The 2024-25 NHL season is entering its final stage. Most teams have around 25 games remaining (give or take a couple) and the playoff races are heating up. Stanley Cup favourites have emerged with 5 teams establishing themselves as the most likely to win the Cup, while another 5 have solidified themselves as the other top contenders.
Below let’s look at these ten teams that are considered the most likely to lift the Stanley Cup this spring. The odds indicating each teams perceived chance of winning the Cup were found at popular online sportsbook. If you’re a Canadian interested in betting on the Stanley Cup I suggest checking out HowToBet.ca. They have a wide variety of betting guides for Canadians including specific guides available for betting on the NHL and the Stanley Cup.
Edmonton Oilers 6-1
The Oilers are the Stanley Cup favourites at most sportsbooks. Connor McDavid is widely considered to be the best player in the NHL. He’s coming off a title winning goal for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and he seems ready to solidify his legacy in the game with a Stanley Cup. Add in the fact that McDavid hasn’t even been the best player on his team this season and you can see why the Oilers are considered Cup favourites. Leon Draisatl, the 2020 Hart Trophy winner, is having another Hart worthy season as he battles with Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in points. The Oilers have been built around these two elite level talents and the team looks ready to finish the job this year after losing in 7 games to Florida in last years Cup Finals.
Carolina Hurricanes 7-1
The Hurricanes are the second favourites. This team just picked up Mikko Rantanen to join Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, and Jaccob Slavin on this star-studded team. Rantanen has yet to perform up to expectations since the trade, but if he finds his game this team will be a very difficult out in the playoffs.
Florida Panthers 9-1
The defending champs are looking to repeat. The Panthers are basically the same team as last year and if they stay healthy, they have a legitimate shot to repeat. Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, and Aleksander Barkov are on par with any other teams top 3 players, and then you can add in winners like Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Carter Verhaeghe.
Dallas Stars 9-1
The Stars lost in 4 games to the Oilers in the Western Conference Finals last year. This is a team that is built to win. They don’t really have any super elite stars, but they could be considered the deepest team in the league.
Washington Capitals 10-1
The Capitals are battling with the Jets for the Presidents’ Trophy. This team plays a rock-solid style that is hard to penetrate, while still scoring the most goals in the league to this point. The Capitals are no joke, and they deserve to be considered a favourite based on how they’ve played this season.
Avalanche, Devils, Jets, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs 12-1
As I mentioned above the Jets are battling for the Presidents’ Trophy and it may be a little disrespectful, they are in this second group of contenders when they have the best goal differential in the league. The Jets have the second most goals for and fewest goals against in the league, which is just a wild statistic 58 games in.
The other four teams all have the talent on paper and look locked into playoff positions in both Conferences. If any of these teams gets hot in the playoffs they have as good a shot of winning the Cup as anyone.