Stanley Cup Predictions & Odds 2025-26: Is Dream of 3-Peat Over for Panthers?

I'm as excited about the start of the NHL regular season as a toddler is with their first trick-or-treat candy haul, as I offer my Stanley Cup prediction for the 2025-26 NHL title. 

The NHL picks below highlight the updated Stanley Cup odds while featuring the best bets for four of the five Stanley Cup odds favorites. I also explore whether Aleksander Barkov's season-ending injury has scuppered the Florida Panthers' three-peat bid. 

📊 Stanley Cup odds 2025-26

Stanley Cup odds update in real time. See the NHL odds for every game.

🐾 Can the Panthers win Stanley Cup without Barkov? 

The Panthers have enough character, veteran leadership, winning pedigree, and star power to overcome most setbacks. But losing their captain, heart and soul, and back-to-back Selke Trophy recipient to a significant knee injury is not one of them, especially with Matthew Tkachuk already sidelined long term. 

Last season, Tkachuk said Barkov's influence on the team, both in the locker room and on the ice, is unrivaled. Attrition is already a potential derailing factor for a team that has played as much hockey as the Panthers. 

And while they feed off adversity like no other, conducting themselves with the ultimate prove-you-wrong temperament, losing Barkov is akin to a rainforest without its water supply. 

Eventually, it will wither. 

The Panthers' Stanley Cup odds lengthened from the shortest (+600) to the sixth shortest (+1100) after news of Bakov's ACL and MCL injury broke. 

🌀 Hurricanes (+825)

The Carolina Hurricanes, at least ostensibly, should benefit the most from the Panthers' misery. Their ultimate playoff thorn became less prickly, which might be enough for Rod Brind'Amour's team to vanquish their Eastern Conference final demons. 

Despite the absence of a superstar forward, the Hurricanes were among the top 10 in goals for per game (ninth) and goals for per 60 minutes 5-on-5 (seventh) last season. That score-by-committee approach served them well until they ran into the juggernaut Cats. 

Frederik Andersen has proven time and again he can be the difference maker between the pipes when he's healthy. However, he's 35 years old and is more injury prone than a professional stuntman. If he can defy the odds and avoid the treatment table, the Hurricanes represent the best bet to win the East.

That's where their good fortune will run out, though, as a few Western Conference teams are better suited to lift the Holy Grail. 

Best bet: Hurricanes to win Eastern Conference
Best odds: +430 via FanDuel

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♞ Golden Knights (+900)

Now, this is a team I can get behind.

The Vegas Golden Knights are built for a Stanley Cup run. While that blanket statement applies to this team pretty much every season, the addition of Mitch Marner renders it even more true in 2025-26. The defeat in last season's playoffs to the Edmonton Oilers was much closer than the five-game series indicates. 

And this time around, they'll be equipped with Marner, one of the league's best playmakers and offensive creators. He's also underrated in his own zone, which should help Vegas' chances of clearing the final hurdle. 

Goaltender Adin Hill has already shown his ability to lead the team through a grueling playoffs, and they have one of the deepest rosters. The question is whether their defense is good enough to overcome the loss of Alex Pietrangelo. I'm on the yay side of that debate. 

All of this is predicated on the team re-signing Jack Eichel, whose contract is set to expire at the end of this season. 

Best bet: Golden Knights to win Stanley Cup
Best odds: +900 via bet365

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♞ Avalanche (+900)

The Colorado Avalanche can give any team a run for its money. However, head coach Jared Bednar doesn't have a lot of depth down the middle, with things getting murkier after the formidable one-two punch of Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson.

Jack Drury and Zakhar Bardakov are currently residing in the third and fourth spots. I'm also not convinced about Mackenzie Blackwood's ability to lead the team to the promised land.

He was superb after arriving from the San Jose Sharks last season, even entering the Vezina Trophy discussion, albeit fleetingly. However, he struggled against the Dallas Stars in the latter stages of the first round, and despite being 28 years old, he has just seven playoff starts under his belt. 

Best bet: Avalanche to win the Central Division 
Best odds: +225 via DraftKings

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🛢️ Oilers (+900)

What a quagmire the Edmonton Oilers represent. Each of the last two seasons, I backed them from the onset to break their now 35-year Stanley Cup drought.

And each time they (and I) were foiled by the Panthers, and to an equal degree, ownership's inability or refusal to deal with their goaltending issues. I'm the first to admit that Stuart Skinner stood on his head at certain junctures in both runs to the final, most notably in the latter stages of a series. 

However, he is just as prone to enduring a howler, conceding weak, inexcusable goals at the most inopportune time. Those moments are decisive when the margin for error is so razor-thin. 

There's also an elephant lurking in the Oilers' locker room at Rogers Place, manifesting as Connor McDavid's contract.

Can the Oilers re-sign him, or will the world's best hockey player decide that winning a cup in the current environment in Edmonton is just beyond him and his close-but-no-cigar Oilers?  

Best bet: Oilers to win Pacific Division
Best odds: +170 via DraftKings

⭐ Stars (+1000)

I'm fading the Stars, believing their three-season streak of advancing to the Western Conference final will end.

While an impressive feat, the NHL playoffs are not a game of Horseshoes, and getting close to the Stanley Cup Final doesn't earn a prize. 

Recovering from a collapsed lung, captain Jamie Benn is out for at least a month. Their top offensive guns, like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Matt Duchene, saw their production dry up in the playoffs last season, forcing them to rely solely on Mikko Rantanen's prolific exploits for too long. 

In addition, I don't believe new head coach Glen Gulutzan is the right man for the job. The former Edmonton Oilers' assistant has his work cut out, and he'll need goaltender Jake Oettinger to stand on his head throughout the postseason for them to win hockey's most prized possession. 

❓ Stanley Cup Final FAQs

Who is the Stanley Cup Final favorite?

The Carolina Hurricanes are the 2026 Stanley Cup odds favorites. Their best odds stand at +825, representing an implied win probability of 10.81%, according to our odds converter.

Who won the last Stanley Cup?

The Panthers defeated the Oilers in six games, beating Edmonton for the second straight final. 

When do the NHL playoffs start? 

Last season, the playoffs started on Saturday, April 19, 2025. This season's playoffs should start close to that date. 

When does the Stanley Cup Final start?

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final began on Wednesday, June 4 and ended on June 17. 

When was the last back-to-back Stanley Cup winner?

The Florida Panthers won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2024 and 2025. Previously, the Tampa Bay Lightning won it in 2020 and 2021, the Pittsburgh Penguins won it in 2016 and 2017, and the Detroit Red Wings in 1996 and 1997. 

When was the last Stanley Cup three-peat?

The New York Islanders won four Stanley Cups in a row from 1980 to 1983.