Updated September 24, 2026
The 2026-27 NHL season begins with a deep Stanley Cup field and no overwhelming favorite. Florida, Colorado and defending champion Carolina sit at the front of the market, while Edmonton and Vegas are close enough to form a clear leading group.
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The 2026-27 NHL season begins with a deep Stanley Cup field and no overwhelming favorite. Florida, Colorado and defending champion Carolina sit at the front of the market, while Edmonton and Vegas are close enough to form a clear leading group.
Beyond the favorites, teams such as Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Dallas give the market plenty of depth. With an 84-game regular season ahead, injuries, goaltending and trade activity should create significant movement before the playoffs begin.
The Stanley Cup futures market currently has Florida, Colorado and Carolina separated from most of the field, with Edmonton and Vegas occupying the next tier.
That does not necessarily make the shortest-priced team the strongest Stanley Cup pick. Colorado enters the season with arguably the NHL's strongest overall core, Carolina brings back most of its championship roster, and Florida expects to look much different with Aleksander Barkov healthy again.
The gap between the leading contenders is small enough that the Stanley Cup market should remain fluid throughout the season.
Florida is back among the Stanley Cup favorites after missing the playoffs last season. Aleksander Barkov is healthy again, while Brady Tkachuk joins Matthew Tkachuk on a roster that already won consecutive championships in 2024 and 2025.
Goaltending is the biggest change. Jacob Markstrom replaces Sergei Bobrovsky, creating some uncertainty at an important position. Still, the combination of Barkov, the Tkachuk brothers and Florida's established playoff core gives the Panthers one of the highest ceilings in hockey.
Colorado finished 55-16-11 last season and reached the Western Conference Final before being swept by Vegas. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar remain the foundation of a roster built to compete for the Stanley Cup immediately.
There were changes around the core, but Colorado remains deep at forward and on defense. The Avalanche have been one of the NHL's strongest regular-season teams for several years, and the question is once again whether that quality translates into another championship run.
Carolina enters 2026-27 as the defending Stanley Cup champion after going 16-3 during an extraordinary postseason run.
Most of the championship core remains intact, which gives the Hurricanes a realistic opportunity to repeat. The biggest question is in goal after Frederik Andersen left for Edmonton. Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov now carry more responsibility for a team that otherwise remains one of the deepest in the league.
Any team built around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl has to remain part of the Stanley Cup conversation. Edmonton also added Frederik Andersen after its first-round exit last season, giving the Oilers a new option in goal.
The bigger question is whether the changes around McDavid and Draisaitl are enough. Edmonton has a new coach in Mike Babcock and a different defensive structure after another active offseason.
Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final last season and continues to have one of the most experienced cores in the Western Conference.
Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl give Vegas high-end forward talent, but Pavel Dorofeyev's departure removes an important source of scoring. There is also uncertainty in goal and behind the bench with Ryan Craig taking over as head coach.
Dallas remains one of the more interesting teams outside the shortest prices. Jason Robertson, Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger give the Stars quality at every major position.
Dallas has been close for several seasons without breaking through. That combination of depth, goaltending and playoff experience keeps the Stars firmly in the Stanley Cup picture.
Tampa Bay remains difficult to dismiss while Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy are still playing at an elite level.
The Lightning have struggled to turn strong regular seasons into playoff success recently, going four consecutive seasons without winning a series. John Carlson adds another experienced piece to the blue line, but Tampa has more to prove than some of the other leading contenders.
Carolina has the championship, Florida has returned to full strength and several Western Conference teams have legitimate cases. Colorado, however, still has the roster I trust most over the course of a full season and playoff run.
MacKinnon and Makar remain two of the NHL's defining players, while Colorado has enough quality around them to avoid relying exclusively on its stars. Last season's Western Conference Final sweep was a disappointing finish, but it did little to change the underlying strength of the roster.
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