across a variety of hockey outlets.
The Canucks continue their march towards the Stanley Cup with a game against the Nashville Predators. The puck drops at 7 pm PT tonight in Vancouver.