How to bet the 2023 Stanley Cup conference finals - ESPN

The way the Stanley Cup Playoffs have shaken out with such unpredictability, any favorite should be considered a prohibitive one at best.

That said, there is a clear favorite to win it all as the postseason is whittled down to a final four teams. The Carolina Hurricanes (+230) lead the Vegas Golden Knights (+250), Dallas Stars (+300) and Florida Panthers (+330) as the top choice to win the Stanley Cup.

According to Bet MGM, Carolina went from an opening line of +1200 down to its current value.

Any of those four teams could win the Stanley Cup. But they have to get their first. Here's a look at some of the wagers we have our eyes on for the conference finals.

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I've been on the Stars as a solid choice in the Western Conference for most of the season. I know I've mentioned the following bit of trivia several times on Daily Wager: Dallas coach Peter DeBoer led the New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks to the Stanley Cup Final in his first years with those teams. He also led the 2020 Vegas Golden Knights to the conference final in his first season there in 2020, before being fired last summer. That's one of a dozen fascinating subplots to this series.

I think Dallas is a clear choice here for a few reasons. The first is that Vegas is a much better pace-of-play matchup for Dallas than Seattle was in the previous round. The Kraken pushed the tempo to the point where it was deleterious to the Stars' veteran players. They might be the pacesetters against the Golden Knights.

While Jake Oettinger wasn't at