2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs futures: Who to bet to post first-round series wins

The 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin Saturday with a pair of Western Conference first-round openers, including one that features the surprising St. Louis Blues visiting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets. The Blues recorded a 12-game winning streak and earned points in 14 of their final 16 regular-season contests (13-2-1) to overtake several teams and earn the second wild-card spot in the West.

The Dallas Stars host the Colorado Avalanche in Saturday’s other contest. These Central Division rivals met in the second round last postseason, with the Stars eliminating the Avalanche in six games.

Three other first-round series start Sunday and two more get underway on Monday before the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers begin the defense of their first title against the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. This marks the second consecutive postseason in which the “Battle of Florida” takes place in the opening round, as the Panthers defeated the Lightning in five games last year.

Another familiar matchup is the one in the West between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers. The Pacific Division clubs, who start their series in Los Angeles on Monday, actually are squaring off in the opening round for the fourth straight postseason. Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals host the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of their series.

The other Western Conference series pits the Minnesota Wild against the Vegas Golden Knights and begins Sunday in “Sin City.” Also on Sunday, the New Jersey Devils visit the Carolina Hurricanes for their opener, while the “Battle of Ontario” commences in Toronto as the Maple Leafs host the Ottawa Senators.

Winnipeg and Vegas are heavy favorites from the West to win their series, as the Jets have odds around -210 and the Golden Knights are -235 or higher at most sportsbooks. Oddsmakers also believe three of the four Eastern Conference matchups are lopsided, with Carolina, Washington and Toronto heavily favored to win. Some sportsbooks list the Hurricanes at -300 or higher, while odds on the Capitals are around -275.

Here are some teams with value to consider when making prop bets for first-round series victories.

Best bets

Dallas Stars (+140, Caesars)

The Stars have lost four of their six postseason meetings with the Avalanche and went just 1-1-1 in the 2024-25 season series. However, Dallas has the superior goaltender in Jake Oettinger, who was third in the NHL with 36 wins and could be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. It also has former Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen, a 28-year-old right wing who reached the 30-goal plateau for the fifth straight season despite splitting the campaign between three different teams. Jason Robertson, Dallas’ top scorer this campaign with 35 goals, left Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday with a brace on his knee after being injured in the regular-season finale against the Predators and potentially could miss the series. But the Stars still have Wyatt Johnston (career-high 33 goals) and Matt Duchene (30), who spent his first eight-plus NHL seasons with Colorado. Roope Hintz (28), Mason Marchment (22), Mikael Granlund (22) and Evgenii Dadonov (20) also are capable of getting the puck past Avalanche netminder Mackenzie Blackwood and helping Dallas advance to the second round. 

Los Angeles Kings (+115, DraftKings)

The Kings haven’t had much success against the Oilers in the playoffs, losing eight of their 10 previous series and each of the last six. In the last three postseasons, Los Angeles was defeated by Edmonton in seven, six and five games. However, the Kings have home-ice advantage this time around and were the best home team in the NHL in 2024-25, going 31-5-4 at Crypto.com Arena this season. Los Angeles also has a significant edge in the crease with Darcy Kuemper, who helped guide Colorado to the championship in 2022 and finished in the top five in goals-against average (2.02, second place), save percentage (.922, third) and shutouts (five) this campaign. Even though the Oilers have the dangerous duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and came within one win of hoisting the Stanley Cup last year, this could be the postseason in which the Kings end their drought against their division rivals.

Tampa Bay Lightning (-102, FanDuel)

Sergei Bobrovsky outplayed 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy and two-time Stanley Cup winnerAndrei Vasilevskiy in their matchup last postseason, it’s difficult to bet against a Tampa Bay team that features a pair of 40-goal scorers in Brayden Point (42) and Jake Guentzel (career-high 41). The Lightning also have Nikita Kucherov (121 points), who won his second straight and third overall Art Ross Trophy this season and led the NHL in playoff scoring in both 2020 (34 points) and 2021 (32). Meanwhile, Brandon Hagel (35) and Anthony Cirelli (27) also set career highs in goals in 2024-25. Yes, the Panthers are the defending champs and expect Matthew Tkachuk to return to the lineup for this series, but the star power forward has been sidelined suffering a lower-body injury in the 4 Nations Face-Off back in February and might not be able to shake off the rust in time to help Florida advance past the high-powered Lightning.

Check out the SportsLine Projection Model’s predictions for every game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, along with expert picks, only at SportsLine!