The 2025-26 NHL regular season begins on Tuesday, but it’s never too early to start thinking ahead to potential Stanley Cup champions, from the heavy favorites to the long shots and sleeper dark horses.
For the second year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers are entering the season as one of the top Stanley Cup favorites (+800) at BetMGM. The Oilers are coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances, but have not yet been able to break through and get their superstar duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl their first-ever championship.
The Oilers roster is largely the same as the one we saw in the Stanley Cup Final, which is both a positive and a little bit of a red flag. The positive is that the roster — especially as long as McDavid and Draisaitl are healthy — is clearly good enough to get to the threshold of a championship. The red flag, however, is that the roster still has some obvious flaws that have prevented the team from lifting the Cup. The goaltending situation is still a big question mark, and depth beyond their top core players (McDavid, Draisaitl, defenseman Evan Bouchard) always seems to be hit-and-miss.
Right there with Edmonton at the top of the favorites list is the Vegas Golden Knights (+800) after their big offseason score to add Mitch Marner in a sign-and-trade deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It could be a perfect marriage, as the Golden Knights were in desperate need of a top-line winger, while Marner gets the opportunity to get away from the Toronto pressure-cooker and join a team that has established a culture of postseason success.
The Carolina Hurricanes (+850), Colorado Avalanche (+850) and Dallas Stars (+900) round out the top five favorites.
Carolina is usually an attractive preseason (and in-season) favorite, but there always needs to be some buyer-beware here because the Hurricanes seem to hit a major wall the deeper they get into the playoffs. They excel defensively and in controlling the pace of play, but their lack of high-end finishers and scorers causes them problems when the competition intensifies in the later rounds. Can free-agent forward Nikolaj Ehlers help solve that? The other X-factor is the $10 million in salary cap space they still have that can be used for a big in-season addition.
As long as Colorado has Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, it is going to be a factor in the Western Conference. But is there enough depth here, and will Mackenzie Blackwood duplicate his success from 2024-25 in net? Those are big questions. The return of a healthy Gabriel Landeskog could be a big addition to that lineup.
The Dallas Stars are also going to be right there again after a third consecutive trip to the Western Conference final, and this team is coming back with a full season of Mikko Rantanen after acquiring him at the trade deadline and getting him re-signed to a long-term contract extension.
Just outside the top five is the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers (+1100). After re-signing Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad this offseason, there was every reason to believe a three-peat would be on the horizon. It’s the best roster in the league and a proven championship group. But with Matthew Tkachuk set to miss the first two months and Aleksander Barkov sidelined for what is likely to be the entire season, there is suddenly some concern over those Stanley Cup chances.
Value bets?Minnesota Wild (+3500)
The Wild faded badly in the second half of the 2024-25 season, but that was largely due to massive injuries that decimated their roster. Superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and top center Joel Eriksson Ek both missed most of the second half, while the defense was also dealing with several key absences. When healthy, and especially with Kaprizov in the lineup, they were one of the best teams in the NHL in the first half of the season. All of their top players are back healthy this season, they actually have some salary cap flexibility to work with and they boast one of the NHL’s best farm systems. That’s a team that could make some noise in the Western Conference.
Los Angeles Kings (+2200)
On the opposite end of that spectrum, stay clear of the Kings. Even though the Kings have established themselves as a playoff team, they’ve been unable to advance past the first round in each of the past four seasons and did not improve their roster this offseason. Swapping out defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence for Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci is a huge step backward and limits what was once their greatest strength.
Individual awards
In what should be a yearly expectation, McDavid is the top favorite to win both the Hart Trophy as league MVP (+190) and Art Ross Trophy as the league’s scoring champion (+160). As long as he’s healthy enough to play a full season, the Art Ross Trophy should at least be an expectation for him. He has won it five times already, and since his rookie season, he has never finished lower than third in points per game.
MacKinnon (+475), Kaprizov (+800), Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (+1000), Draisiatl (+1000) and Toronto’s Auston Matthews (+1800) round out the top-six in the Hart Trophy odds.
Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck (+300) is the preseason favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie. He won it a year ago (and the MVP) and is a three-time winner of the award. While his playoff resume has been lacking in recent years, he remains one of the best regular-season goalies in the sport.
New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin (+650) seems to be in line for a bounce-back year and should be considered a front-runner for it as well.
Makar (+150) and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes (+200) are the two heaviest favorites for the Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman. They have won it in each of the past two seasons.
Montreal Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov (+175) is the clear favorite for the Calder Trophy. The next closest odds belong to Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium (+1300).