NHL betting guide 2025: What to know about betting on NHL

Hockey betting can make one of the world's most fun and dramatic sports even more exciting. This page offers an introduction to how to bet on hockey and the best sportsbooks for betting on the NHL. Those NHL betting sites offer a vast menu of odds and prop bets, along with the best sportsbook promo codes to try out the sports betting apps for NHL betting.

Best NHL betting sites    

Below is our hockey betting guide. While betting on the NHL can look complicated, this guide aims to simplify that process. It will cover straight wagers and live betting, along with futures wagers. Let's take a deeper look at what it's like to bet on the NHL.  

Comparing the best NHL sportsbook promos

One of the first things new users should always do when looking to bet on the NHL—or any other sport, for that matter — is look at various sportsbooks. They'll often have different sign-up offers that can include things like deposit matches, "bet and get," and "no sweat bets." 

The other benefit to using multiple sportsbooks is the ability to shop around when it comes to lines and odds. Maybe one sportsbook has the Oilers vs. Panthers total at 6 while another has it at 6.5. It's always good to seek out the most favorable number you can find when placing a bet.

For new users, taking advantage of sports betting promos provides the opportunity to add bonus bets to your account to get started in hockey betting.

How to bet on NHL games

Once a user has selected the best sportsbook for them, they can go into the NHL tab to explore different NHL wagers. Oftentimes, the NHL page will feature a list of that night's matchups with +/- pricings for wagers. Plus-money prices show how much you would profit on a $100 bet. For example, +105 would profit $105 on a $100 bet. Minus-money prices show how much you need to wager to profit $100. For example, -150 means you need to bet $150 to profit $100. 

 Those prices are attached to three main types of bets:

• Spread (or Puck Line): This is the amount the favorite must win by in order to cover. In the NHL, it's most often -1.5, with some exceptions. So, the favorite must win by two or more goals to cash the bet. Therefore, a +1.5 underdog can either win the game or lose by one goal to cover a puck line.
• Total (Over/Under): This refers to the total number of goals scored in the game. For example, if the Over/Under is 5.5, six or more combined goals must be scored for that bet to win.
• Money Line: This is a straight-up bet on which team will win. There are no ties in the NHL, so no pushes (refunds) take place on money line bets. 

Another type of money line wager is a three-way money line bet. In the case of the NHL, a bettor can bet on one of the two teams to win in regulation, or they can bet on the game to be tied at the end of regulation (i.e., Panthers -155, Utah +280, Tie +375). 

For totals betting in the NHL, it's important to remember that overtime goals count towards the total. The goal awarded in the final score for a shootout winner also counts. For example, if a total is 5 and the game is tied 2-2 after regulation and the game ends with a final score of 3-2 after a shootout, then the total goals in the game are graded by sportsbooks as 5. The bet then pushes and is refunded. It is not under 5 goals because it was 2-2 after three periods. 

NHL prop betting

Prop bets on NHL games may not be as popular as those seen in NFL betting, but they are still extremely common amongst NHL bettors. Users can find prop bets on teams, individual players, and the game itself.

Player props

Let's start with player props. While NHL player props don't have gaudy point totals like the NBA or yardage totals like the NFL, there are still countless options. One of the more popular player props is the anytime goal scorer, much like an anytime touchdown scorer in the NFL. If that player scores a goal, you win the bet.

Additionally, there are options such as point totals (i.e., Connor Bedard Under 1.5 points), shots on goal totals (i.e., Nikita Kucherov Over 3.5 shots), save totals (i.e., Jeremy Swayman Under 26.5 saves), and more. Assists and blocked shots are a couple of examples of more common prop bets.

Game props

Beyond player props, there are also prop bets on individual teams. Those can include which team will score first, individual goal totals for each team and shot totals.

Some of the more interesting prop bets are game prop bets. Users can wager on whether the game gets to overtime, the exact score of each period (i.e., Stars 2, Predators 0), and goal totals for both teams (i.e., both teams to score 3+ goals).

NHL parlays

As is the case with many other sports, parlays are a popular type of bet on NHL games. Parlays are a type of bet in which a user packages together multiple bets and must win all of them in order to win the parlay.

For example:

• Maple Leafs money line (-125)
• Kraken -1.5 (+152)
• Rangers vs. Hurricanes Over 5.5 (-115)

The above example carries odds of +748. The user must win all three of those bets to win the parlay, which makes parlays much more difficult to win than individual wagers.

Bettors can also construct same-game parlays in which there are multiple bets on the same game. For instance, a bettor could build a same-game parlay on Avalanche vs. Wild that includes:

• Wild money line (+160)
• Wild Over 3.5 goals (-128)
• Kirill Kaprizov anytime goal-scorer (+135)

Note that each sportsbook has its own formula for SGP odds, another reason to look around at various sports betting apps.

There are a number of different ways to create parlays across multiple games, including various prop bets. One example would be picking an anytime goal scorer from each game, which would be a difficult wager to win. 

NHL futures betting

Sportsbooks offer a wide array of futures bets for NHL teams and players. In this section, we'll take a look at some of the more common ones.

Futures bets are often season- or postseason-long wagers that cash if a player or team hits a certain benchmark or wins a certain award. In the NHL, one of the more popular team futures bets is to win the Stanley Cup. If that team wins the Stanley Cup Final at the end of the postseason, that wager cashes.

Team futures include:

• Stanley Cup winner
• Conference winner
• O/U points in the team standings
• Team will make the playoffs
• Team to win the division

As of August 10, 2025, here are some of the favorites to win the 2026 Stanley Cup, per DraftKings Sportsbook:

• Florida Panthers +600
• Carolina Hurricanes +800
• Vegas Golden Knights +850
• Colorado Avalanche +900
• Edmonton Oilers +900
• Dallas Stars +1000

On the individual player side, there are several options:

• Player point total
• Player goal total 
• Awards (Hart Trophy, Calder Trophy, etc)

The favorites for the 2026 Hart Trophy are (as of August 1, 2025):

• Connor McDavid +200
• Nathan MacKinnon +500
• Krill Kaprizov +800
• Nikita Kucherov +1000
• Leon Draisaitl +1000

How do you bet on the Stanley Cup?

Sportsbooks will post Stanley Cup odds beginning in the preseason. That's when users can place bets on which team will win it all at the end of the season. Those odds will change throughout the season, so users can shop for different odds at different times.

When it comes to how to bet on the NHL Stanley Cup Final or the playoffs in general, it isn't too different from betting on regular-season games. Perhaps the biggest differences include the ability to bet on each individual series (i.e., Panthers to defeat Oilers) or the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, which is given to the playoff MVP.

When betting on series winners, users can also bet on the exact outcome (i.e., Stars to def. Avalanche in five games). That bet only cashes if the team wins the series in that exact number of games.

NHL live betting

As is the case with so many other sports, users can live bet on NHL games, which just means betting on a game while it's being played. Throughout the course of the game, sportsbooks will post live numbers on the spread, money line, and totals among other things.

Some of the more common live bets include money lines and totals.

It can sometimes be good to live bet if users want to get a feel for how the game is playing out before placing a wager. For instance, if a team has a couple of key injuries or has just made a coaching change, users may want to see how a team reacts to that on the ice before placing a bet.

NHL betting tips and advice

The NHL can be a very unpredictable league, so just laying the -1.5 spread with every favorite is generally not a good strategy. Here are a few basic tips for how to bet on hockey. 

Verify the starting goalie

One of the best things bettors can do is check to see if the top goalie is starting before betting on a game and see if the odds match recent games with that goalie. Obviously, if the backup goaltender is starting, that will affect the proper price for that team's money line. 

Check injury reports for top lines and players

Staying updated on NHL players' injuries is crucial before betting on any hockey game. That goes double for the best goal scorers on each team and players on the top power play unit.

Follow beat reporters, too, for injury context. Hockey players are tough and often will play through injuries if they are able. Knowing if key players are on the ice at less than 100% could be insightful and not fully reflected in the odds.  

Rest advantages

Monitor the schedule for spots where a team is at a significant rest advantage vs. its opponent. Is that team playing a back-to-back when the other team had yesterday off? Is one team playing its fourth game this week while the other team is only playing its second or third? 

It's very hard for sportsbooks to constantly keep track of this on top of injuries and lineup changes. It's often early, sharp money after lines open (price discovery) that lets books know they may not have accounted for something like rest advantages.