NHL Stanley Cup Final 2020: Latest Odds for Lightning-Stars Rematch Next Year

The 2019-20 NHL season wasn't like most others. The 2020-21 campaign isn't likely to be, either.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the NHL shut down in March and didn't resume until August in two bubble cities for an expanded 24-team postseason. That came to an end Monday night, when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup.

Now, all 31 of the league's teams will be preparing for next season. But it won't be starting in October as usual. Instead, the next campaign isn't likely to get underway until later this year (or potentially early 2021), so things will be a bit different right from the start.

Until then, the Lightning will get to celebrate being champions. And they and the Stars will look to begin their paths to try to get back to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.

Here are the early odds for each team to win the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2020-21 season.

Early Stanley Cup Odds for 2020-21 Season

Tampa Bay Lightning: +800 (bet $100 to win $800)

Colorado Avalanche: +800

Vegas Golden Knights: +1000

Boston Bruins: +1150

Philadelphia Flyers: +1300

Pittsburgh Penguins: +1500

Washington Capitals: +1500

St. Louis Blues: +1700

Toronto Maple Leafs: +1800

Dallas Stars: +2000

Edmonton Oilers: +2100

Carolina Hurricanes: +2200

Nashville Predators: +2500

Calgary Flames: +3000

New York Islanders: +3000

Florida Panthers: +3200

New York Rangers: +3200

Vancouver Canucks: +3500

Winnipeg Jets: +3500

San Jose Sharks: +3700

Columbus Blue Jackets: +4000

Chicago Blackhawks: +4500

Los Angeles Kings: +5000

Minnesota Wild: +5000

Montreal Canadiens: +5000

Anaheim Ducks: +5500

Arizona Coyotes: +5500

Buffalo Sabres: +5500

New Jersey Devils: +7500

Ottawa Senators: +15000

Detroit Red Wings: +25000

Odds obtained via DraftKings.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the Lightning have such strong odds to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. They are a talented team, and many of their core players are set to be back in 2020-21.

Among the key players under contract for next season are captain Steven Stamkos, offensive standouts Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, defenseman Victor Hedman (the Conn Smythe Trophy winner) and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The last team to win consecutive Stanley Cups was the Penguins, who won it in 2016 and 2017.

Per DraftKings, Tampa Bay is the clear favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in next year's Stanley Cup Final. Its odds to reach that point are +375. The Bolts' closest rivals are the Bruins (+550), this season's Presidents' Trophy winners who were eliminated by the Lightning in five games in the second round.

The odds are not as high for the Stars to return to the Stanley Cup Final. Not only do they rank 10th in the early Stanley Cup odds at +2000, but there are three teams out West with better odds to represent the conference in next year's Stanley Cup Final.

The Avalanche (+325), Golden Knights (+350) and Blues (+800) all have better odds to contest the NHL's championship game than the Stars (+900), who made it this year as the No. 3 seed and defeated both Colorado and Vegas along the way.

Goaltender Anton Khudobin is set to hit free agency this offseason, and Dallas will have some other key players it needs to either re-sign or replace. But the most likely reason other teams have better odds is because the Stars' run was a bit of a surprise this year. What's more, the Avalanche and Golden Knights will have strong returning players looking to avenge an early playoff exit.

Still, Dallas will be motivated after coming so close to its first Stanley Cup since 1999.

"We were two wins away from winning the Stanley Cup," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said, according to the Associated Press (h/t NBC Sports). "We gave it our all. Key players got hurt. We grinded out. Had players coming in, stepping up doing a great job. I'm proud of this team, this organization, for what we've done."

A new season will give Dallas and the other 30 NHL teams new hopes of winning the Stanley Cup. And while we can predict which ones have the best chances, things could change this offseason because of trades and free agency. Plus, as history has shown us, anything can happen.