The Spengler Cup is one of the oldest trophies in International Hockey and it will once again be fought for this Christmas season in Davos, Switzerland, from December 26th until the finals on December 31st.
There are six teams participating in this years tournament and the format will include two groups of 3 teams, with the top placing team in each group advancing to the semi-finals, while the other two teams battle against the other group in the quarters.
The teams that will be participating in the 2012 Spengler Cup include HC Davos (host from Swiss National League A), HC Fribourg-Gotteron (also from Swiss National League A), Adler Mannheim (from German Deutsche Eishockey Liga), Salavat Yulaev Ufa (from KHL), HC Vitkovice Steel (from Czech Extraliga) and Team Canada (generally made up of Canadians playing in European leagues).
Team Canada looks to be in a good position this year with many NHL caliber players on the roster due to the NHL lockout being in full effect. Some of these stars include Ryan Smyth, Tyler Seguin, Sam Gagner, Patrice Bergeron, Jason Williams, John Tavares, Jason Spezza, and Matt Duchene. In net the Canadians have the choice of either Devan Dubnyk or Jonathan Bernier. It’s hard to argue that Team Canada will have the most star studded lineup, but will that translate into a tourney victory?
Patrick Kane, Rick Nash and Joe Thornton are all on the host HC Davos team for the tournament, which could very well cause some trouble for Team Canada in group A. Let’s look at the odds here and see what the oddsmakers are saying:
2012 Spengler Cup Winner Odds
- Team Canada +125
- HC Davos +230
- HC Fribourg Gotteron +350
- Salavat Ufa +400
- Adler Mannheim +700
- HC Vitkovice Steel +1100
Thoughts
As you can see Team Canada is a big favorite and rightfully so. After that, HC Davos is being given a legitimate shot, likely due to their 3 superstar NHLers, while HC Fribourg Gotteron is also being given a decent shot as another team from the Swiss League.
You should note that HC Fribourg Gotteron is actually leading the Swiss National League A with 65 points in 33 games (19 wins), while HC Davos sits in 7th with only 48 points and is actually below .500 (16 wins in 33 games).
Salavat Yulaev Ufa is playing in a much more difficult league and sits 5th in the Eastern Conference in the KHL. We can consider them a fairly average KHL team. Will an average KHL team be superior to the top Swiss League team?
After that Adler Mannheim is currently the top team in the German league with 20 wins in 32 games and HC Vitkovice Steel is currently 9th of 14 in the Czech Extraliga.
I like Team Canada after looking at each of the other teams. The team that I think will put up the biggest fight though is HC Fribourg Gotteron who has shown an ability to win and has had the season to play together, while the Canadians will just be thrown together and expected to compete. That said this is usually the case and Team Canada generally performs fairly well at this tournament. With top notch NHLers thrown into the mix I expect a Team Canada victory.
Tagged With : Odds • Spengler Cup • Team Canada • Winner