Books already have the Panthers as Cup favorites
Florida sits at +600 to +700 at most sportsbooks, a tick ahead of the champion Hurricanes, before playing a real game.
The Florida Panthers haven't played a regular-season game since April, and the books have already decided they're the team to beat. Heavy's Giancarlo Aulino reported Monday that Canada Sports Betting lists Florida at +600 to win the 2027 Stanley Cup, ahead of the defending champion Hurricanes and the Avalanche at +700.
It isn't one shop's opinion. Covers has BET99 at +640 for Florida, with Carolina at +700 and Colorado at +750. Sports Betting Dime shows FanDuel with the Panthers and Avalanche tied at +700, and Carolina at +750.
DraftKings is the holdout. There, Florida sits at +850, behind both Colorado at +800 and Carolina at +750. So "favorite" depends on where you bet, but the top three is the same everywhere.
Why the market moved
The reasons are the ones you'd guess. Brady Tkachuk came over from Ottawa to play with his brother, and Sports Betting Dime notes Florida gave up four picks in that deal without losing a top-seven scorer. Aleksander Barkov is healthy again after the knee injury that wiped out his season.
The roster the books are pricing is the one that won the Cup in 2024 and 2025, beat Edmonton both times, and reached three straight Finals. Then it missed the 2026 playoffs entirely, largely because so much of it spent the year in the training room.
That's the whole bet in one sentence. If the Panthers stay upright, the books think the two-Cup version of this team is still here.
Ferda take
Preseason odds are a memory test. Bettors remember the 2025 parade and the Tkachuk trade, and they price that. What they can't price yet is what the team looks like without Sergei Bobrovsky, who left for Toronto, and with Jacob Markstrom in the crease for the first time.
Brad Marchand also starts the year on the shelf, so the early lineup is thinner than the odds board suggests. Carolina won the Cup and still sits a tick behind Florida on most boards. That's the respect tax two championships buy you.
For what it's worth, +600 means a $20 ticket returns $140 total. It also means the books think Florida wins the Cup roughly one time in seven. With a healthy Barkov and two Tkachuks, that's a fair price, not a gift.
What's next
Florida visits Carolina tonight for the second half of the preseason home-and-home. Every game between now and opening night is a chance for the number to move one way or the other.