Will a Canadian Team Win the Stanley Cup in 2025?

It’s springtime in Canada, and that only means one thing: the Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway. Watching the NHL playoffs is a tradition in Canada, even if your favourite team is no longer competing. Sixteen teams compete to raise Lord Stanley’s mug for four rounds of best-of-seven warfare. It is the greatest honour in the sport of hockey.

This season, five of the seven Canadian teams in the NHL made the Stanley Cup playoffs. Could one of these teams finally bring the Stanley Cup home north of the border for the first time since 1993? I’ll take a look at each of the five remaining Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs and answer the question: Will a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup in 2025?

How Many Canadian Teams are in the NHL?

As of 2025, there are seven Canadian cities with NHL teams. The teams are the Vancouver Canucks, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets, the Montreal Canadiens, the Ottawa Senators, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Every team except for Vancouver and Calgary made the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Despite hockey being known as Canada’s national pastime, only seven of the league’s 32 franchises are located north of the border. Although the game remains as popular as ever in Canada, the NHL’s recent expansion teams are all located in the United States. In 2021, the Seattle Kraken were added to the league and in 2024, the Utah Hockey Club joined. There have been rumours of a new Canadian franchise in Quebec City, but so far, none of the plans have come to fruition. Quebec had the Nordiques until 1995, when the team was moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche.

When Did a Canadian Team Last Win the Stanley Cup?

For Canadians, it’s been a long drought since the last Canadian team won a Stanley Cup. In 1993, the Montreal Canadiens beat Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings, winning their 24th Stanley Cup in franchise history. It is the most Stanley Cup victories of any NHL franchise and the most championships for any professional sports franchise.

Canadian teams have reached the Stanley Cup Finals seven times since the Canadiens won in 1993, but have failed to win any of those series. Most recently, the Edmonton Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games in the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. In all, Canadian teams have won the Stanley Cup 43 times in 71 Stanley Cup Finals appearances since 1915.

Will a Canadian Team Win the Stanley Cup in 2025?

For Canadian NHL teams, this could be the year they finally break the 32-year curse. Five of the seven Canadian NHL teams have qualified for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately for Canadian hockey fans, only a maximum of four teams will move on to the next round because the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators are playing each other in the first round.

So, does any Canadian team have a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year? Let’s take a look at each team’s first-round matchup and what their potential path to the Stanley Cup Finals would be. The posted odds are from BetVictor’s NHL Outright Stanley Cup Futures betting oddsboard.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs came second in the Eastern Conference this season with 108 points, finishing behind only the Washington Capitals. Toronto finds itself in a first-round matchup with the Ottawa Senators, which means that just one Ontario-based team will advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Toronto’s roster has no shortage of offensive firepower, led by leading scorer Mitch Marner, who put up 102 points this season and plays on a line with Auston Matthews. The team had six 20-goal scorers this year, including team-leader William Nylander, who potted 45 goals. Toronto also has stellar goaltending from Anthony Stolarz, who overtook the crease from Joseph Woll at the end of the year. Stolarz posted a 21-8 record with a 2.14 GAA and .926 SV% with four shutouts. The Leafs could be Canada’s best shot at winning a Stanley Cup this year, but they’ll have to navigate a deep and experienced team in the next round against either the Tampa Bay Lightning or the defending Stanley Cup Champions from Florida.

Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg was the best regular-season team in the league this year, sporting a record of 56-22-4 which earned them 116 points, five more than the next best team.

Of course, hockey fans will know that isn’t always a guarantee, and in fact, winning the Presidents’ Trophy can be a kiss of death. Only eight times in history has the best regular-season team gone on to win the Stanley Cup, with the most recent team being the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012-2013. Does Winnipeg have what it takes to win it all? Of course. But as stacked as this lineup is, you’re betting against history, and the Jets will have their hands full with a very deep Western Conference.

Edmonton Oilers

Could it be? Last year’s Stanley Cup finalists and the team with two of the best players in the world are ready to return to the finals? With Edmonton, it’s the same old story: the offence is not enough to prop up the lack of defence and goaltending. The Kings have scored six goals in each of the first two games and chased starter Stuart Skinner in Game 2.

If you’re a contrarian bettor, the Oilers might be appealing right now. We know that if they even get a modicum of good goaltending, the offence can carry the team to within a game of winning the Stanley Cup. Although long odds, it’s a decent bet on Connor McDavid to win a few games on his own, which he is more than capable of doing.

Montreal Canadiens

Les Habitants are in tough against the Eastern Conference champions from Washington. The betting odds for Montreal are certainly not in their favour, and it’s easy to see why we might easily be down to three Canadian teams in the second round. The Habs have been in both games so far in the series, even taking Washington to overtime in Game 1. These Capitals are a powerhouse, though, and they are motivated to build on the momentum from Alex Ovechkin’s record-breaking year. This season was a nice step forward for Montreal, but the odds are against them; you can probably make better use of your money elsewhere.

Ottawa Senators

Ottawa has the same odds of winning the Stanley Cup as Montreal, according to BetVictor, which is to say, last among all sixteen playoff teams. The Senators should technically have lower odds than Montreal, as they are down 3-0 to the Maple Leafs after losing Game 3 on home ice. Only four teams in NHL history have come back from a 3-0 deficit in a playoff series, and none since 2014. The odds are seriously against Ottawa, so like Montreal, it’s best to look elsewhere if you want to place a Stanley Cup Playoffs bet.

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