Olympic injuries impact Stanley Cup odds

Pittsburgh, which enters the week five points ahead of the Boston Bruins in the race for first place in the Eastern Conference, sits tied with Chicago at 6/1 on the latest Stanley Cup odds at the books. (Elise Amendola/AP)

With the NHL’s Olympic vacation over, the league resumes action this week with the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins sitting atop the updated Stanley Cup odds.

However, the Penguins are one of a half-dozen teams that saw one of their players get sidelined by an injury at the Sochi tournament.

Penguins defenceman Paul Martin is out indefinitely after suffering a hand injury while playing for Team USA at the Olympics. Pittsburgh, which enters the week five points ahead of the Boston Bruins in the race for first place in the Eastern Conference, sits tied with Chicago at 6/1 on the latest Stanley Cup odds at the books, with the Blues the 11/2 leader.

The Ducks (7/1), Bruins (8/1), Sharks (10/1), Kings (18/1), Maple Leafs (20/1) and Rangers (20/1) follow those leaders on the latest odds to win the Stanley Cup. New York is another team that’s going to have to take the ice without a key player when the league’s schedule resumes this week – forward Mats Zuccarello broke his hand playing for Norway and is out indefinitely.

The Avalanche and Flyers are then both at 22/1 on those Stanley Cup odds, with the Lightning at 25/1 and hoping for some good news on the injury front this week about two players forced to miss the Olympics altogether – forwards Steve Stamkos (leg) and Valtteri Filppula (ankle) will both be evaluated in the next few days and could get back into the lineup.

The Canadiens are at 33/1 on the latest Stanley Cup odds, while the Wild, Canucks, and Capitals sit tied with the Blue Jackets and Red Wings at 40/1 odds. Columbus defenceman Fedor Tyutin suffered an ankle injury playing for Russia in the Olympics. He is expected to miss the next two to three weeks, while Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg couldn’t complete the Olympic tournament for Sweden due to a back injury and could miss the rest of the season.

Longer shots on the Stanley Cup odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com right now include the Hurricanes (50/1), Devils (50/1), Senators (50/1), Coyotes (50/1), Stars (75/1), Jets (100/1), and Predators (100/1), with the Islanders at 300/1 and the Panthers at 500/1.

Florida forward Aleksander Barkov suffered a knee injury with Team Finland and is out indefinitely, while Islanders forward John Tavares hurt his knee playing for Canada and is done for the season.

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