Hurricanes, fresh off their Cup win over the Vegas Golden Knights, are +700 to repeat as champs, while it’s tough times for Leafs fans
We’re only a few days on from the Carolina Hurricanes taking out the Vegas Golden Knights in six games to win the Stanley Cup, but there’s no rest for the weary.
A ton of moves have crossed the news wires since the weekend, one of the surprises being that the Golden Knights were not going to bring back head coach John Tortorella for next season.
All Tortorella did was come in as coach March 29, replacing Bruce Cassidy, then took a sputtering team, leading them to a 7-0-1 record over those final regular season games, then a playoff run that took them to the final series. But he’s out, days after the Cup, replaced by Ryan Craig, the organization’s AHL team coach.
In Toronto, Jim Hiller, the former L.A. Kings coach, was named the Leafs’ new head coach yesterday. Today the NHL signed off on the Edmonton Oilers hiring Mike Babcock as their new head coach if they still want to, after a league investigation into past Babcock coaching controversies involving players and psychological tactics. At least that’s what has been reported.
Connor McDavid clearly wants Babcock as his next head coach in Edmonton, that’s all we will say.
Trade season has started, with many observers expecting a robust off-season for that, with the free agency market looking relatively barren compared to years past.
The San Jose Sharks acquired Michael Kesselring and the No. 27 pick in the upcoming 2026 NHL draft from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for the No. 20 pick. The Sharks also acquired unsigned forward prospect Andre Gasseau and a fourth-round pick from the Boston Bruins for a fourth- and fifth-round pick.
Then the Toronto Maple Leafs made a surprise move – trading goalie Joseph Woll, along with defenceman Simon Benoit, to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Emil Andrae, goalie Samuel Ersson and a third-round draft pick in 2026. So more draft capital and salary cap space for the Leafs, with Woll making $3.66 million per year and Benoit making $1.35 million per year.
In NHL betting at Betway, the Hurricanes are +700 to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, followed by the Colorado Avalanche at +800, the Oilers at +900, Golden Knights +900, Florida Panthers (+1000), Dallas Stars +1200, Tampa Bay Lightning at +1200, Minnesota Wild at +1400, then the Montreal Canadiens at +1800.
Where it gets sobering is the Leafs – well down on the odds list, at +3000.
So that’s longshot contender territory for the Leafs, several tiers below the Hurricanes, Avalanche, even the coach-less Oilers.
The good news if they have the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft, June 26-27 in Buffalo, with winger Gavin McKenna the likely No. 1 pick for them.
And according to PuckPedia, as of today, after the Woll trade, the Leafs have $27.3 million in cap space, plenty of room to improve last year’s team that finished fifth from the bottom of the league.
At Betway, the Leafs are at +2000 to win the Eastern Conference, after the Hurricanes (+325), Lightning (+500), Panthers (+600), Ottawa Senators (+800), Canadiens (+1000), New Jersey Devils (+1000), Buffalo Sabres (+1500), Columbus Blue Jackets (+1800) and the Flyers at +2000.
Tough times if you’re a Leafs fan. But hey, at least Mitch Marner didn’t win the Cup with the Golden Knights, right?
And at +3000 to win the Stanley Cup and +2000 to win the division, I’m willing to sprinkle on those futures. That’s intriguing value for a team that still has more resources than any other team in the league to improve its roster this offseason.
