While it feels like almost yesterday that the Vegas Golden Knights won the first Stanley Cup in league history, the new NHL season is not that far off with preseason games starting in a little over three weeks: The Arizona Coyotes and /sportsbook/nhl/los-angeles-kings/ face off in Australia for the 2023 NHL Global Series in Melbourne on Sept. 23 and 24 to start the preseason. Overall, the 2023 preseason slate features 15 days and 111 total games played across 44 NHL and neutral-site venues in North America and Australia from Sept. 23 to Oct. 7. Let’s take an updated look at the favorites to win the 2024 Stanley Cup.

Early Stanley Cup Odds Before NHL Preseason Starts | 2023 NHL Champions Odds to Win

Carolina Hurricanes

Stanley Cup Odds: +800

Carolina reached the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals and was favored to win it but upset by the wild card Florida Panthers in a shocking sweep, although every game was decided by one goal and two in overtime. Florida only scored 10 total goals in the series but Sergei Bobrovsky had a .966 save percentage after stopping 174 of the 180 shots he faced for Florida. The biggest move the Hurricanes made this offseason was signing center Sebastian Aho to an eight-year, $78 million extension. Aho scored 36 goals in 2022-23, continuing his streak of seven straight seasons with at least 24 goals that began when he made his Hurricanes debut in 2016-17. “As a player, all you can ask, really, from the team [is] you have a chance to win, and we definitely have a chance to be the best team in the League.” Aho said. “I’m really excited for the next year.”

In addition, the team signed Dmitry Orlov, the top defenseman available on the free agent market. He joins Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei on what was already an impressive defense. Goalies Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta were re-signed to inexpensive contracts and Pyotr Kochetkov can step in if one gets hurt. Hard to see any holes here.

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New Jersey Devils

Stanley Cup Odds: +900

New Jersey finished one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division for the league’s third-best point total (112) last and the franchise’s first playoff appearance in five years, then pushed past the rival /sportsbook/nhl/new-york-rangers/ in seven games despite falling behind 0-2 for its first playoff series win since 2012. The Devils then lost in five to Carolina in the East semifinals. New Jersey is loaded offensively but has some goaltending questions. The team traded for Sharks winger Timo Meier ahead of last season’s deadline and re-signed him to an eight-year deal. He had 66 points in 78 contests split between San Jose and New Jersey last season, including a career-high 40 goals. The Devils have their forward core with Meier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier and Ondrej Palat all locked up through at least 2026-27.

New Jersey acquired versatile forward Tyler Toffoli from the Calgary Flames on June 27 and defenseman Colin Miller from the Dallas Stars on July 1. Toffoli has one season remaining on a four-year contract. Miller has one remaining on a two-year contract. The Devils also signed free agent forward Tomas Nosek to a one-year contract July 19. Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid are expected to battle for the starter’s role in net after Mackenzie Blackwood was traded to the Sharks.

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Toronto Maple Leafs

Stanley Cup Odds: +900

The Leafs haven’t won the Cup since 1967, the longest drought in the league, and no Canadian team has won it since Montreal in 1993. The Leafs looked good enough to win it all last year. They finally advanced past the first round of the playoffs by beating Tampa Bay in six games. Toronto advanced in a series for the first time since 2004, winning three times in overtime on the road in that series and ending an 11-game losing streak in elimination games. However, as heavy favorites in Round 2 vs. Florida, the Leafs were beaten in five games. There was some talk it might cost Coach Sheldon Keefe his job, but he just got an extension this week under new general manager Brad Treliving. The Maple Leafs set single-season franchise records for wins (54) and points (115) under Keefe in 2021-22 and have recorded back-to-back 50-win campaigns.

Toronto also ensured that superstar Auston Matthews will be around for many years in signing him to a four-year, $53 million extension. At $13.25 million per season, Matthews becomes the NHL’s highest paid player in terms of annual value. Matthews has 299 goals through 481 career games and has a very good chance at becoming the fastest to 300 among American-born players all-time. Matthews already has positioned himself well among the Leafs’ all-time franchise leaders, tied for fifth in goals scored and second with nine overtime goals. He also leads the NHL in goals scored since 2016-17 and is 11th overall in points. The Maple Leafs feel they have depth in goal with Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and Martin Jones. But there are questions revolving around each of them. Samsonov will be the No. 1 guy but has struggled to stay healthy at times and missed the Maple Leafs’ final two Stanley Cup Playoff games against the Panthers due to injury.

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Expert Prediction

Edmonton (+1000) wins the Cup

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