Canucks have best shot to win Cup

Expect the unexpected. That is perhaps the only real conclusion to be drawn from the table below, which lists each NHL team's odds of emerging victorious in each round of play. These odds are based on teams' records and goal differential -- excluding shootout results -- factoring in the difficulty of opponents they faced over the regular season and giving an increased weight to more recent results, which better reflect a team's current strength. They do not explicitly include injuries to key players, trade deadline acquisitions or the presence or absence of backup goaltenders, though all of those factor into the teams' actual results.

While a very unsurprising name tops the list, there are more than a few sleeper teams that own some very respectable odds at hoisting the Stanley Cup, despite relatively low seeding.

To read more about which teams have the best chance to win their series and hoist the Stanley Cup, you must be an ESPN Insider.

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