NHL Betting Sites - Top Hockey Sportsbooks Guide

The NHL is the biggest and most popular pro hockey league in the world, with 31 total teams, 24 in the USA and seven in the sport’s founding nation, Canada. We’ve got hockey bettors covered with the top NHL odds from the best sportsbooks, as well as NHL free picks, predictions, NHL parlays and more!

The NHL is considered one of the four ‘major’ pro sports leagues in North America, and it’s even bigger up here in Canada where our love for the game goes back to the founding of the sport. The league currently features 31 teams—seven of which are from Canada—that all vy for the 16 playoff positions, eight in the Eastern Conference and eight in the Western Conference.

The NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, in which the top eight teams in each conference participate, take on a bracket format with the number one seed in the East taking on the number eight seed in the East, number two against number seven, and so on. The teams play each other in best-of-seven series where the first team to four wins advances to the next round. Eventually, the top team in the East emerges to take on the top team in the West in the Stanley Cup Finals, with the winning team hoisting the Stanley Cup as NHL champions.

Betting on hockey is somewhat similar to betting on soccer because of the low score lines and how tough it is to actually score a goal, though hockey games generally feature slightly higher scores. While there are lots of other betting options such as goals scored, margin of victory, etc., these low-scoring games mean that most hockey bets are simple win/lose moneyline wagers which are often largely affected by the goalie matchup.

NHL hockey is already one of the most free-flowing, blood-pumping, exciting, and entertaining sports to watch on its own, but once you inject a bit of betting using BetPicks.ca’s NHL free picks, predictions, and parlays, you’ll be on a whole other level.

Our NHL experts use all of the latest and most relevant trends, data, stats, and information to make informed suggestions and predictions that can help bettors find immense success in their NHL betting endeavors.

Most of the best odds we find come from 888sport, Betway, 10Bet, or 22Bet, though if we find top value odds elsewhere on the web, we’ll be sure to share them with you in our picks and predictions. Stay safe with our simple NHL picks or win big with our big money NHL parlays.

There are a wide variety of different betting markets you can consider when betting on the NHL, so to help you get a grip on what you’re dealing with without getting overwhelmed, we’ve broken down a few of the most popular and common betting markets you’ll come across on your NHL betting journey.

NHL Moneyline – The first one we’re touching on is moneyline betting which is the most popular as well as the most simple of the NHL markets you can find. This is a win/lose wager where you choose a team to win, and if they win, so do you. For example: Montreal Canadiens (-140) – Toronto Maple Leafs (+150).

Favorites always have NHL odds that start with the minus sign while underdogs are always denoted by the plus sign. Here, a 140 dollar bet on Montreal would net a total return of 240, while a 100 bet on Toronto would net the bettor a total of 250. Favorites are often the safer bet, but finding value on an underdog is how you make the real big bucks.

Puckline (Canadian line) – This type of bet is pretty unique to hockey. Since hockey games are so low-scoring, there’s always a puck line as well as a moneyline, and the puck line is always at -1.5 goals for the favorite and +1.5 goals for the underdog. This means that if a bettor takes the favorite’s puckline, they have to win by two or more goals, while bettors on the underdog’s puck line will win if the underdog keeps it to within one goal or wins outright.

The puck line for a favorite is usually offered with juiced up odds while the puck line for the underdog offers much less of a payout. This is similar to point spread or handicap betting in other sports, where the handicap evens the playing field out a bit in terms of the betting odds.

NHL Total or Over/Under – The NHL total bet is the same as for any other sport. You simply bet whether two teams will combine for over or under a certain number of goals. Betting in these markets requires a bit more knowledge of the game as well as the trends and tendencies of the two teams involved.

NHL Futures – NHL Futures are a great way for sharps to make big money on eventualities in that season. These types of bets can be made before the season starts but some can be made in-season as well. Futures are essentially long-term predictions on things such as the top goalscorer, the MVP, the conference winners, or even the Stanley Cup winners. Because so much can happen during a season, even the favorites for these futures, or ‘outright winners,’ bets will often offer very profitable odds.

Betting on the NHL is a great way to make a little side money if you know what you’re doing. To help all of you would-be NHL betting sharps get started, we’ve put together a few of our favorite NHL betting tips and tricks so you can get an edge when you start wagering on these ice warriors.

Watch The Sport – The most important thing you need to do if you want to bet on a sport consistently is watch it. You’ve got to have a bit of a feel for the game and be aware of trends and patterns for each team that’s playing so you can try to take advantage of them. Knowing if a team’s missing a big-time player or if they historically have trouble with a certain opponent is important information that could inform a big-time bet.

Pay Attention To The Schedule – Along those same lines, it’s important to keep your eye on the schedule. When considering a wager on any particular matchup, it’s smart to check out the recent schedules of both sides. This will help you find anomalies like if a team is playing in three games in four days, or if it’s had a really rough travelling schedule over the past week. We like to forget it, but athletes are humans too, and a brutal travel schedule or too much work in a short span can often have an effect on how they do on the ice. These are the kinds of small edges that can help you take advantage of NHL odds and earn yourself some nice cashouts.

Consider Line Matchups – Another important caveat to consider when putting money down on NHL betting is the line matchups that you’ll see in each game. A line is a group of three attackers or two defenders that plays together, lines will often have a corresponding group on the other team that they face off with all game. Finding advantages or a little edge among these lines can also help you make a better bet on the overall team as a whole. One line can dominate another one enough throughout a game to have a big effect on the final outcome.

Who’s Between The Pipes? – Unlike their European Football counterparts, NHL goalies are not expected to play in most of their team’s games. While they were stalwarts between the pipes night in and night out back in the old days, now the premium is on goalie health and longevity, so it’s common for most top goalies to only play in about two thirds of their teams games. Finding matchups where a team’s top goalie is playing against an opponent’s second-choice netminder is another great way to identify advantages that can help you find NHL betting success.