2024 Stanley Cup Odds Update
Panthers, Stars favorites to claim Cup as final four nears; Avalanche, Bruins have longest odds
And then there were seven.
The first final-four ticket of the Stanley Cup playoffs was punched Thursday night when the New York Rangers rallied to eliminate the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3.
New York, which won the Presidents’ Trophy, became the first hockey team with the most regular-season points to reach the conference-final round since the Rangers did so in 2015.
The Rangers may look tough to beat, but they aren’t even the favorites to win their conference. But there’s still time for some major twists and turns to shake up the tournament.
Here’s the 2024 Stanley Cup odds update ahead of the conference finals.
The Favorites
The NHL playoff picture is constantly evolving, but the Florida Panthers are the current favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
Florida, which holds a 3-2 advantage over the Boston Bruins in the second round, is one win from its second straight trip to the Eastern Conference Final, which is why it is +250 to win the Cup and +100 to win the East, according to DraftKings.
The Panthers are the reigning Eastern Conference champs but fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Dallas Stars, who fell to Vegas in the Western Conference Final a year ago, are the Western Conference favorites while leading the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. Dallas is +260 to win the Cup and is a -105 favorite to win the West.
Dallas already exorcized its Vegas demons by topping the reigning champs in seven games in the first round.
The Rangers have the third-shortest odds to win the Cup since they are the only team in the third round. New York, which had an NHL-high 114 points, have not won the Stanley Cup in 30 years and have not played for it in 10 years yet is in the final four for the fifth time in the past 13 NHL seasons.
Longshots
Since the Panthers and Stars are the favorites, it checks out that their opponents are the teams with the longest odds, despite a pair of Game 5 NHL scores that went in their favor.
Thus, the Boston Bruins are a +3000 underdog to win the Stanley Cup. History is on Boston’s side, since the Bruins won 65 hockey games in 2023-24 and each of the past two teams to set the NHL regular-season wins record — (the 1996 Red Wings and 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning — won the Cup the following year.
Still, Boston has been buoyed by goalie Jeremy Swayman, and it is hanging on by a thread needing to win two games against Florida then upset the Rangers then whoever it’ll play in the Cup Final.
The Avalanche, like the Bruins, also warded off second-round elimination with a Game 5 road win but are in dire straits, trailing 3-2. Colorado won the Stanley Cup in 2022 but was eliminated in the first round by the Seattle Kraken in 2023 and needs to rally to even reach the conference final.
Plus, the Avs were dealt a huge blow when it lost leading-scorer Val Nichushkin, who entered Stage 3 of the player-assistance program after reportedly failing a drug test. Nichushkin will miss at least the next six months.
Before discounting either team, it’s important to note that Cup winners often face adversity on their road to the championship. Since 2000, 16 teams have faced elimination before the Cup Final then gone on to win the championship, and three have overcome a 3-1 deficit at some point on their road to the Cup.
Canada’s Chances
It’s been 31 years since a team from Canada won the Stanley Cup, though a Canadian team has come painfully close by falling in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final four times in that span.
A Canadian team is guaranteed to reach the final four, since Edmonton and Vancouver are squaring off in the second round. The Canucks lead the best-of-7 series 3-2.
The Oilers were the favorites to win the Cup entering the playoffs after a 104-point season, spurred on by coach Kris Knoblauch’s arrival in November.
Edmonton has been eliminated by the Cup champ in each of the past two seasons but still has the fourth-shortest NHL odds to win the Cup at +900.
The upstart Canucks have stunned most of the hockey world by coming within a game of the Western Conference Final, especially without all-world goalie Thatcher Demko, who was injured during Vancouver’s first-round series against Nashville. Despite their 3-2 series advantage, the Canucks have longer odds than the Oilers at +1100.
If you’re rooting for the Cup to return back north of the border, you have about an 18.3% chance, based on those odds.
For NHL betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
