Mitch Marner was the Conn Smythe Trophy favourite entering the Stanley Cup Final at +200 at FanDuel.
Frederik Andersen was the second choice at +550.
While Marner has continued his magical postseason run with three goals and eight points in the Stanley Cup Final, Andersen wasn’t even dressed for Game 4.
Instead, the Carolina Hurricanes asked Brandon Bussi to make his first career postseason start in essentially a must-win game in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.
The 27-year-old rookie stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced in a 5-3 win in his first start since April 14th.
Bussi is just the third goaltender in the expansion era to make his first career playoff start in the Stanley Cup Final.
While he did enough to backstop the Hurricanes to a win, the big question is whether he can do it again as the series shifts back to Carolina for Game 5 on Thursday.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour revealed after the game that the team’s goalie coach Paul Schonfelder had told him that “Freddy needed a break”.
Prior to the Stanley Cup Final, Andersen was 12-1 with an NHL-best .931 save percentage, an NHL-best 1.31 goals against average, and was the Hurricanes’ top choice in FanDuel’s Conn Smythe Trophy market.
With the Stanley Cup Final reduced to a best-of-three, I’m interested to see whether Carolina sticks with Bussi and what impact their goaltending decision has in what has become a best-of-three series.
While Marner remains the Conn Smythe Trophy favourite for Vegas at -115 at FanDuel, there’s a new name listed as the second choice on that list for the Hurricanes.
Let’s dive into those updated odds and set the stage for the final three games of the Stanley Cup Final in this Morning Coffee for Wednesday June 10th, 2026.
Captain Staal’s Vintage Performance Helps Carolina Flip The Script in Stanley Cup Final
With the biggest tournament of the summer set to begin on Thursday, I’ll be locked in on footy for most of the next six weeks.
However, the 2026 Stanley Cup Final has exceeded all expectations in my mind through four wild games.
Fortunately, I’ve been up to the task with my best bets, which went 5-1, falling one Brett Howden shot on goal short of a sweep.
Now the focus shifts to Game 5 in Carolina on Thursday.
The expectation is that it will be Bussi for the Hurricanes versus Carter Hart for the Golden Knights.
As I’ve wrote about throughout the series, I’m not convinced that either team can defend a lead.
That has certainly been the case through four games.
This series marks the first time in Stanley Cup Final history that both teams have scored three or more goals in each of the first four games.
All four games have featured seven or more goals with an average of 8.25 per game.
While there were some that thought the arrival of Bussi combined with the desperation of Carolina in Game 4 would lead to a lower scoring game, I gave out the over 5.5 -128 as a FanDuel Best Bet in Morning Coffee and that bet cashed before the end of the second period.
The over is a perfect 4-0 so far in the Stanley Cup Final.
Will that trend continue in Game 5 on Thursday night?
The total is up to 6.5 at FanDuel, but it’s heavily juiced to the under at -138.
The Golden Knights are a physical team that has shown the ability to wear their opponents down throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it appears the Hurricanes are starting to wear them down.
Noah Hanifin was limited by an injury in Game 4.
Brayden McNabb continued to play big minutes with a full cage on and registered another assist in the loss.
Since falling behind 4-0 in Game 3, Carolina has outscored Vegas a combined 9-4.
If it wasn’t for a couple of bad bounces in overtime in Game 3, the Hurricanes could be headed back to Raleigh with a 3-1 series lead.
How did FanDuel react to Carolina’s Game 4 victory?
The Hurricanes flipped from a +152 underdog to a -152 favourite to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel.
Carolina is -154 to win Game 5 on home ice on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are +128 to win Game 5 and +126 to win the Stanley Cup at FanDuel this morning.
Over 6.5 total games in the series is now -114 at FanDuel.
A few people I’ve talked to at TSN are convinced that the series will go seven games.
After an exciting first four games that each featured a multi-goal comeback, whether the series goes the distance could come down to one or two key saves.
Andersen has gone from +210 to 250-to-1 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel after getting scratched.
Bussi is also a longshot to win it at 150-to-1.
Interestingly, the top choices to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for Carolina are Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven.
Hall picked up just his second point of the Stanley Cup Final in Game 4 and is tied with Jackson Blake for the team lead with 18 points this postseason.
Meanwhile, Logan Stankoven opened the scoring just 1:06 into Game 4 with his second goal of the Stanley Cup Final and team-leading 11th goal of the postseason.
Hall and Stankoven are both +430 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel.
Blake is the fifth choice on the board at +1400.
If the Hurricanes were crowned Stanley Cup champions on Tuesday night, my pick for the Conn Smythe Trophy wouldn’t be either of Hall or Stankoven, although I understand the merit behind both behind top choices.
Instead, I’d give the award to the captain Jordan Staal.
While his box score numbers were capped throughout most of the first three rounds on a third line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Jordan Martinook, Staal did a masterful job of slowing down the top centres of the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Montreal Canadiens.
After a rough start to the Stanley Cup Final on home ice, Brind’Amour opted to shake up his lines and move Seth Jarvis to a line with Staal and Ehlers.
That change has sparked Staal’s offensive production, as he leads the Hurricanes with five goals and six points in the Stanley Cup Final.
Jarvis went on to score the OT winner on the powerplay.
In Game 2, Staal scored a late powerplay goal that would have stood as the game winner if the Golden Knights didn’t respond the equalizer with 1:21 left in the third.
Then in Game 3, Staal scored the third goal for Carolina, then set up Andrei Svechnikov’s game-tying goal with a primary assist as the Hurricanes rallied from down four goals before losing in double overtime.
At 37-years-old, Staal became the oldest player ever to score a goal in each of the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final.
However, Carolina couldn’t finish the job and ultimately lost Game 3 to fall behind 2-1 in the series.
The stage was set for Staal’s best performance yet.
The Hurricanes captain scored two goals including the eventual game winner in Game 4.
He also won 12 of 16 faceoff attempts, blocked a couple of shots, and registered four shots on goal in the victory.
Staal has won 55 of the 81 faceoffs he has taken in the series for a remarkable 67.9 per cent win rate.
While he continues to play an important role defensively, his offensive production has helped give Carolina a chance to win all four games in the Stanley Cup Final and is perhaps the biggest reason they tied the series at 2-2 on Tuesday night.
Staal is +650 as the fourth choice to win the Conn Smythe Trophy at FanDuel this morning behind Marner, Stankoven, and Hall.
If the Golden Knights go on to win it all, Marner will win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
If the Hurricanes find a way to win the Stanley Cup, I think Staal deserves it as much or more than any other player in their lineup, pending what happens the rest of the way in the series.
Have a great day, everyone!
