Congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights, fresh off their first Stanley Cup championship in their brief franchise history. With some impending cap issues to work through, it may be tough for the Golden Knights to get back here next June, opening the door for us to look through the leaderboard for next season.
The NHL draft and free agency remain, and there is sure to be movement throughout the league prior to the new season's puck drop. But it's never too early to get prepared and acclimated with how the board looks.
Odds are courtesy of DraftKings. Below are the top 15 favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup in 2024.
Fresh off their record-setting regular season, the Bruins are the co-favorites to win it all next year. David Pastrnak is hitting his prime, but the franchise feels likely to say goodbye to longtime center Patrice Bergeron, and some of their trade-deadline acquisitions are free agents this summer.
Colorado should hopefully have a healthier 2023-24 season, which would put them back in the mix to add to their mantle. The Avalanche too have a solid crop of unrestricted free agents to work through as they surround Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen with as much talent as possible.
Two teams to keep an eye on find themselves in the top-five: the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils.
Edmonton has two of the most talented players in the NHL in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and they don't have any glaring free agents set to depart the team. The Oilers need to add more pieces at all three levels to take that next step. Over the past two seasons they've reached the Western Conference Final and second round, and McDavid has to find his way to a Cup Final sooner before later.
The Oilers are the most promising chance Canada has of breaking their long drought of Stanley Cup winners.
As for New Jersey, they outperformed expectations in 2022 thanks to the play of Jack Hughes, and they have a young core set to run it back next season. Extending Timo Meier and/or adding another offensive piece will go a long way here for the Devils, who fell to Carolina in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Not shown above, but set aside the Nashville Predators as a long-shot, currently priced at +7500. The Predators were in the postseason mix right up to the end of the year, and despite all of their top players being sidelined with injuries, they kept winning and pushing for the West's final wild card spot. Young players like Cody Glass and Luke Evangelista showed something, and the Predators are loaded with picks in this NHL draft. They have talented forwards, defensemen and Juuse Saros in net, making them a team we like to bounce-back in 2024.
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