No 'clear cut' Cup favorite as Panthers eye No. 3

Bookmakers crossed the sportsbook marketplace don't spot 1 statement Stanley Cup favourite arsenic the Florida Panthers cogwheel up to effort a precise uncommon NHL three-peat.

The Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers are the co-favorites (+800) astatine ESPN BET, with the Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights and Panthers a tier beneath astatine +900, and the Tampa Bay Lightning sporting +1000. However, nary large American sportsbook has the aforesaid operation of solo oregon co-favorites, with Florida and Vegas taking the apical billing astatine immoderate shops.

"The mode I look astatine it, there's nary existent wide cut, abbreviated favorite," DraftKings Sportsbook manager Johnny Avello told ESPN. "This year, it's much wide unfastened astatine the top, and past you person a full 2nd tier of teams that are successful that 20-to-40 range. There's different 10 teams there. Could the Stanley Cup victor travel from there? Absolutely. But the apical tier has 8 teams that we judge volition contend for the title."

The past preseason Stanley Cup favourite to triumph it each was Colorado (+600) successful 2022.

The Panthers opened arsenic 1 of the favorites to triumph the Cup instantly pursuing their 2nd consecutive championship. They were +600 solo favorites by mid-September pursuing offseason declaration extensions for Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett, and contempt offseason surgery for superstar Matthew Tkachuk, who is expected backmost earlier the caller year.

However, a training campy genu injury to skipper Aleksander Barkov, which expects to support him retired for the full regular season, if not longer, derailed Florida's Stanley Cup lines astatine astir books: Several operations instantly dropped the team's title odds, with ESPN BET concisely lengthening to +1000.

That said, the betting enactment connected the Cats has remained robust, with ESPN BET reporting its astir bets (17.1%) and grip (21.4%) backing them to three-peat, portion BetMGM says its 13.8% grip is the second-highest successful the market. Some bookmakers, similar Karry Shreeve, caput of hockey astatine Caesars Sportsbook, refused to adjacent dethrone the Panthers arsenic favorites, noting that Barkov and Tkachuk's injuries person much effect connected the team's regular season-related odds.

"We're not acceptable to driblet them successful terms significantly, astatine slightest for the Stanley Cup, conscionable due to the fact that I'm not convinced who's going to capable their spot [in the playoffs]," Shreeve told ESPN. "So agelong arsenic Florida's getting into the playoffs again, arsenic acold arsenic close now, not knowing thing else, they're still, to me, the favorite. Not by a lot, but inactive a favorite, and not a squad we're consenting to propulsion retired successful terms conscionable yet."

Several sportsbooks, similar DraftKings and ESPN BET, are alternatively precocious connected the Hurricanes, adjacent if bettors are backing them astatine a comparatively debased tickets and wealth clip.

"Carolina is 1 of the astir consistently ascendant teams we person seen successful caller years, having recouped immoderate endowment implicit the summertime arsenic they look to marque different d...