NHL futures odds: Avalanche remain the favorite to win 2026 Stanley Cup ahead of conference final round

The Colorado Avalanche were widely considered the favorite to win the championship halfway through the 2025-26 NHL season as they boasted an astonishing 31-3-7 record. They've done nothing but strengthen that belief at the midway point of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado swept its first-round series despite a valiant effort from the Los Angeles Kings and defeated the Minnesota Wild in five games in the second round to reach the Western Conference Final for the first time in four years. Its next obstacle is the Vegas Golden Knights, who were victorious in the only previous postseason meeting between the teams (2021 second round). 

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The Avalanche (121 points in 2025-26) are hoping to become the ninth Presidents' Trophy-winning club to capture the Stanley Cup and first since the Chicago Blackhawks accomplished the feat in 2013. Colorado also achieved that goal in 2001, when they finished with a league-high 118 points and beat the New Jersey Devils in seven games to win the second championship in franchise history.

That year marked the last time the top seed from each conference reached the Stanley Cup Final. That very well could happen again this postseason, as the Avalanche have gone 8-1 while the Carolina Hurricanes swept both of their first two series.

While Carolina enters the Eastern Conference Final with an unblemished playoff record, its opponent -- the Montreal Canadiens -- went the distance in each of its first two matchups. The Canadiens were third in the Atlantic Division during the regular season but outlasted both teams that finished ahead of them, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning and division champion Buffalo Sabres in seven games -- winning both Game 7s on the road.

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Vegas won its third Pacific Division title in four seasons before knocking off both the Utah Mammoth and Anaheim Ducks in six games. The Golden Knights have reached the conference final for the fourth time in their nine-season history and also appeared in the penultimate round of the playoffs in 2021, when a different format took place due to the NHL's temporary realignment for the regular season and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entering the conference finals, NHL futures odds at the major sports betting sites see the Avalanche as the favorites to win the 2026 Stanley Cup, with odds in the +130 to +145 range. The Hurricanes are the second favorites with prices between +160 and +175.

Pick: Avalanche (+145, FanDuel)

Colorado led the NHL in the regular season with 298 goals but was limited to just two in each of its first two opening-round games against Los Angeles. However, the Avalanche were stellar defensively in that series, giving up a total of five tallies in four games.

None of their four contests versus the Kings had more than six combined goals, but the second-round matchup against Minnesota was entirely different. Seven or more were scored in four of the five contests, with Colorado tallying at least four times in each of its victories and allowing five or more twice.

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Vegas forwards Pavel Dorofeyev (nine), Brett Howden (eight) and Mitch Marner (seven) are first, second and tied for third, respectively, in goals this postseason. But Nathan MacKinnon, who scored a career-high 53 goals this season to win the 2026 Maurice Richard Trophy, enters the Western Conference final with a six-game streak during which he has tallied seven times.

The Avs have been nearly perfect in the playoffs despite a lack of production from some of their top offensive performers in the regular season. Brock Nelson posted his fourth career 30-goal season but only has tallied twice in the postseason, Valeri Nichushkin fell one point shy of his third 50-point campaign but has only three playoff points and Martin Necas set a career high with 38 goals in 2025-26 but converted just one time over the first two rounds.

Third- and fourth-line players, as well as defensemen, have stepped up offensively in big spots for Colorado thus far. And MacKinnon has been on fire since recording only one assist over his first three postseason games. I expect the likes of Nelson, Nichushkin and Necas to get hot soon, and once that happens, there will be no stopping the Avalanche from winning their second Stanley Cup in five years.

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