- Despite being swept by the Florida Panthers in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, the Carolina Hurricanes are the 2024 Stanley Cup betting favorites.
- The Western Conference betting favorites are the Dallas Stars, who lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Conference Finals.
- Will the Stanley Cup return to Canada in 2024? Four Canadian clubs are in the mix: Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
The 2024 NHL regular season ended on Thursday, April 18. With the 82-game campaign behind us, 16 NHL clubs begin their pursuit of the 2024 Stanley Cup. The current betting favorites, before the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on Saturday, April 20, are the Carolina Hurricanes. The Dallas Stars are the Western Conference club with the best betting odds ahead of the first round of the playoffs. Both teams have won the Stanley Cup. Carolina hoisted the Cup in 2006, while Dallas claimed the trophy in 1999.
The NHL Eastern Conference Playoff teams in 2024: New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Washington Capitals.
The NHL Western Conference Playoff teams in 2024: Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Vegas Golden Knights, and Los Angeles Kings.
Before we look at the betting odds, picks, and predictions for the 2024 Stanley Cup, check out our betting odds for the 2024 Hart Memorial Trophy, and our tips for betting on the NHL.
2024 Stanley Cup betting picks
Carolina Hurricanes
The knock against the Carolina Hurricanes in the recent past is that the team, while defensively sound, lacked the goal scoring needed once things get a lot tighter in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The team broke with tradition this year and made a move at the trade deadline to address that issue, picking up Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guentzel, who played 50 games for the Pens in 2024 (22 goals, 30 assists), was more than a point-a-game player for the Hurricanes down the stretch, scoring eight goals and contributing 17 assists in 17 games. Another trade deadline pickup, Evgeny Kuznetsov, who joined from the Washington Capitals, also upped his offense once he moved to Carolina, picking up seven points (two goals, five assists) in 20 games with the ‘Canes.
If there is one worry about the Hurricanes heading into their first-round matchup against the New York Islanders, it is goaltending. Carolina’s starting goalie, Frederik Andersen, missed 50 games because of a blood clotting issue. Since he returned in March, Andersen is 13-2-0 with a .932 save percentage and a 1.84 goals-against average in 16 starts. However, he has not played back-to-back games since returning to the team.
Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars rebounded from their loss in last year’s Western Conference Finals by posting a 113-point season, one point shy of the team’s best finish in 1999 when they had 114 points. Oh, 1999 is also the one and only time the Stars won the Stanley Cup. This is to say that management’s decision to keep the team’s core together for another year was wise. The team was a deep one last year, with nine players who scored more than 10 goals in the regular season. The number of players who netted over 10 goals this year was 11, including off-season signing Matt Duchene, who contributed 25 goals in 80 games.
The Stars scored the second-most goals in the Western Conference in 2024 with 298. The team was also defensively sound, giving up 234 goals, for the best goal differential in the West at +64, which was second in the league behind the Florida Panthers, who were +68.
Dallas picked up some defensive help at the trade deadline, adding Chris Tanev. Tanev, who is in a contract year, will be a player the team will look to make major contributions in the postseason. He averages more than 19 minutes of play per game.
Stars’ goalie Jake Oettinger finished the regular season by winning 10 of his last 11 games, giving up 17 goals in that span.
Edmonton Oilers
Many pundits had the Edmonton Oilers picked to win the Pacific Division at the start of the 2024 NHL season. Those picks seemed off the mark when the club opened the year with just two wins in their first 11 games. The Oilers bounced back from that horrific start, but that came after the team fired coach Jay Woodcroft in November. Kris Knoblauch took over the team on November 13, 2023, and righted the ship, leading the club to a second-place finish in the Pacific Division.
This year could be a make-or-break year for the Oilers. If the club fails to win the Stanley Cup in 2024, one of the team’s two superstars, Leon Draisaitl, will head into the 2025 season in the final year of his contract. With no Cup to his name since signing with the club as the third overall pick in the 2014 draft, Draisaitl could look to move out of the shadow of the league’s best player, Connor McDavid.
Edmonton played two six-game series in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, beating the LA Kings in the first round, but falling to eventual Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
One player to watch in the postseason is Zach Hyman. He had a career-best 54 goals this year after scoring 36 times last season. However, Hyman only netted three goals in the postseason in 2023. If Hyman struggles this year, the Oilers might have an early exit.
Best bet to win the 2024 Stanley Cup
The Carolina Hurricanes looked like they had all the tools to claim the 2023 Stanley Cup, but the team fell short. While the Florida Panthers sweeping them in the Eastern Conference Finals was not the ideal scenario for Carolina, it did show the club, and its management team, what it needed to fix to get back to the Cup Finals. The team addressed those issues in the off-season and shored things up even more at the trade deadline. With that, the Carolina Hurricanes are the betting pick to claim the Stanley Cup in 2024.
Betting pick to win the 2024 Stanley Cup: Carolina Hurricanes
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