NHL Betting News This Month | Stanley Cup 2027 Best Bets, Market Watch & Betting Analysis | October 16, 2026

Just over two weeks into the NHL season, the Stanley Cup futures are favoring the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Carolina Hurricanes are set as +600 favorites to be the team lifting Lord Stanley’s mug aloft yet again at the end of the 2026-27 NHL season.

There was plenty of movement in this betting market during the early weeks of the campaign.

The Colorado Avalanche, 2022 Stanley Cup champions, are the second betting choice. The Avs are at +700 to win it all. Colorado was the NHL regular-season champion in 2025-26.

The Florida Panthers, who were +650 co-favorites with the Hurricanes when the NHL season began, are now the +750 third choice in this betting market.

With just one regulation loss through their first seven games, the Edmonton Oilers shortened from +850 to +800 in Stanley Cup futures. The Oilers were losers to Florida in the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup finals.

Always a contender, last spring’s losing finalists, the Vegas Golden Knights, are sitting at +1000. The Golden Knights were atop the NHL standings with 14 points through games of October 15. The Tampa Bay Lightning shortened slightly from +1200 to +1100.

Making a quantum leap in the Stanley Cup odds were the Washington Capitals. Washington shortened from +1800 to +1200. Perhaps it was the breaking news that NHL all-time goal-scoring leader Alex Ovechkin is playing his farewell NHL season. It certainly isn’t Washington’s 4-3 start to the season that’s got oddsmakers believing in this team.

The Minnesota Wild (+1400) and Dallas Stars (+1500) are the only other teams given Stanley Cup odds shorter than +2000.

At the other end of the scale, you can get +50000 odds on any of the Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, or Vancouver Canucks winning the Stanley Cup.

Before making a deeper assessment of which way to lean in the NHL best bets, why not take a look at our handy best NHL betting sites list to make the most of your bets, including the latest props and futures wagering. It’s never too early to get a wager down on which of these NHL teams is going to win the title. Have a look at our NHL futures page to see what other wagering options are available during the NHL regular season and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Ovechkin chasing Gretzky again

Already having surpassed Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time regular-season goal-scoring champion, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is on a different Gretzky watch. The Great Eight is pursuing The Great One’s overall NHL goal mark. This takes into account regular-season and playoff goals.

https://x.com/Sportsnet/status/2110552879626953150?s=20

Between regular-season and Stanley Cup games, Gretzky scored 1,016 goals (894 in the regular-season and 122 in the playoffs). Adding up all of Ovechkin’s goals, he sits with 1,007 tallies. Ten more goals and Ovechkin is the unabated NHL goal-scoring king.

BetUS is offering a series of NHL special bets relating to his latest pursuit of Gretzky. It’s +400 that he’ll score career goals 1,016 and 1,017 in the same game. You’ll get a betting line of -250 that he scores his 1,017th goal at even strength.

It’s -175 that he scores the record-breaking goal in a Capitals victory. There’s a betting line of +200 that he scores the goal while the Capitals are trailing and even money that he nets it when Washington is ahead on the scoreboard. It’s also even money that he registers the goal on home ice.

Ovechkin to break the record with a power-play goal is set at a betting line of +175. It’s +2200 that he scores it while Washington is shorthanded. That the record is broken with an overtime goal offers betting odds of +1000. And it’s +350 that Ovechkin nets an empty-net goal to shatter Gretzky’s record.