Among the hallmarks of the Stanley Cup playoffs has long been its penchant for unpredictability, and going into the 2025 edition, bookmakers and bettors alike are finding very little agreement on how the tournament will play out.
The Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers enter as the favorites to hoist the Cup at most major sportsbooks, including ESPN BET, where they sport +700 and +750 odds, respectively. The Carolina Hurricanes (+925) are third at most books, but are actually the favorites at FanDuel with +650 odds.
There’s virtually no agreement between the sportsbooks from there, with teams showing wildly different lines up and down the odds board. The parity is also heavily pronounced, as the Toronto Maple Leafs rank 10th at most books but are +1500 or shorter at each one.
“The NHL Playoffs are very unique, with smaller margins between even the best and worst teams,” Adrian Horton, ESPN BET director of North American sports trading, wrote via email. “The low-scoring nature of the sport means a single mistake can determine the outcome, and with all 18 skaters sharing ice time, no individual player can dominate the same way they can in the NBA, for example.”
For reference, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics are the favorites going into the NBA playoffs at +180 and +190, respectively.
The Avalanche are one of the most well-supported teams among the betting public, ranking in the top three for bet and/or handle percentage at several sportsbooks. The Panthers, despite being the reigning Stanley Cup champions, are seeing somewhat less support marketwide, but still hold 13% of all Cup future bets at DraftKings.
But just like the sportsbooks, bettors don’t know how to handle the rest of the field, with the Edmonton Oilers (+925), Vegas Golden Knights (+925), Winnipeg Jets (+975), Washington Capitals (+1100) and Toronto (+1400) all ranking in various sportsbooks’ top fives for tickets and/or handle.
Just a few weeks ago, the Dallas Stars were seen as one of the teams to beat, but they fell well behind in the odds after losing seven consecutive games to end the regular season. The Stars sport +1100 odds at ESPN BET and face the Avs in the first round.
There are also two longshots, the St. Louis Blues (+5000) and Montreal Canadiens (125-1), who made furious runs following the 4 Nations Faceoff break to sneak into the postseason. With their compelling narratives and very long odds compared to the rest of the field, bettors hopped on these squads’ bandwagons to create the two largest liabilities at both BetMGM and ESPN BET.
One set of liabilities sportsbooks won’t have to worry about: American Original Six teams. For the first time in NHL history, the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers all failed to make the playoffs in the same season, a massive relief for bookmakers, who are always having to balance their books around these immensely popular squads, particularly the last one.
“Some of those real popular teams being knocked out, that’s one of the reasons we’re not in as bad a shape as we usually are,” DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. “The Rangers are always in the top five [for liability] every single year. So this year it’s not a team we have to worry about.”
Source link
