Will we go from one repeat champion to another? The Colorado Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup since 2001 and are favored to repeat as champions in 2023 according to DraftKings Sportsbook. The Avs are heavy favorites at %plussign% 380, followed by the Toronto Maple Leafs at 8/1 and the Tampa Bay Lightning at 9/1.
Many hockey fans and bettors saw a run like this coming from the Avs with a core group that included Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, but the emergence of Conn Smythe Trophy winner Cale Makar and fellow defensemen Bowen Byram were what ultimately put Colorado over the top.
The Avs, Leafs and Lightning are the only teams with single-digit prices, but the Florida Panthers at 10/1, Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights at 14/1 and a trio of teams at 18/1, with the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild all seem to have good chances for the 2022-23 season.
The upstart New York Rangers behind Igor Shesterkin should be an interesting team to follow this offseason at 20/1. Similarly, the team the Rangers eliminated in the first round, the Pittsburgh Penguins, will garner some attention at that same price after injuries to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin derailed the season to a degree.
Teams are preparing for the NHL Draft on Thursday July 7 and the start of the Free Agent Frenzy on July 13 should shed a lot of light on the upcoming season. Johnny Gaudreau (Flames), Filip Forsberg (Predators), Evgeni Malkin (Penguins) and Claude Giroux (Panthers) are among the big free agent names, along with Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky and Valeri Nichushkin from the Avalanche.
The 2022-23 NHL season will begin on October 11.
2023 Stanley Cup Champion Odds from DraftKings
Avalanche %plussign% 380
Maple Leafs 8/1
Lightning 9/1
Panthers 10/1
Hurricanes 14/1
Golden Knights 14/1
Flames 18/1
Oilers 18/1
Wild 18/1
Penguins 20/1
Rangers 20/1
Blues 22/1
Bruins 22/1
Islanders 35/1
Capitals 35/1
Canucks 45/1
Kings 45/1
Stars 45/1
Sabres 50/1
Red Wings 50/1
Predators 55/1
Flyers 60/1
Jets 60/1
Devils 75/1
Senators 75/1
Ducks 75/1
Blackhawks 100/1
Kraken 100/1
Blue Jackets 100/1
Sharks 100/1
Canadiens 150/1
Coyotes 500/1
