NHL Predictions and Free Betting Tips Predictions & Betting tips

The 2022/23 NHL season is already underway and we have an in-depth look at the schedule, important teams and players as well as the most recent odds and best bets from a number of the web’s top online sportsbooks. We’ll also take a look at some profitable betting strategies that will be sure to help your overall win rate when placing your own bets.

Structure of the NHL Season

source : nhl.com

While not pulling the viewership of other sports such as the NFL and NBA, the National Hockey League has a dedicated and passionate following which ranks it at about the fifth most popular sport in the United States, as well as the number one sport in many other countries. The fast-paced nature of the sport of hockey makes it ideal for bettors looking for an adrenaline fueled betting experience that is sure to get the heart rate going.

The league is composed of 25 teams from around the United States as well as an additional seven Canadian teams to put the total at 32 teams. They are then separated into the Eastern and Western conferences and divided again into separate divisions within those conferences. The Eastern conference has the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions while the Western conference is made up of the Central and Pacific divisions, with eight teams in each. The NHL regular season sees each team playing 82 games from the months of October to April which leads to the Stanley Cup playoffs beginning in May. The NHL season is similar to the NBA season in both length and typical downtime teams are afforded in between games. Most teams play every 2-3 days although there are times throughout the year that teams will have to play on back-to-back nights. 

Upon the completion of the regular season, 16 teams take part in the playoffs (eight from each conference) to decide which two teams will compete for the Stanley Cup, the NHL’s championship game. The top three teams from each division win automatic entry into the playoffs and will be seeded according to their regular season record, which makes up the initial 12 teams. The next four available playoff spots go to the two highest placed finishers in each conference, regardless of division. This means that five teams from the one division could technically qualify while only three teams from another division get in.The structure of the playoffs follows many other American sports with each round being a best of seven series to determine the winner, meaning that the first team to win four games will advance. 

Scoring in the NHL is as follows: teams are awarded two points for a win and zero points for a loss. If the game is tied at the conclusion of regulation time then a five-minute overtime period will be played. Teams will still be awarded a point should the game go to overtime, even if they ultimately end up on the losing end. If the score is still tied at the end of the overtime period then both teams will take part in a shootout to decide the eventual winner.

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What To Expect in the 2022/23 NHL Season

The end of the 2021/22 NHL season saw the Colorado Avalanche capping off a 119 point regular season, the second highest mark in the league, by taking home their franchise’s third Stanley Cup trophy and first since 2001. The Avs overcame the Tampa Bay Lightning four games to two with the deciding game six finishing 2-1 in favor of Colorado to ultimately clinch the series. The Avalanche were the preseason betting favorites to win the championship last season at odds of around 7.25 (almost 6.5/1), while their Stanley Cup Finals opponents Tampa Bay were the bookmakers consensus second favorite team for the title at a price of around 8.00 (9/1). 

As we can see from the Stanley Cup matchup from the previous season, the NHL is a sport that often sees the league’s strongest teams in contention for the title come the end of the year. This is mainly due to the best-of-seven playoff format, which gives the stronger team a significant edge. Contrasting with a sport like the NFL where the playoffs are single elimination and thus leading to an increased chance for variance, it’s often incredibly difficult for a big underdog to overcome a heavily favored team over the course of seven games in sports like the NHL and the NBA. 

As for the other teams in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s recent dynasty looks set to continue into the new season. The Lightning were crowned champions in 2020, 2021 and of course, runners-up in 2022 to the Avalanche. They will now attempt to make their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup finals in the 2022/23 season, something that hasn’t happened since the conference and playoff realignment in the early 1980’s. Despite losing Ondrej Palat and Ryan McDonagh, the Lightning return all of their major pieces from their Prince of Wales trophy winning 2021/22 team. The bookmakers fancy them to make another Stanley Cup run as most bookmakers have Tampa Bay at around the third favorites to lift the cup with odds of around 11.00 (10/1). 

NHL fans should also keep a close eye on the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL’s most historic teams and holders of 13 Stanley Cup titles. The Leafs will feel they have a golden opportunity to finally end their 55 year Stanley Cup drought – the longest active drought in the league. Another heartbreaking game seven loss in the first round of last season’s playoffs to the Lightning has fans wondering if the team is suffering through some kind of curse. Toronto has now lost five consecutive “winner-take-all” games and, incredibly, hasn’t won a playoff series since 2004. However, with the reigning MVP Auston Mathews leading the way, the Leafs have a strong team and a good shot to finally end their drought. Oddsmakers have them as the second favorites to be crowned champions at odds of around 9.00 (8/1). 

Players To Watch in the 2022/23 NHL Season

The NHL has a wonderful amount of talent at the moment with some seriously impressive young superstars. At the top of the list is Connor McDavid who is widely considered to be the best player in the NHL at the moment. Since entering the league in 2015/16, McDavid is the highest scoring NHL player with 73 points more than second place. His average of 1.43 points per game is the fourth-highest in NHL history, only behind legendary names Wayne Gretsky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy. McDavid truly is a generational talent as the 25-year-old forward continues to put up the type of numbers that group him with some of the game’s recent greats in Ovechkin and Crosby. The Edmonton Oilers captain has hit the 100 point mark in five of his seven seasons and likely would have reached the century mark in all seven if not for an injury in his rookie season and the pandemic shortened 2021 season.

Next up is the defending champion’s defenceman Cale Makar who will be hoping to lead his Colorado Avalanche to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title. The 23-year-old is revolutionizing the position with his bursts forward from the blue line and his talent for the offensive side of the game.  With already a Norris Trophy, Calder Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy to his name, the young Makar is one of the league’s bright young talents and considered by many to be at the very top of his position. Colorado are favored by many sportsbooks to repeat as champions and Makar will be a huge part in their title defense.

Lastly is the reigning MVP Auston Matthews who will be leading a high-powered Maple Leafs team as they look to finally end both their playoff series drought and Stanley Cup drought. The 25-year-old Matthews was absolutely lethal in front of the net last season, netting 60 goals and breaking the Maple Leafs single season goals record. Matthews has been on a tear pretty much since first entering the league and his 259 career goals from the 2016/17 season is four more than goalscoring great Alexander Ovechkin. The MVP also averages 0.64 goals per game in his career which would rank him fifth best all-time. 

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High Profile Games of the 2022/23 NHL Season

With the NHL season having already started we’ll now take a look at some of the most exciting upcoming games on the schedule. These are the can’t miss games of the 2022/23 season that should serve as both an excellent introduction to new bettors or fans of the NHL, as well as the marquee matchups that seasoned NHL fans and bettors will take note of.

A massive 1,312 games are on the docket for the NHL season so let’s start by highlighting seven games that have caught our interest. Keep in mind that you can view all of the latest betting lines for the NHL by signing up with some of the industry’s top online sportsbooks. Registering is simple and can be completed in a matter of minutes. Follow the links provided in this article to set yourself up with a nice welcome bonus to pad your bankroll as we delve into the NHL season. 

October 27th: Seattle Kraken vs Vancouver Canucks

The NHL’s newest franchise the Seattle Kraken come into their second season with hopes of improving upon their 27-49-6 record which saw them finish rock-bottom in the Pacific division last year. They face off against the Canucks here in a matchup that has the potential to become a rivalry between the teams. Their respective MLS teams the Sounders and the Whitecaps share a strong rivalry as well as their Western Hockey League counterparts. Vancouver swept Seattle last season so fans and players will be desperate to get one over on their neighbors.

November 4th: NHL Global Series: Columbus Blue Jackets vs Colorado Avalanche

The first of a two game series taking place in Finland for the NHL’s 2022 Global Series sees the Columbus Blue Jackets facing off against the defending champion Colorado Avalanche. The brand new Nokia Arena is the venue for this matchup which will also feature as a homecoming for Finnish players Patrik Laine of the Blue Jackets as well as Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen of the champions.

December 5th: Boston Bruins vs Las Vegas Golden Knights 

Vegas burst onto the scene in their debut season in 2017/18, making it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before eventually losing four games to one to Washington. Since then, the Golden Knights have failed to return to the promised land after a first round exit, conference finals exit and Stanley Cup semifinals exit in the following three seasons. The 2021/22 season saw Vegas miss the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s history after a 43-31-8 finish. The Golden Knights brought in former Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy to try to get them over the hump and he will take his new team into the TD Garden for the first time after six years at the helm in Boston. 

January 2nd: The NHL Winter Classic Pittsburgh Penguins vs Boston Bruins

One of the NHL’s “coolest” recent traditions is the annual Winter Classic, a game played outdoors usually in extremely frigid conditions given the time of the year in many of the hosting cities. Last season’s 2022 Classic saw the NHL’s coldest game ever played between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild. The game was played at -20℃ in front of 38,617 fans which many described as a “once in a lifetime experience”. The players also seem to love the event with many describing how amazing the sight is when looking around from inside the rink. Boston will be playing in the Winter Classic for the first time since 2019 and the legendary Fenway Park will be the venue. On the other side, Pittsburgh will make their first appearance in the game since 2011 and hold a 2-1 all-time record in the NHL’s annual outdoor game.

January 21st: Montreal Canadiens vs Toronto Maple Leafs

The oldest rivalry in the NHL sees two of Canada’s most storied NHL franchises face off for the second of their four scheduled games in the 2022/23 season. A cultural rivalry as much as a sporting rivalry, the two Canadian provinces have had some hugely entertaining feuds going back as far as the 1940s with both teams members of the NHL’s “original six”. The Canadiens hold the record for most Stanley Cups won at 24 while finishing as runners up on 10 occasions while the Leafs are second all-time with 13 Cup wins and eight second place finishes. The Maple Leafs will feel they can claim the bragging rights for their fans this year as Toronto comes in as one of the oddsmakers favorites to win the championship while Montreal sit among the bottom five teams in title odds. 

February 9th: Colorado Avalanche vs Tampa Bay Lightning

First meeting between the two sides since squaring off in the Stanley Cup Finals the year prior. Will the Lightning be able to claim a sliver of revenge after their heartbreaking loss which saw them denied of becoming only the fourth ever team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups. Finals rematches are always exciting, drama-filled events and this one should be no different between arguably the league’s two best teams. 

April 13th: Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins

Final game of the regular season for both teams against their fiercest rivals. The Montreal vs Boston rivalry is widely considered to be the most intense in the NHL. The matchup could wind up being a make or break game for each team if they find themselves involved in a tight playoff race. Even if one of the teams is out of contention, the fans would love nothing more than denying their rivals entry to the postseason.

Notable Statistics From The Previous Season

The Florida Panthers ended the 2021/22 season with the best record in the NHL with 58 wins, 18 losses and 6 overtime losses for a total points total of 122. They also finished with the league’s best goal differential at +94. Despite dominating the regular season and getting past the Washington Capitals 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs, the Panthers would eventually get swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 in the second round. In the Western Conference it was the champion Colorado Avalanche who held the best record with 56 wins, 19 losses and 7 overtime losses for a total of 119 points and final goal differential of +78. Below are the top three teams from each division from the 2021/22 season:

Atlantic:

• Florida Panthers 58-18-6, 122 points
• Toronto Maple Leafs 54-21-7, 115 points
• Tampa Bay Lightning 51-23-8, 110 points

Metropolitan:

• Carolina Hurricanes 54-20-8, 118 points
• New York Rangers 52-24-6, 110 points
• Pittsburgh Penguins 46-25-11, 103 points

Central:

• Colorado Avalanche 56-19-7, 119 points
• Minnesota Wild 53-22-7, 113 points
• St. Louis Blues 49-22-11, 109 points

Pacific:

• Calgary Flames 50-21-11, 111 points
• Edmonton Oilers 49-27-6, 104 points
• Los Angeles Kings 44-27-11, 99 points

In terms of individual team performance, it was the Florida Panthers who finished the season as the NHL’s top offensive after bagging 340 goals. The rest of the top five reads as follows: the Leafs were second highest scoring team with 315 goals, Avalanche third with 312 goals, St. Louis Blues fourth with 311 goals, and finally the Minnesota Wild were fifth with 310 goals on the season. 

On the defensive side of the puck, the Carolina Hurricanes were the NHL’s stingiest team in the 2021/22 season, allowing a total of only 202 goals on the year. The New York Rangers had the league’s second best defense, allowing 207 goals, while the Flames, Bruins and Penguins would round off the top five, allowing 208, 220 and 229 goals, respectively. 

Next up we’re going to take a look at each team’s against the spread record from the 2021/22 season. Unlike the NFL and the NBA who are dependent on point spreads, most NHL betting action comes on the moneyline, or straight up bets. However, hockey does have point spreads which are referred to as the “puck line”. This is a fixed +/-1.5 line assigned to either team meaning the favorite will have to win the game by two or more goals while backing the underdog will still see a win if they lose by only one goal. There are of course alternate puck line spreads available but for the purpose of the below records we are going to be referring to the +/-1.5 line. 

The LA Kings were the league’s best team against the spread, covering an impressive 50 games while losing 32 for a net ROI of 20.3% if you had backed them in every game of the season. The top five teams against the spread are as followed with the ROI had they been bet for every game:

• 1st: LA Kings 50-32; 20.3% ROI
• 2nd: St. Louis Blues 49-33; 25.6% ROI
• 3rd: Buffalo Sabres 47-35; 1.5% ROI
• 4th: Columbus Blue Jackets 47-35; 2.8% ROI
• 5th: Ottawa Senators 46-36; 2.3% ROI

These records don’t specify when the teams were favored or when they were underdogs but it presents some interesting information nonetheless. The Kings and the Blues likely finished with the best ATS records and such high ROIs due to overachieving expectations on the year. Coming into the 2021/22 season, the Kings and the Blues were not considered among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Los Angeles had preseason odds of 67.00 (66/1) with an over/under points total set at 85.5 (they would finish the season with 99), while St. Louis entered last season with preseason odds of 36.00 (35/1) and an over/under points total set at 94.5 (they would go on to finish with 109 points). 

The Sabres and Blue Jackets in the top five is also interesting given that they finished in the bottom eight teams in terms of record and points. This illustrates the volatility of the puck line market as many new NHL bettors are sucked into laying the -1.5 goal line on strong teams, underestimating how often NHL games finish with a one goal margin. Remember that you can check out the latest LA Kings and St. Louis Blues lines in the current NHL season through sportsbooks such as Bet365 and Vbet. Next up we’ll take a quick look at the bottom five against the spread teams from the previous season:

• 32nd: Boston Bruins 33-49; -15.5% ROI
• 31st: Las Vegas Knights 35-47; -17.6% ROI
• 30th: Dallas Stars 35-47; -17.7% ROI
• 29th: Edmonton Oilers 36-44; -6.9% ROI
• 28th: Seattle Kraken 37-45; -14% ROI

Of course, free agency and the NHL Draft means teams have the opportunity to quickly change their fortunes in the offseason and enter the new season with a much stronger team. However, it’s good to keep the above records in mind as an idea of which teams are on the stronger side and which teams are on the weaker side. 

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Individual Player Performance

As previously mentioned, Auston Matthews is the reigning MVP and will be looking to become the first player since Alexander Ovechkin in 2007/08 - 2008/09 to win back-to-back Hart Memorial Trophies. The Toronto Maple Leaf forward finished the 2021/22 season with a Leafs single season record 60 goals as well as tallying 46 assists for a points total of 106 on the season. Matthews made an impressive leap in what was his sixth professional season after previous highs of 47 goals and 80 total points in the 2019/20 season. Matthews and his teammates will ultimately have finished the 2021/22 season with a bitter taste in their mouths as, despite ending the regular season with the fifth best record, they would fail to end the Maple Leafs playoff series victory drought. You would now have to go back all the way to 2004 for the last time Toronto has won a playoff series. 

Coming in as the reigning MVP, Matthews finds himself as the second favorite in the eyes of the oddsmakers to repeat as Hart Memorial Trophy winner with consensus preseason odds of around 5.00 (4/1) for the 25-year-old. Next we’ll look at the oddsmakers favorite to win the MVP award as well as some other interesting players to keep an eye on that would have an outside shot at the award.

Connor McDavid comes in as the bookmaker’s favorite for the MVP award. While the exact odds you get can sometimes vary on the bookmaker that you use, for example Bwin may off McDavid as MVP at 3.75 while WilliamHill could have odds at 3.25, but the general consensus sees McDavid with preseason odds of around 3.50 (2.5/1) to win the award for a third time in his career. The Edmonton Oilers center took home the award in the 2016/17 season as well as the 2020/21 season and can become one of just eight other players in NHL history to win three or more MVP awards if he is able to take down the award once again this season.

McDavid’s teammate and other Edmonton center Leon Draisaitl finds himself as the third favorite for the MVP along with Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon who share preseason betting odds of around 11.00 (10/1) for the trophy. Draisaitl won the award in the 2019/20 season and became the first German born player to win the Art Ross Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award despite his relatively young age of only 26. Draisaitl racked up 55 goals and 55 assists in the previous season for a points total of 110 and there is some definite value in backing the German to win his second MVP award at that price.

Nathan MacKinnon is coming off a 32 goal 56 assist season which saw him put up 88 points despite having only played in 65 games. MacKinnon has previously eclipsed the 90 point mark on three occasions with his highest being a 99 point season in 2018/19 when the 27-year-old was able to play all 82 games. Being a centerpiece of the league’s current best team and defending champions should give MacKinnon’s MVP chances a significant boost if the Aves are able to put together another strong regular season and title run.

Finally, we have to mention Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar who has been putting in some impressive numbers and is widely considered to be the best defenceman in the sport currently. The 23-year-old is coming off a season which saw him score 28 goals, the 24th highest mark in NHL history for a defenceman in a single season, while racking up a total of 88 points, the 31st highest mark for a defender all-time. Makar is averaging 1.01 points per game since entering the league in 2019/20 which is the highest among all current defencemen in the league. Cale Makar can be backed at excellent odds of around 14.00 (13/1) to win his first Hart Memorial MVP Trophy. 

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NHL Betting Strategies

Unlike sports such as basketball and American football where the point spreads drive the betting markets, Hockey generally sees most of its betting action coming in on moneyline (or straight up which team to win) type of bets. The NHL does offer spread betting, referred to as the puck line, which is a fixed +/-1.5 goal spread for each game.  In this sense, the NHL may most closely resemble Major League Baseball which also implements a 1.5 fixed run line as the spread for its games.

Puck Line Betting on the NHL

A common trap that new NHL bettors fall into is overly betting big favorites on the -1.5 puck line. It’s easy to see why, as a team that is 1.45 on the moneyline to win a game would likely be roughly even money (2.00) to cover the -1.5 spread. Bettors will think, “it’s just one more goal and the team is much stronger overall so they should easily be able to win by at least two!” We certainly aren’t going to go as far as to say it is a sucker bet, but punters should exercise caution when laying the -1.5 goals and be selective about where it’s played. 

This is because the NHL sees the majority of its games decided by a margin of one goal. While it’s hard to find definitive data on this number for each season, previous seasons have seen around 50% of regular season games being decided by just one goal. The 2014/15 season had 730 games decided by one goal while a 500 game sample taken in the 2018/19 season saw 41.3% of the games finish with only one goal separating the two teams. The fact is that the NHL is a highly competitive league and the talent difference between the teams isn’t as large as it might be in other sporting leagues such as the English Premier League.

Additionally, data taken from the 2018/19 season detailed the most common score lines from the 1,271 regular season games, the six most common can be seen below:

• 168 games finished with a 3-2 score: 13.2%
• 143 games finished with a 4-3 score: 11.3%
• 105 games finished with a 2-1 score: 8.3%
• 97 games finished with a 5-2 score: 7.6%
• 93 games finished with a 3-1 score: 7.3%
• 85 games finished with a 4-2 score: 6.7%

As we can see from the data, the three most common results in a recent season were one goal margin of victory games. This ties back into our previous point about how competitive many NHL games are, which of course is great from a viewing perspective but can make life difficult for bettors. From everything we’ve seen so far, it would likely be a better strategy to focus on +1.5 goal spreads where you are backing the underdog to keep the game close rather than taking the heavy favorite to win on the -1.5 goal spread. 

Let’s take a look at the 2021/22 Boston Bruins to get a better idea of how a team might perform strictly backing them on the puck line. The Bruins finished with a 51-26-6 record for a total of 107 points in the regular season, earning them a spot in the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s sixth best team. Overall, Boston was a good, solid team that would have come into many of their regular season games as the favorite to get the win. Despite their good regular season record, the Bruins finished as the worst team against the spread last season with an ATS record of 33-49. This could be because Boston was laying the -1.5 spread in many of their games but their +34 goal differential tells us that they weren’t really blowing teams out and winning by multiple goal score lines, resulting in a number of games where Boston would have won but failed to cover.

The flip side sees a team like the Buffalo Sabres who finished last season with a 32-39-11 record for a points total of 75 and a final goal differential of -58. Buffalo would wind up missing the playoffs by some distance but performed very well against the spread. The Sabres finished the year with the third best ATS record at 47-35. This doesn’t mean that weaker teams will inherently cover more puck line spreads or vice-versa, but it does illustrate why one should be more cautious when paying multiple goal spreads in the sport of hockey, and if anything, should lean more towards taking the +1.5 goals. 

Key Information Before Placing an NHL Bet

It’s important to do your research on the game, teams and players involved before submitting your bet. Injuries of course can have a massive impact on the final line of a game. For example, the Maple Leafs without Auston Matthews will see a significant shift in the moneyline, enough to even push them to underdogs in a spot where they would have previously been favorites with a healthy team. Be sure to keep up to date with team’s injury reports and double checking before locking in your bet; all NHL teams have various social media channels as well that makes it easy to get the latest news on players, injuries and team performance. 

A very popular metric for football punters at the moment, expected goals has an important part to play in hockey analysis as well. The idea behind the concept of expected goals is relatively simple: not all shots are created equal. Expected goals (or xG) looks to mathematically assign a value to each shot that is taken to represent the probability in that shot resulting in a goal. For example, a rebound tap in right in front of goal is going to have a significantly higher xG value than a slap shot from way outside. Overall, expected goals is a great way to gauge the quality of chances that a team has created and can be an excellent correlation to overall team success. 

Lastly, bettors will always want to consider the importance of the game that they are wagering on. It’s only natural that teams will get up more for certain games than other less important ones, especially when considering the marathon season that is the 82 game NHL schedule. Historic rivalries often provide some of the most exciting NHL matchups of the year while also special events such as the Winter Classic are sure to have an impact on player motivation. Situational spots can also arise throughout the course of a season, such as a team opting to rest players for the last game or two of the regular season if they have already secured their playoff seeding.

Always Compare the Odds!

One of the greatest weapons we sports bettors have in our arsenal is the ability to utilize multiple sportsbooks to ensure that we are always getting the best possible available price on a bet. Sportsbooks can often differ in the odds they offer for each event and the differences can at times be substantial! An astute bettor will look to take advantage of this and ensure they are always getting the best possible price available. It can’t be overstated how important this is to long-term success and can make the difference between a winning bettor and a losing bettor over the course of thousands of bets. 

Sportsbooks often offer a number of enticing sign-up bonuses and reload bonuses that present great opportunities for bettors to pad their bankroll. Shangrila, for example, offers users a generous 100% matched deposit bonus up to €100. These bonuses are of course subject to their own individual rollover requirements but can often be cleared in just a few days if enough bets are placed. Sportsbooks are constantly offering users new sign-up and reload bonuses as competition heats up between the different sites with the bettors the ones set to benefit.

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Our Predictions

New York Rangers 2022/23 Stanley Cup winners 

Betting odds: 18/1 bet365

There is definite value in the Rangers at this price, which puts them as the bookmaker’s eighth favorite to lift the Stanley Cup. This young Rags team made the Conference Finals last season, falling just short of a Stanley Cup appearance after losing 4-2 to the Lightning, and there is every reason to believe that they will come back even stronger this year. They have all the pieces needed to mount a title run with an elite goalkeeper in Igor Shesterkin, a stud defenceman in Adam Fox, and some talented forwards led by Artemi Panarin. The deep playoff run last season should prove to be excellent experience for a team that looks to be on the cusp. At this price they are absolutely worth a punt.

Sydney Crosby to win the Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP)

Betting odds: 50/1 WilliamHill

The now 35-year-old Sydney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins look set to have a strong year and should be able to make the playoffs as well as a potential Stanley Cup run if everything falls into place. Crosby is still vitally important to the Pens and his consistency is key to Pittsburgh success season after season. Now entering his 18th NHL season, Crosby is definitely being overlooked somewhat here with this price as the younger current stars of the league are dominating the MVP discussion. However, Sid the Kid has still got an MVP caliber season in his arsenal after finishing fourth in the voting last season. The two-time winner of the award put up another impressive season with 31 goals and 53 assists which saw him tally 84 total points. At that pace, he would’ve reached the 100 point mark for the seventh time in his career had he played the full 82 game schedule. 

Philadelphia Flyers under 74.5 total points

Betting odds: 1.87 Vbet

The Flyers, who finished last season with the second worst record in the Eastern Conference at 25-46-11 for a total of 61 points, have somehow seemingly managed to get even worse ahead of the 2022/23 season. They’ll be without Claude Giroux who departed for the Senators and will be missing Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier to start the season with both players dealing with injuries. They also have one of the worst defenses in the league, which conceded 298 goals last season, and were not able to make any significant improvements in the offseason on that front. Flyers fans are likely looking at another long season.  

NHL Odds from Top Bookmakers

How are NHL Odds Calculated?

Moneyline betting remains the most popular NHL wagering market and sportsbooks use in depth calculations to come up with their prices, usually involving many of the advanced statistics and metrics you can find on various sites around the internet. The important thing to remember when betting on any sport is that our objective as sports bettors is to find value. Value can come in different forms, it can be an underdog listed at 10/1 when they really might only be 7/1 or 8/1 dogs or it can be on a heavy favorite listed at 1.40 when the actual fair price might be something like 1.25 or 1.30. 

If as bettors we are able consistently bet on lines that have value then, in the long run, we will show a profit. It can be hard at times to back those big underdog prices but it is vital to identify when the betting public is overly-enthusiastically backing a favorite as this can cause the sportsbooks to shift their odds to accommodate the increase in action. A bettor consistently backing heavily favored teams popular with the betting public is going to struggle to turn a profit in the long run, despite likely having a winning overall record. 

Sportsbook Selection is Key

In addition to the enticing sign-up bonuses and promotions offered at many books, having a wide selection of sites that you can bet on will provide you with a better opportunity to get the best possible odds on each one of your bets. Sportsbooks generally try to keep their odds consistent with the rest of the market but there absolutely exist discrepancies in odds on different sites. A common example might be the Colorado Avalanche favored at home over the Calgary Flames with odds of 1.75 to win on the moneyline. You might be able to find this same line on another sportsbook at odds of 1.85. While the difference may appear negligible at first glance, that 0.10 difference in price would be the difference between €1,500 and €1,700 if bet 100 times with a stake of €20.

Odds Comparison From Top Sportsbooks

To wrap things up, let’s compare the current NHL Stanley Cup title odds from some of the web’s top online sportsbooks. In this case we’ll take a look at Bet365, WilliamHill and Vbet, three of the best sportsbooks at the moment which all offer excellent sign-up bonuses as well. Simply following the links provided in this article will help you get your account registered and set-up. Below are the championship odds for the top 10 NHL teams:

Teams	Bet365	William Hill	Vbet
Avalanche	17/4	4/1	4/1
Maple Leafs	8/1	8/1	17/2
Panthers	9/1	9/1	10/1
Lightning	10/1	10/1	10/1
Hurricanes	11/1	12/1	11/1
Flames	15/1	16/1	15/1
Oilers	15/1	14/1	15/1
Rangers	18/1	16/1	18/1
Wild	20/1	20/1	20/1
Penguins	22/1	20/1	22/1

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Our current NHL predictions

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NHL: best odds