Who Is Canada’s Best Hope For A Big 5 Championship In 2024/25?

We’re in a transitionary phase in the North American men’s team sports schedule. MLB and MLS prepare to shift their regular seasons into postseasons, while the NFL, NHL, and NBA all prepare to start their seasons.

Some championship aspirations are fading away, while others are just getting started. Of course, Canada is involved in this mix as well. While we don’t have direct representation in the NFL, a dozen teams span the other four leagues in the “Big 5.” There’s an appetite for another championship to come north of the border, with the nation now five years removed from hosting its last parade at any of these levels—not to mention victorious only twice in the last 30 years.

So, who’s the best bet to get back to the mountaintop? We looked at all twelve teams and their average odds on the Top 5 Canadian Sportsbooks.

12. Toronto Raptors (Average: +90000)

Best Value: +100000 (Sports Interaction, Bet365, Betway, Bet99)

Canada’s last major men’s champion is also their least likely to deliver the next one this year. Incredibly, the Raptors find themselves way at the bottom of this ranking even before playing a preseason game. It makes sense in a way, though – the NBA is the most star-dependant of any of the major leagues, and while players like Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley look like solid pieces to move forward with, with Barnes in particular having superstar potential, it’s not enough to move the needle in a significant way, particularly in a deep Atlantic Division.

11. Toronto Blue Jays (Average: +67000)

Best Value: +100000 (Sports Interaction)

To say that this season has failed to meet Blue Jays’ fans expectations is an understatement, beginning with winter dreams of building a superteam, morphing into spring dreams of being pretty good, followed by a rather disastrous summer where bats and pitches never seemed to align with each other. The team has been much better of late, playing above 0.500 ball for the last two months and chaining together some nice winning streaks, but with only 22 games to go and little ground made up since June, there just isn’t any time for them to squeak into a wildcard position – or likely all that close.

10. CF Montreal (Average: +17500)

Best Value: +20000 (Sports Interaction, Bet365, Bet99)

Canada’s worst MLS team continues to spiral towards the bottom of the table. Since we last looked at the three teams’ MLS Cup odds on August 6th, the squad formerly known as the Impact has failed to make one of their own, falling 2-0 to Philadelphia in Leagues Cup on the 9th and finding themselves dusted by New England (5-0) and Cincinnati (4-1) over the past two weeks.

9. Montreal Canadiens (Average: +10100)

Best Value: +15000 (Sports Interaction)

All signs point to 2024/25 being another rebuilding year for the bleu, blanc, et rouge, though there is hope that they’ll make things a little more interesting this time around. Could players like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky make further steps in their development? What kind of impact will Patrik Laine, who the team acquired on the cheap from the Columbus Blue Jackets last month, make for them offensively? How will Samuel Montembeault look as the sure-fire starter between the pipes? Will Lane Hutson be a Calder Trophy threat?

The coveted 25th Stanley Cup is likely a ways away, though this could be a team to look out for when it comes to their total points line.

8. Calgary Flames (Average: +7560)

Best Value: +10000 (Sports Interaction)

If we’re being honest, this is likely a year on the downswing for the Flames. Players like Jacob Markstrom, Andrew Mangiapane, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm, and Nikita Zadorov are all gone from last year’s opening night group, and while Yegor Sharangovich and Andrei Kuzmenko could prove to be good bets among their returns, it’s still too early for this group to seriously contend for anything.

7. Toronto FC (Average: +6160)

Best Value: +8000 (Sports Interaction)

This year, there may not be a more chaotic team in Canadian pro sports than the Reds. They’re much improved from their Wooden Spoon pace of last season but struggle with consistency from their top talent and have a dire lack of depth. The books will always be a little curious about them so long as they can squeak into the playoffs and have Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne at their disposal, but it would take a miracle for them to get through the East, with teams like Miami, Cincinnati, and Columbus likely in their way.

6. Ottawa Senators (Average: +3800)

Best Value: +4000 (Sports Interaction, Bet365, Bet99)

The Senators have been a “will they, won’t they” team for playoff contention over the past several years now, making several moves that seem alluring on paper but never seem to add up as promised. The hope this year is that bringing in Travis Green as Head Coach and Linus Ullmark as their new starting goaltender will set them on the right path.

I’d strongly advise against taking this group to go from years of non-qualification to a championship, though if you have the confidence of Charlie Brown chasing Lucy’s football, there’s probably an argument to be made for some improvement here. It could even mean a playoff spot in the right circumstances!

5. Winnipeg Jets (Average: +2600)

Best Value: +2800 (Sports Interaction)

As long as Connor Hellebuyck is in between the pipes and delivering elite season after elite season, there will always be people bullish on the Jets. It’s hard to blame them for that, though, as their first-round series against Colorado showed, it just takes a few cold games for a one-man advantage to turn into a season-ending Achilles heel.

The Jets’ skaters last year felt like they underperformed in front of their star netminder, with only one 70-point player (Mark Scheifele) and their second-highest scoring forwards (Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers, tied) each putting up just 61 points. Some rebound years offensively will be necessary to contend.

4. Vancouver Whitecaps (Average: +2540)

Best Value: +2700 (Bet99)

Canada’s best threat on the pitch is on the West Coast. Vancouver sits 5th in the Western Conference with a 12-8-5 record and +9 goal difference, putting them in relatively close competition with most of their rivals – I’d only put the two Los Angeles teams as clearly better on that side. If you can get through the conference, anything can happen in the finals, right?

Weirdly enough, Vancouver’s odds across most books slipped after a win on Sunday, their fifth in their last seven games. Perhaps confidence is just stronger in the contender class? In any event, their dark horse potential is as good as anyone’s here.

3. Vancouver Canucks (Average: +1660)

Best Value: +2200 (Sports Interaction)

Sticking to squads on the Seawall, the Canucks were among the NHL’s biggest risers in 2023/24, and expectations are high for that to continue. The biggest question surrounding them is whether they’ll get healthy, excellent goaltending throughout the year – Thatcher Demko is reportedly still recovering from last year’s injuries, and Arturs Silovs appears to be a little banged up, too – and whether the better-than-elite finishing that won the games last year will continue to hold.

To me, I think the Canucks are out of the abyss of the years prior, but do they have permanence as threats in the West? That remains to be seen. The likes of Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, JT Miller, and Brock Boeser would certainly like the opportunity to make their case.

2. Toronto Maple Leafs (Average: +1430)

Best Value: +1600 (Bet365 – Boosted From +1400)

As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me eight times, and I guess we’ve got to give you a ninth.” The Maple Leafs have found themselves near the top of this conversation for nearly a decade now and have very little to show for it – one division title and one playoff series win. Demand was high for major changes in town after another first-round loss against the Bruins, and some tweaks were made – a coaching change, a captaincy change, and several adjustments to the second layer of the roster.

Is that enough to get the team over the hump? I lean towards no – I see them in the upper pretty-good class rather than the contender class – but they’re good enough that an end to their 57-year playoff drought isn’t a completely impossible outcome. Just one where everything would have to go right after so many years of going wrong.

1. Edmonton Oilers (Average: +790)

Best Value: +850 (Sports Interaction)

Seeing the Oilers in the top seed should be of little surprise. After all, they were just one game away from getting to this spot last season, going to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final after a dramatic comeback from a 3-0 deficit against Florida just came short in the championship-deciding game.

They’ve got the best player in the sport in Connor McDavid, and they just ensured that Leon Draisaitl, one of the best players besides him, will be sticking around for the long haul. Signings like Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson add some extra kick to their scoring depth, and while losing Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg to offer sheets wasn’t ideal, they did a pretty solid job of creating a Plan B on the fly, acquiring Vasily Podkolzin and Ty Emberson to fill the spots for pennies on the dollar.

Edmonton are the favourites to win the Stanley Cup on most major sportsbooks, and Canada’s best hope to deliver in some regard in 2024/25.