Morning Coffee: Habs punch playoff ticket, open as heavy underdog versus Capitals

The Montreal Canadiens are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Following a rollercoaster finish to the regular season, Habs fans can finally breathe again after their beloved bleu, blanc, et rouge clinched in game number 82.

The Canadiens locked up the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the Bell Centre last night.

In case you missed it, the Habs didn’t get much respect.

Despite the revelation that several Hurricanes regulars wouldn’t be in the lineup, Montreal could be found at plus-money to win on home ice.

The Canadiens were bet from +104 to -148 at FanDuel ahead of a crucial victory in which they never trailed.

The clinching win capped a remarkable turnaround for a club that was in last place in the Eastern Conference as recently as December 17th.

The Habs, which could be found at +500 to make the playoffs at FanDuel after the NHL trade deadline, secured their first playoff berth since the 2020-21 season.

With the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues also locking up Wild Card spots in their regular season finales, this is the first season under the current 16-team playoff format in which three teams clinched in their final game.

After fighting to get into the dance, all three teams will be significant underdogs to advance any further.

The 2024-25 Stanley Cup Playoffs bracket is officially set.

While the puck doesn’t drop on the NHL postseason until Saturday night, we’ve already seen some notable odds movement in FanDuel’s first round series winner markets.

This is the Morning Coffee for Thursday April 17th, 2025.

Habs Punch Playoff Ticket, Open As Heavy Underdog Versus Capitals

Nobody expected the Canadiens to make the playoffs.

After an epic turnaround in which they went from a potential lottery team to clinching a Wild Card spot, nobody is expecting them to contend for a Stanley Cup.

16 teams advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Montreal has the longest odds to win the Stanley Cup of all 16 teams at 90-to-1 at FanDuel.

“So, you’re saying there’s a chance.”

What are the odds the Habs get out of the first round?

FanDuel has the Canadiens at +210 to win their series.

That number represents a 32.3 per cent probability.

It’s a strange coincidence that Montreal will play the Washington Capitals in the first round.

The last time these teams met in the playoffs, the Habs upset the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals as a +420 underdog.

Washington was -645 to win that series.

15 years later, the Capitals are -260 to advance as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed once again.

This time around, Washington isn’t even the biggest series favourite in its own conference.

The Carolina Hurricanes are -280 to advance against the New Jersey Devils.

The Atlantic Division showdown between the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning is expected to be the most competitive first round series.

FanDuel gave the Panthers the slight edge at -118.

The Lightning are -102 to advance.

As for the Battle of Ontario, the Toronto Maple Leafs were bet up from -162 to as high as -176 to beat the Ottawa Senators.

Per the FanDuel traders, 80 per cent of the early handle is on Toronto to win that series.

The biggest story in the Western Conference is how big of a hit the Dallas Stars have taken in futures markets.

The Stars were the favourite to win the Stanley Cup earlier this month and a top three choice to win it all as recently as this week.

However, the combination of a seven-game winless streak, an injury to Jason Robertson in last night’s meaningless season finale, and a first-round match-up against the Colorado Avalanche has resulted in Dallas falling to the ninth choice to win it all at +1100.

The Stars opened as a pick’em in their first round series against the Avalanche.

FanDuel has cut Colorado’s odds to advance from -110 to -152 over the past few days.

Dallas to advance has climbed from -110 to +126.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Jets opened -230 to win their first round series against St. Louis.

Winnipeg is -215 to advance at FanDuel this morning.

The Blues are down from +188 to +176 to advance.

The Vegas Golden Knights are -235 to beat the Wild in the first round.

Minnesota is +190 to advance this morning.

Finally, the Edmonton Oilers are a -138 favourite against the Los Angeles Kings.

In case you missed it, I locked in the Kings to advance at +115 this morning.

The Oilers might be the most dangerous team in the Western Conference at full strength, but they’re dealing with a ton of injuries right now, while the Kings have been outstanding down the stretch.

In terms of FanDuel Best Bets, here are the early plays I’ve already locked in for the first round:

Kings +115 over Oilers

Maple Leafs -162 over Senators

Avalanche -110 over Stars

Golden Knights -235 over Wild

All three of the bets on favourites are to win one unit.

The bet on the Kings is one unit to win 1.15 units.

With just over 48 hours to go until the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin, I’ll do my best to have my full bracket ready for Friday’s Morning Coffee column.

Hopefully, I can do better than last year when I correctly predicted the outcome of 14 of the 15-playoff series.

Have a great day, everyone!