Florida has some key free agents to sort out, including Sam Reinhart, who scored the game-winner in Game 7. Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

NHL futures: Odds on 2025 Stanley Cup champ and YB's early picks

By Griffin Carroll | Last updated Jun 25, 2024 12:13 PM ET

Congratulations to the Florida Panthers on their first-ever Stanley Cup win! It's never too early to look ahead on next year's favorites, and we've got a pair of picks worth backing now and rooting on for next season's Cup run.

Betting favorites to win 2024-25 Stanley Cup

Odds courtesy of DraftKings.

Florida Panthers (+900)
Dallas Stars (+900)
Edmonton Oilers (+950)
New York Rangers (+1200)
Colorado Avalanche (+1200)
Carolina Hurricanes (+1200)
New Jersey Devils (+1300)
Vegas Golden Knights (+1600)
Toronto Maple Leafs (+1600)
Vancouver Canucks (+2000)

It's certainly early to do this exercise, and we'll most definitely revisit this post free agency. Teams like Florida should once again be among the league's best next season, but they have some key free agents to sort out, namely Sam Reinhart (who scored the game-winning goal in Game 7), Brandon Montour and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Carolina also has to figure out quite a free impending free agents, with Jake Guentzel, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce and Teuvo Teravainen all set to hit the open market.

Finding some continuity can go a long way when securing a future at this juncture, and that's where we'll go here.

Our favorite bets now

Edmonton Oilers (+950)

This time last season we highlighted the Florida Panthers, and look how that turned out. Yes, Edmonton just lost the Stanley Cup Final, but they've now shown that they can get there after a few years of close runs at it.

Yes, the Oilers have quite the slew of impending free agents, but Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard aren't going anywhere. That alone is going to have Edmonton right back in the mix, and after storming back down 0-3, the Oilers should be hungrier than ever to get a Cup back to Canada.

New Jersey Devils (+1300)

New Jersey had a big year in 2022 and then dealt with a bevy of injuries this past season that kept them out of the postseason. Beyond injuries, the Devils also struggled with seriously below-average goaltending.

New Jersey has already worked to remedy that, acquiring Jacob Markstrom in a trade last week. If Markstrom can solidify this team between the pipes, look out for the Devils in 2024-25.

They should have their entire top-six back of Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Nicho Hischier, Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer, and defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes aren't going anywhere either.

This team is a legitimate contender next season if they can bring in another impact defender and depth forward piece for their third line.

Griffin Carroll

Griffin Carroll is focused on bringing you the betting numbers that matter. With a focus on the NFL, NHL and NBA, Griffin relies on a data-driven betting approach for prop bets, spread picks and over/unders.

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