Stanley Cup futures are full of contenders this year.
Puck drop for the NHL Playoffs goes this Saturday. And with the dominance of the Florida Panthers not looming over the field like it has in the last few seasons, it’s a much more wide-open race to the Stanley Cup.
The odds are leaning Colorado, for good reason, but you’ll find solid value just behind them and well into the middle tier of teams looking lift the Cup in June.
Check the latest NHL odds at Lucky Rebel.
Eastern Conference
The Eastern Conference has been a tough grind all season, featuring 5 out of 8 playoff teams with over 100 points on the year and a Wild Card battle that could easily produce a conference finalist later in May. The odds will tell you that any one of the top 3 teams in the East could make it to the Stanley Cup finals, and the eyeball test pushes that number even higher.
Carolina Hurricanes
The ‘Canes finished the NHL regular season at the top of the Eastern Conference, but it’s a shaky title. Buffalo, Tampa, and Montreal all finished within 7 points of Carolina, who played a softer Metropolitan division schedule. That’s a couple of shootout wins either way, and they could easily be the #4 or #5 seed instead of #1.
At +475 heading into the first round, the Hurricanes are second only to Colorado in our Stanley Cup futures to win it all. We’re fading the ‘Canes a little though. There are too many wagons in the Eastern Conference that could put a stop to Carolina in any round. Even the Senators in the first round are no cakewalk.
Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo has that heroic underdog feel to them heading into this year’s NHL playoffs. Not because of their regular season record – they won the brutal Atlantic – but because this is the first time they’ve sniffed the postseason in 15 years. To say they and their fan base are hungry is an understatement.
Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin lead a fast, big Sabres team that is built for the playoffs. Sitting at +1600 currently, they look undervalued compared to Carolina and Tampa, especially when you look at the blender that the Atlantic was this season. They also secured home ice for at least the first couple rounds. That matters. They were 26-10-4 at the KeyBank Center this year.
Tampa Bay Lightning
With a likely Vezina winner and the almost-Art Ross winner leading the way for the Lightning, they could power their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Especially with their state nemesis Panthers out of the way this year.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is capable of shutting the door and winning a series on his own. Forward Nikita Kucherov has been on fire this year again, coming just short of McDavid in the NHL point scoring standings at the end of the season. Kucherov is tied for the most points in the league since the Olympic break, peaking at just the right time for the playoffs. After what could be their toughest opponent, Montreal, in the first round, the Lightning’s path and their +550 number look more appealing than Carolina’s odds.
Montreal Canadiens
The dark horse of the Stanley Cup playoffs for 2025-26, the Canadiens have the offense and possibly the goaltending to go far. At +4000 though, your best play here is a small piece of your bankroll. But they can light it up with 51-goal scorer Coal Caufield and 100+ point scorer Nick Suzuki leading the way. Montreal finished the season 6th in league scoring.
What else gives the Habs a slight shot? They beat Tampa, their first round opponent, twice in the last two weeks of the season, with both games played in a playoff-like intensity. They’ve also taken down every team ahead of their 106-point season total at least once this year.
Western Conference
The Pacific was called a “pillow fight” division recently by Connor McDavid, and he knows what he’s talking about. It’s the softest in the NHL. But that pillow fight can turn into a battle with a bag full of rocks known as the Avalanche at some point during the playoffs.
Colorado Avalanche
The Avs were the most dominant team in the NHL this season, putting together massive win streaks and staying in beast mode on offense and in nets. First in points scored, first in goals allowed, first on the PK.
Do they have any weak spots? Their power play was surprisingly lacking, finishing the year at only 27th in the NHL. They tried to shore that up by grabbing Nazim Kadri at the trade deadline, and his playoff experience should help. Expect the Avs, currently at +315 to win the Stanley Cup, to come out of the West with relative ease.
Dallas Stars
Because Colorado is sucking all the oxygen out of the West, that leaves NHL bettors with the next-best team in the West, Dallas, at a hefty +1000 to win the Cup.
But the Stars can get as hot as any team in the NHL. They have a 45-goal scorer in Jason Robertson, a high-scoring sandpaper player in Mikko Rantanen, and they hold 2nd place in the NHL in both goals allowed and PP%.
Their toughest out is in the first round of this bizarre new NHL playoff format that guarantees one of the top 3 teams in the conference will get the hook by the end of April/early May. That’s because they face the Minnesota Wild. The teams split their season series and only a couple of points separated them by the final horn after 82 games. But if they get past the Wild, Dallas will be a rough matchup for anyone, including Colorado.
Edmonton Oilers
The best value in the West might come from the Edmonton Oilers.
At +1200, that’s a big number, we know. But it comes with a lineup that includes the NHL’s leading scorer and human highlight reel Connor McDavid. He’s lost two straight Stanley Cups and is extra motivated not to taste defeat again this year. If you saw (and heard) McDavid after last year’s Cup loss, you wouldn’t bet against him. The guy looks possessed.
If Edmonton can rely on decent goaltending – and that’s fairly big if – don’t rule out a march to at least the Western finals in the “pillow fight” conference for an experienced, playoff-ready team like Edmonton.