John Tavares makes the Maple Leafs the 2019 Stanley Cup favorites

The Maple Leafs got the prize of free agency in John Tavares, and as a result they’ve become to favorites to win the biggest prize there is, the Stanley Cup.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the John Tavares sweepstakes after months of speculation. The city of Toronto is ecstatic about their chances at a Stanley Cup now, and they are wasting no time putting their money where there mouth is.

According to Oddsshark, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now the odds on favorites to win the 2019 Stanley Cup after signing John Tavares with 6/1 odds, or +600. The next closest team is the Nashville Predators with 9/1/+900 odds.

Obviously, the Stanley Cup buzz is still a bit premature for the Maple Leafs as they still have work to do before their first game of the season in October, especially on the blue line, but there is no reason not to have optimism. Adding Tavares to their already stacked offense easily makes it arguably the best in the NHL.

It’s the defense of the Maple Leafs that still leaves much to be desired, with not much talent outside of Morgan Reilly available to keep pucks away from Frederick Andersen. Obviously they can still make trades in order to improve their defense, and the optimism in Toronto could increase even more if they can land another name.

The former New York Islanders captain is in the heart of his prime and is coming off one of his best seasons in his ten year career after registering 37 goals and 47 assists for 84 points in 82 games. With better linemates in Toronto than he ever had in New York, you can resoably expect those numbers to increase over the next few seasons.

For the now Tavares-less Islanders, Tavares leaving dropped them all the way to being tied for the second worst odds in the league to win the Stanley cup at 75/1/+7500, tied with the lowly Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967 when there was just six teams in the entire league, the longest Stanley Cup drought in the NHL. But who knows, that could change very soon.