The 2023-2024 NHL season is in the postseason, and every remaining team in the Eastern Conference will be looking to claim a conference title as it progresses. There were a ton of surprises in the postseason in the Eastern Conference last year, and that unpredictability can lead to plenty of chances to do well betting on futures. Here, we look at the Eastern Conference championship futures in the NHL, and who the favorites are to make it to the Stanley Cup Final.
Eastern Conference Championship Odds
Eastern Conference Championship Favorites
There are so many teams with a chance to win the Eastern Conference in the 2023-24 season, as there are around five teams inside of +1000 to win the East at this stage. The current favorites are the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers, with both teams finishing in the top-two in their respective divisions in the regular season.
Surprisingly, the New York Rangers are third on the list of Eastern Conference title favorites despite winning the Presidents’ Trophy this year. All curses and superstitions aside, the Rangers are a very good team that might be underrated as the postseason gets into full swing. But they are heavy favorites to advance past the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.
Along with the Hurricanes, Panthers, and Rangers are a couple of other teams considered to have a real chance to win the East. The Boston Bruins will look to avenge last year’s high-profile failure in the postseason, while the Toronto Maple Leafs will look to avenge the last several years of high-profile postseason failures. But both of those teams are inside of that +1000 mark to win the East and have a shot to do it.
Eastern Conference Longshot Candidates
The three longshot candidates to win the Eastern Conference going into the playoffs are the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders, and Washington Capitals. The Lightning and Capitals got into the playoffs as the two Wild Card teams in the East and will need to do a whole lot of winning on the road if they are going to make a run at the conference championship.
As for the Islanders, they are the only Eastern Conference playoff team with fewer than 40 wins this season. They will be excited that the prospect of a shootout is no longer on the table this year, as they went 1-5 in games decided by shootouts. But the Islanders will still need to prove that they can win close games rather than just participating in them.