BHN Daily: Stanley Cup Best Bet; Michkov Coming to NHL; Former First Round Pick Traded

Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final is tonight, and, is there anything better? Okay, maybe you’d like to see the Buffalo Sabres in one of these things (and by “things” I mean the playoffs), but the series has been incredible. Let’s sift through who to bet to lift the Stanley Cup by night’s end.

Can Connor McDavid capture his first Stanley Cup? Or will Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, and the contingent of former Sabres raise Lord Stanley above their head?

The lineups tonight are not expected to include former Sabres forwards Evander Kane for the Edmonton Oilers and Kyle Okposo for the Florida Panthers. Kane is still recovering from injury but has been practicing. With the Oilers on a roll, there’s no reason to force a struggling and injured Kane into the mix.

Okposo played the series’ first five games but was a healthy scratch for Game Six. Florida is trying to keep up with the speed of Edmonton, so Nick Cousins practiced in Okposo’s spot again yesterday.

To predict who will win it all tonight, let’s turn to PuckLuck. A quick scan of the game projection page at the site shows that the win probability is about 52% for the home Panthers. This is based on 1,000 game simulations.

The projected goals are essentially even, meaning this game is as close to a toss-up as possible. With a game total of about 5.73 projected goals, over 5.5, at +125, comes into play for those who like to wager. That’s currently listed as the best bet on PuckLuck for Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final.

If you’re looking for a site to place these wagers, we have a couple of sign-up deals for you:

At Fanatics Sportsbook, you can receive up to $1,000 in bonus bets.

BetMGM is also very generous with first signups, offering up to $1,500 in bonus bets.

PuckLuck also has plenty of player props on other bet suggestions on the site, so be sure to check that out.

The Latest at Buffalo Hockey Now

To get you ready for the upcoming NHL Draft and free agency, we combed through the Sabres depth chart. There’s plenty of prospect depth at many positions, but it gets a little thin in some areas too.

The first round of the NHL Draft is Friday, so we looked at mock drafts from top draft experts. The Sabres were projected to take three different candidates, for varying reasons.

Speaking of the draft, we took a peek at some of the best (and worst) Sabres draft picks in team history. The 1970s were wild under Punch Imlach. Scotty Bowman followed that up by selecting some future Hall-of-Famers in the 1980s, as well as one no-show in the first round.

Across National Hockey Now

Philadelphia Hockey Now: Multiple reports on Sunday stated that top Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov is terminating his contract with SKA St. Petersburg in Russia and joining the Flyers this summer.

A trade occurred on Sunday, with the Nashville Predators sending Egor Afanasyev to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for former first-rounder Ozzy Wiesblatt. More from Nashville Hockey Now and San Jose Hockey Now.

Derick Brassard announced his retirement from the NHL. Pittsburgh Hockey Now has more on the former center.

Boston Hockey Now: The Bruins have re-signed one of their depth defensemen.

Colorado Hockey Now: What happened to Ryan Johansen? Evan Rawal writes that the center’s NHL future is in doubt.