NHL Futures Bets: 2023 Regular Season and Stanley Cup Outlook

✍️ Written by :

Sarah Ryan

🗓 Updated :

Aug 23rd 2023

The NHL regular season started two, going on three months ago on October 7th. Things kicked off in the Czech Republic for an explosive opener, where the Nashville Predators blew out the San Jose Sharks 4-1. But even though the season just started, it’s never too early to wishcast your best guesses for who will win it all in the end!

The regular season will carry on through April 13th, 2023. Those results will determine which eight teams from each conference will advance to the postseason, and then, which teams will end up subsequently advancing to the Stanley Cup Final series. Last season, the Colorado Avalanche turned around over two decades of let-downs by taking home their first Cup and playoff win in 21 years.

Whether you’re thinking about betting on which team will take home the most wins next year, which team will win their conference or division, or which team will take home the biggest win next year, FanDuel Sportsbook already has open futures market odds for all 32 NHL teams gunning for The Cup!

Are Nathan MacKinnon and The Avs favored to pull it off again, or are there any other likely contenders to skate their way to victory? Let’s take a look at which way FanDuel’s futures' odds are leaning.

NHL Futures 2023

We might be well into feeling the icy chill of winter, but the NHL postseason won’t take place until next spring. In the meanwhile, you can contemplate the best NHL future bets to consider sprinkling a tiny bit of cash on. These types of bets refer to wagering on the outcomes and potential events in the long term - not events occurring a day or week from now, but several months in advance.

Markets for future bets often offer bigger odds and payouts because of their difficulty. It’s definitely tougher to make an accurate single prediction on an outcome months out versus a single moneyline, point spread, or over/under total bet for a game taking place the following night or morning. But if it’s a risk you can safely take, and you don’t mind the delayed gratification, you might stand a chance at a bigger long-term return with futures than other types of single bets.

In the NHL, some of the biggest team futures markets that bettors will be able to wager on include markets for:

Predicting which team will win the Stanley Cup
Predicting which team will win the NHL Presidents’ Trophy
Predicting which teams will win their respective conferences/divisions

The President’s Trophy is awarded by the league president (currently commissioner Gary Bettman) to the NHL team with the most regular season wins. Since it’s the “nearest future” NHL team future in a sense, let’s take a look at this market first.

NHL Futures Odds - President’s Trophy 2022-23

Here are the current futures odds for NHL teams to win the Presidents’ Trophy in the 2022-23 regular season, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook:

Boston Bruins, -145
Carolina Hurricanes, +380
Toronto Maple Leafs, +650
New Jersey Devils, +2400
Vegas Golden Knights, +2400
Tampa Bay Lightning, +2700
Dallas Stars, +2900
Colorado Avalanche, +3100
Pittsburgh Penguins, +3800
New York Rangers, +8000
Minnesota Wild, +10000
Edmonton Oilers, +12000
Seattle Kraken, +12000
Winnipeg Jets, +12000
Calgary Flames, +20000
Florida Panthers, +21000
Washington Capitals, +24000
New York Islanders, +28000
San Jose Sharks, +30000
Ottawa Senators, +30000
Montreal Canadiens, +30000
Los Angeles Kings, +30000
St. Louis Blues, +30000
Arizona Coyotes, +30000
Vancouver Canucks, +30000
Columbus Blue Jackets, +30000
Philadelphia Flyers, +30000
Detroit Red Wings, +30000
Buffalo Sabres, +30000
Nashville Predators, +30000
Anaheim Ducks, +30000
Chicago Blackhawks, +30000

There’s a lot of teams and odds lines in this market, and while we don’t have time to highlight them all, we’d like to devote some time to highlighting two areas worth your additional consideration: the Top Five teams, and the Bottom 14 teams. Right now, Boston is far-and-away the heaviest favorite to win this award, the only pick in this market that isn’t priced at plus-money odds, and for good reason.

Currently the Bruins are on a top-tier run, so far amassing 28 regular time wins, only four losses, and three draws. This performance has elevated Boston to a well-earned first place position in the NHL’s Atlantic Division, as of this moment. But beyond those division leaders, in second place, we have the leaders of the NHL’s Metropolitan Division: the Carolina Hurricanes, priced at +380 odds in this market.

So far over the 2022-23 regular season, the team has recorded 23 regular time wins, six losses, and 6 games that went to overtime. In third place of this market (and second place of the Atlantic Division), we’ve got the Toronto Maple Leafs, currently priced at +650 odds as of now. They have the second-strongest record in their division right now, at 22 wins behind Boston’s 28.

Both of these teams are solid picks with slightly more value than the Bruins, but if you’re willing to consider slightly longer-shot underdogs that aren’t total moonshots, you could consider the New Jersey Devils and the Vegas Golden Knights, both priced at +2400 odds. That means if you laid just shy of an Abe Lincoln on either of those teams ($4) and they turned things around by the end, it would pay out just shy of a Benny Frank, at $96! That’s not as good as a full $100 Benjamin, but still a respectable chunk of change.

If you’re looking for even longer odds, you could consider laying a dollar on one of the bottom 14 teams. In the off chance one of them ends up turning things around, those +30000 odds would pay out $300 for a dollar. But much like how the Boston Bruins odds are short for a good reason, the odds on all 14 of those teams are extremely long for a good reason.

We wouldn’t recommend putting more than a dollar on each of those bottom 14 teams to win the President’s Trophy, but do their odds fare any better to win the Cup?

Stanley Cup Futures 2023

Believe it or not, some of those worst 14 NHL teams in the last market stand a slightly better chance of winning the cup this season, according to FanDuel’s oddsmakers! But we really need to stress and over-emphasize the word “slightly” here. Most of the favorites to win the NHL president’s trophy are also favored Cup contenders in the bookmakers’ eyes - but there are still some deviations that might surprise you.

Take a look for yourself at the latest odds for FanDuel’s Stanley Cup futures:

Colorado Avalanche, +600
Boston Bruins, +600
Carolina Hurricanes, +900
Vegas Golden Knights, +900
Toronto Maple Leafs, +1000
New Jersey Devils, +1300
Tampa Bay Lightning, +1400
Dallas Stars, +1500
Pittsburgh Penguins, +1800
Calgary Flames, +1800
Edmonton Oilers, +2000
Minnesota Wild, +2000
New York Rangers, +2000
Florida Panthers, +2500
Los Angeles Kings, +3500
Washington Capitals, +4500
New York Islanders, +4500
Winnipeg Jets, +5000
Seattle Kraken, +5000
Nashville Predators, +7500
St. Louis Blues, +9500
Buffalo Sabres, +12000
Vancouver Canucks, +15000
Detroit Red Wings, +15000
Ottawa Senators, +15000
Montreal Canadiens, +30000
Columbus Blue Jackets, +30000
San Jose Sharks, +30000
Anaheim Ducks, +30000
Arizona Coyotes, +30000
Chicago Blackhawks, +30000
Philadelphia Flyers, +30000

Colorado is still the solid favorite to get the cup, but it’s hard to take home two in a row, and it’ll likely be an uphill battle for the Avs, given some of the injuries afflicting their best talent (ESPN). This might make the Bruins stronger future bet candidates, despite being priced at roughly the same odds.

New Jersey and Toronto are also priced at shorter odds in this market, which leaves one to wonder if there’s potential value in the President’s Trophy market. Furthermore, it’s definitely curious that a few of the worst bottom 14 teams to win the President’s Trophy have better odds of scoring the biggest win.

Only time can really tell which way things unfold there, but how is each team faring in each of their respective divisions and conferences right now? Let’s take a look.

NHL Divisions and Conferences Futures

Last but not least, here are the full odds standings for the likely candidates to win each conference and division, whether east, west, metropolitan, or central:

NHL Eastern Conference 2022-23

Boston Bruins, +300
Carolina Hurricanes, +500
Toronto Maple Leafs, +500
New Jersey Devils, +700
Tampa Bay Lightning, +750
Pittsburgh Penguins, +850
New York Rangers, +1000
Florida Panthers, +1400
New York Islanders, +2500
Washington Capitals, +2500
Buffalo Sabres, +5000
Detroit Red Wings, +8000
Ottawa Senators, +8000
Montreal Canadiens, +15000
Philadelphia Flyers, +15000
Columbus Blue Jackets, +15000

NHL Western Conference 2022-23

Colorado Avalanche, +250
Vegas Golden Knights, +350
Dallas Stars, +800
Calgary Flames, +800
Edmonton Oilers, +950
Minnesota Wild, +1000

Division Futures

Metropolitan Division 2022-23 - Outright Betting

Carolina Hurricanes, -185
New Jersey Devils, +500
Pittsburgh Penguins, +500
New York Rangers, +1600
Washington Capitals, +2000
New York Islanders, +3000
Columbus Blue Jackets, +30000
Philadelphia Flyers, +30000

Atlantic Division 2022-23 - Outright Betting

Boston Bruins, -350
Toronto Maple Leafs, +300
Tampa Bay Lightning, +1200
Florida Panthers, +10000
Ottawa Senators, +30000
Detroit Red Wings, +30000

Central Division 2022-23 - Outright Betting

Dallas Stars, +135
Colorado Avalanche, +165
Minnesota Wild, +450
Winnipeg Jets, +1000
Nashville Predators, +5000
St. Louis Blues, +5000

Pacific Division 2022-23 - Outright Betting

Vegas Golden Knights, -130
Calgary Flames, +600
Edmonton Oilers, +600
Los Angeles Kings, +700
Seattle Kraken, +750
Vancouver Canucks, +6000
San Jose Sharks, +30000
Anaheim Ducks, +30000

Not too many of the conference and division standings are particularly surprising here, but it’s interesting to see Dallas as such heavy division favorites despite their weaker odds in other markets: The Stars are priced as +1500 candidates to take the cup, and at longer +2900 odds to win the President’s Trophy.

It’s definitely interesting to watch a similar potential trend unfold with Calgary and Edmonton as identically priced heavier favorites in their division, but longer underdogs to win the cup and the president’s trophy. Could that indicate some good plus money value in those markets? Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.

Either way, you’ll have plenty of time to follow these trends over the remainder of the regular season. You’ll also have plenty of time to bolster and stack your team future bets with FanDuel’s no-sweat site credit offers.

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FanDuel offers plenty of exciting promos to bet on hockey and other sports, to both new and existing users! You can follow our signup link to claim their welcome bonus, and read our review to find out more about the popular online sportsbook.

We hope you wager responsibly, and have a happy New Year!

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