Canes, Panthers, Avs favored to win Stanley Cup entering new season - ESPN

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 decently 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