Thinking about venturing in the world of NHL online betting? Look no further—in this comprehensive guide, we’ll show the best legal sportsbooks for betting on NHL hockey and share the best tips and advice for the season.
We’ll also explain the various types of NHL betting to help you maximise your wagering in the NHL hockey markets, so that you’re not just relying on “puck luck”.
Best bettings sites to bet on NHL online
How betting on NHL works?
The NHL is one sport that has a variety of sports betting methods. Each of these have their own pluses and minuses, but the methods definitely provide you with plenty of chances of land a winning bet and potentially make quite a bit of money.
Moneyline
A money line bet is basically betting on the team that you think will win the game.
Example of Moneylines bet:
| Team | Odds |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | +110 |
| Washington Capitals | -100 |
In this game the Capitals are the favorite as noted by the – sign in front of the number and the Blue Jackets are the underdog as noted by the + sign. With this bet you could place a bet on the Capitals as the favorite or the Blue Jackets as the underdog. Then you would win if the team you picked won the game.
In summer this is a bet on which team will win the game.
Spreads
A spread bet is covering which team will win or lose within a certain goal range.
Example of Spreads Bet
| Teams | Spread |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | +1.5 |
| Washington Capitals | -1.5 |
The spreads bet for NHL would be betting on which team will win by a certain goal margin. The favorite is shown by a – number and has to win the game by that number of goals or more to win. The + number is the underdog team and the underdog could even lose the game outright, but if it is within the spread still be a spread winning bet.
In summary the spreads bet is betting on the number of goals a team will win or lose the game by.
Over/Under Totals
The over and under bet or totals type of bet is the kind that is going to be places on either the total goals a team has as an individual team or the number of goals in the game. In some instances you can get a prop type of bet for the over and under that would count for the individual period.
Example of Over/Under Bet
| Team | Total |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 2.5 |
| Washington Capitals | 3.5 |
| Game Total | 5.5 |
In this example, which is based off of the entire game, the Blue Jackets would have to score either over or under 2.5 games in the game for you to win, depending on what you bet. The same would hold true for the Capitals as well. However, the entire game total is 5.5 goals and you could place a bet to be over 5.5 goals or under 5.5 goals in the game as a whole and if that happens you would have a winning bet.
To summarize the the over and under bet is going to cover the number of goals a team or the entire game will have scored.
Parlays
A parlay bet for the NHL would be taking and combing the winning teams in the game on a single betting ticket. The increase chance of losing would increase your potential payout.
Examples of a Parlay Bet
| Game | Odds |
| Blue Jackets at Capitals | Capitals -110, Blue Jackets +110 |
| Ducks at Kings | Kings -150, Ducks +120 |
The example above is based off of the money line of the teams individually. You would take and figure out which one of the teams you would want to win. For example, if you took the Blue Jackets and the Kings on the same line both of these teams would have to win for your bet to win. If either team loses the game, then your entire ticket would be a loss.
To summarize a parlay bet is one that you place on two or more events happening for a larger payout.
Futures
A futures bet is one that is placed well in advance of any major NHL event. A good example of this is you could be placing a future bet on who you think the Stanley Cup winner would be or once the Stanley Cup final is in place, who the MVP of the series would be.
Examples of A Future Bet
| Teams | Odds To Win Stanley Cup |
| Washington Capitals | +500 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | +1000 |
| Montreal Canadiens | +50000 |
The future bet example above would be placed before the first puck drop of the season. In this instance you would be placing the bet on which team you think will win the Stanley Cup trophy. The odds can have a huge payout, but if your team ends up losing then you are out all of your money on the season.
The Stanley Cup winner at the start of the season is the main futures bet in the NHL, but it is far from the only future bet.
Example:
- Winner of Stanley Cup
- The Winning Conference
- Winners of a specific division.
- Winner of a Conn Smythe Trophy.
- What teams make the playoffs.
- What player will win MVP
- Team with the Most Regular Season Wins
To summarize a future bet is one that is placed well in advance of the expected outcome or game date.
Prop Bets
The prop bet is based off of how well you expect an individual or a team to perform in the game on a specific stat.
Example of a prop bet.
| Player Name | Type of Bet |
| Sergei Bobrovsky | Over or Under 30 Saves |
This example is based off of the goalie performance of Sergei Bobrovsky. You could place a prop bet on if you think Bobrovsky would have over or under 30 saves in the game.
Different Types Of Prop Bets In NHL:
- Number of shots by an individual player.
- Number of saves by a team overall.
- Number of penalty minutes served by a team.
- How many faceoffs a player will win in the game.
- Number of minutes a team goes empty net.
To summarize a prop bet is based on the performance of a team or an individual on the teams in a specific game.
Teasers & Pleasers
A bet that is not commonly seen in the NHL is the teaser and pleaser bets. The teasers bets are based on a parlay bet when you are decreasing the puck line. The pleaser bet is the exact opposite and one which you are actually going to increase the puck line.
Example of a Teaser Bet
| Teams | Spread |
| Blue Jackets at Capitals | Capitals -1.5 |
| Ducks at Kings | Kings -1.5 |
The example above shows that the normal puck line is sitting at -1.5 goals, which means the teams would have to win by basically 2 goals to win the bet. However, if you think the Kings will win, but not confident it will be by 2 goals you can lower the puck line to -.5 which increases the chance of winning, but does lower the payout.
Example of a Pleaser Bet
| Teams | Spread |
| Blue Jackets at Capitals | Capitals -1.5 |
| Ducks at Kings | Kings -1.5 |
The pleaser type of bet is going to show that you have strong confidence in a single team to win the game by more goals than what the line shows. In this example, you could add an extra goal onto the bet so you would be taking the Capitals to win by -2.5 and same with the Kings. With the increase difficulty in the bet comes a huge increase in the potential payout.
To summarize a pleaser bet is increasing the potential puck line, but a teaser bet is decreasing the puck line.
What to consider when betting on NHL
The NHL is one league that when it first starts out is very tricky to bet on. A lot of times the good teams are just getting their starting lines figured out perfectly, but also the teams are still getting to know how the lines are going to gel together.
The other thing to consider is the goalie matchup. This is going to determine if a total could go over or if the under is a good bet. Still, the goalies are also going to have a history against specific teams and some teams are able to control a single goalie.
Finally, the home ice advantage in a lot of NHL games can make a serious impact in the games results. This is really depending on where the team is playing, but a good example is the “White Out” that the Winnipeg Jets were known for on their home ice prior to COVID restrictions.
FAQ
Yes betting on the NHL is legal. However, some states like New York do limit if you can bet on an event hosted in the state.
Yes betting on the NHL is legal. However, some states like New York do limit if you can bet on an event hosted in the state.
The answer is the NHL odds are fairly straightforward and while it can be profitable it is not always going to make you a fortune as the NHL is a very volatile league and it is easy to lose to a team that hits a hot streak.
No.
This is not a commonly bet draft and with that being the case not many sportsbooks offer an NHL draft bet.
Historical winners of The Stanley Cup
A table of all the previous winners of the league. Continue all the way down. This is just data, so we can just copy-paste it from Wikipedia or something.
| Year | Team |
| 2022 | TBD |
| 2021 | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 2020 | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| 2019 | Saint Louis Blues |
| 2018 | Washington Capitals |
| 2017 | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 2016 | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| 2015 | Chicago Blackhawks |
| 2014 | Los Angeles Kings |