As the NHL drops the puck on the 2026-27 season, three teams stand above the rest in the odds to win the Stanley Cup, but sportsbooks are not in consensus over which should be the stand-alone favorite.
DraftKings has a tie atop its championship odds board with the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers at +650, while the reigning Presidents Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche are just behind at +700.
However, BetMGM and FanDuel have Florida as the standalone favorite at +650, while Caesars gives the top spot to Colorado at +600.
There are clear arguments for each.
The Hurricanes are the reigning champions and have many of the same pieces in place as last season. However, some books are electing to keep them third on the odds board, at as long as +800, because they are not overly popular with futures bettors.
"They can win four Cups in a row, they're probably just never going to be this social darling that always gets money," Caesars head of hockey Karry Shreeve told ESPN. "So you're kind of always safe lengthening Carolina's odds a little bit just because you know you're not going to get that public money."
The Avalanche have been fairly popular in the Stanley Cup market, attracting the second-most handle (14%) at DraftKings and the most tickets (9.4%) at BetMGM. Shreeve's argument for making them the favorite at Caesars is that they were "the most dangerous team on the ice last year" and have brought back most of their core. In his estimation, the only thing preventing them from winning the title last season was a "really bad eight days" in the playoffs.
Finally, there are the Panthers, a blend of pedigree, offseason improvement and betting action.
Florida opened at 11-1 -- respectable given that it won the Stanley Cup in 2024 and 2025 -- but rapidly shortened after news broke that the team had acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators. Bookmakers took action on the Panthers before and after the trade, so that injection of long-odds money made them a liability for several books even after the odds shortened.
"The Panthers are the one team that's probably been just a steady flow of money since the future book's been up, and so it's kind of surprising how we've got this little bit of liability on the Panthers at such a short price," DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. "In the whole scheme of things, yeah, it's a liability, but by the time the season ends, they're probably not going to be, and if they are, it'll probably be less than what it is."
Avello and other bookmakers are counting on bettors biting on longer shots for the title to even out the future book.
One of those teams is the Washington Capitals, who moved to 17-1 after opening at 50-1, according to DraftKings lines. Bettors seem to be banking on one more Stanley Cup run for Alex Ovechkin before his retirement, allowing Washington to garner a fifth-best 5% of the money at DraftKings.
Another darling with the betting public has been the San Jose Sharks (35-1). Led by young star Macklin Celebrini, one of the favorites for the Hart Trophy at +450, the Sharks have been a popular play across a variety of futures markets, with bettors looking to support the young team however they can.
The same can be said for the Toronto Maple Leafs (25-1), who will feature 2026 No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna on their roster.
"Celebrini is getting backed to win the Hart at +450, so they kind of go hand-in-hand, looking at him to win that and then the team to have a good year," Avello said. "Both of those teams are what I would call in the second tier.
"The bettors don't feel that these teams, even though they didn't make the playoffs last year, that they won't contend this year."