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How do NHL betting odds work?
In North America, there are two types of odds most used for sports gambling: Decimal odds in Canada, and moneyline odds in the US. Below we’ll create a fictional matchup and explain how to understand decimal odds for both the underdog and the favourite in an NHL hockey game.
You can see that Toronto are the favourites in this game because their 1.50 odds are less than the 2.10 odds for Montreal. The favourite will always have the lowest odds. To understand what your payout and profit will be for betting on one of these teams, we simply multiply the amount we want to wager by the odds for that team.
Payout: If we placed a C$10 wager on Montreal, we would multiply C$10 by their 2.10 odds. The total payout for the bet would be C$21 (2.10 x 10 = 21).
Profit: To understand how much profit we would make if Montreal won the hockey game, we subtract our wager (C$10) from the total payout (C$21) and we are left with $11 in profit (C$21 - C$10 = C$11).
If instead we had successfully bet C$10 on Toronto to win this hockey game, then we would have made C$5 in profit. The payout for this bet would be C$10 x 1.5 = C$15. When we subtract our C$10 wager from C$15, we are left with a C$5 profit.
When first starting out, it can be difficult to learn the different types of betting odds available and how they all work. We’ve created an NHL betting calculator below to help make all the odds easy to read and understand.
Best NHL bets & betting options
Understanding NHL betting lines and the different bets available for a specific game only takes a little bit of time and practice, even for a novice gambler. Whether it's a moneyline, puck line or an over/under bet, we have you covered.
Below we’ve put together all the best NHL bets and all the different NHL betting lines available when you are wagering online.
Moneyline bets
NHL moneyline betting is as straightforward as it gets. There are no spreads to deal with, as a moneyline bet involves simply picking the winning team.
Each team is assigned odds for them to win the game. The team with the higher decimal odds is the underdog and the team with the lowest decimal odds is always the favourite. A gambler needs to only pick the winning team to win the bet. It’s that easy.
There is an option to play a type of moneyline bet called a 3-way or a 60-minute bet. That means you are picking a team to win the game in regulation time – an overtime victory does not count as a win with this type of bet.
Using our example above, you can see that because a team has to win the game in regulation time, a 3-way or 60-minute bet will give you better odds than a regular moneyline bet where overtime is included.
Puck line / point spread bets
Puck line betting is a form of NHL handicap betting. You can think of it as NHL point spread betting. The key difference is that with a puck line bet the spread is always 1.5 goals.
In puck line betting, the underdog team is awarded +1.5 goals for gambling purposes. This +1.5 puck line means they can either win the game outright or lose by 1 goal and still win the bet. A -1.5 puck line means that the favourite is giving up 1.5 goals before the game even starts. If you bet on a -1.5 puck line, your team now needs to win the game by 2 goals or more.
Puck line betting is a great way to increase your payout by betting on favourites who you think will win by two or more. If you look at our example, you can see the Vancouver Canucks are 1.50 odds on the moneyline. While, on the puck line -1.5 goals, the Canucks are paying out at a much more rewarding 1.95 odds.
Totals bets
Sometimes it’s the simple things that are the most rewarding. And when it comes to understanding NHL betting odds, nothing is simpler than betting totals or over/unders (O/U).
A totals bet or O/U bet is when a sportsbook sets a number for the combined score of both teams and the gambler gets to choose whether the final score will finish over or under that number.
Using our example above, we can see that oddsmakers have assigned an over/under of 5.5 in the Calgary vs Edmonton game.
At 2.00, the over odds are slightly higher than the 1.90 odds for the under. Bookmakers will often set slightly different odds for the two betting options based on what they think the more likely outcome will be.
Prop bets
NHL prop bets are often referred to as games within the game. That’s because bookmakers create odds for different events that may occur during a hockey game. Here are some examples of popular NHL prop bets:
- Which team will score first?
- How many goals will be scored in the first period?
- Will Player X record an assist this game?
- Will Player Y score a goal this game?
Prop bets can be either game based or player performance based. NHL player prop bets tend to be more popular with savvy gamblers trying to predict which players will or will not score points during a game.
Using the example above, we can see that oddsmakers don’t expect Phillip Danault to score a goal in this game. They have set his odds at 3.00 to score and only a 1.20 payout if he doesn’t.
Futures bets
A futures bet allows a gambler to place a wager on an event that is going to happen down the road, or as the name says, in the future. There are many different types of NHL futures bets, including:
- Which team will win the Stanley Cup
- Which teams will make (or not make) the playoffs
- Which player will win an NHL award
- What team will draft a specific player
- Which team will win a specific playoff series
Once the NHL playoff odds have been set for a specific series, you can make a futures bet predicting the winning team of a series and even how many games you think a series will last.
A lot of gamblers enjoy playing futures because it allows them to get away from betting one specific game. Sometimes betting on a long-term outcome might be a little bit easier to predict than a single game event.
Parlay betting
NHL parlay betting is when a gambler has made multiple bet selections and has combined them all into a single ticket. The more selections made on a parlay ticket, the greater the profit return. But, to win that ticket, all outcomes selected must win. With more risk comes more reward.
Some of the best NHL parlay bets are simply selecting two or three different teams to win and putting them all on one ticket.
Parlay ticket
Toronto to win at 1.70 odds PLUS Winnipeg to win at 1.55 odds
1.70 odds x 1.55 odds = 2.635 odds
In our example above, if you wanted to create a parlay ticket that has both Toronto and Winnipeg to win their games, the odds of that ticket would be 2.635. Considerably higher than a 1.70 or 1.55 single-game bet!
Live betting
NHL live betting, also known as NHL in-play betting, is an opportunity for gamblers to make wagers while a game has already started. Once a game starts, there will be constant changes to the moneyline on both teams, depending on how the on-ice action is playing out.
Gamblers have a great opportunity to watch a game in real time by making decisions and wagers based on what they are seeing happen on the ice. As goals are scored and the game plays out, the odds will continue to change. NHL live betting can be great for hockey fans who believe they have the skill and knowledge to watch a live game and accurately predict what will happen next.
The most popular types of NHL in-play bets are: picking winners, teams or game totals and even betting the puck line. It is expected that player performance based live bets are really going to grow as the online sports betting industry continues to open and mature.
OGCA's NHL betting tips
In baseball, starting pitchers dictate the odds of a baseball game. Pitchers have so much impact and influence on the final outcome of a game, oddsmakers must build lines based around who is starting for both teams.
Whereas in hockey, starting goalies don’t have quite the same impact as a starting pitcher does, but they are often the most impactful player during a game. It’s always important to know which goalie a team is starting that night and how that goalie has been playing recently.
If a goalie has been in really good form of late, you have a chance to capitalize on some under bets as well as picking the correct side.
An NHL regular season is 82 games. All teams do a lot of travelling and road trips can be quite impactful on final results. Sometimes teams are even forced to play on back-to-back nights while travelling to different cities.
It is very important to be aware of a team's travel schedule. Are they an East Coast team in the midst of a long West Coast trip? Did they play in Winnipeg last night and have a game in Calgary today?
Even when teams are returning from a long trip it can sometimes take them a game at home to get their legs underneath them. Understanding the impact of travel and a team's current travel schedule are very important when betting the NHL.
NHL coaches are always adapting strategies to help their team win games. Several years ago, if a team was trailing by a couple of goals, it was not uncommon for a coach to remove his goalie with about a minute left and replace him with a skater to try and create more offense.
Today, coaches have been known to remove their goalies with three minutes to play in a game which they are trailing. Three minutes is a long time for a team who is trying to score into an empty net.
Sometimes close games run the risk of late goals being scored while goalies are on the bench. Savvy gamblers try to factor this in when making their decisions. But every game is subject to a potential empty net goal and sometimes you just have to hope to be on the right side of it.
Understanding when a favourite is in really good form can lead to gamblers getting some increased odds by betting the puck line or making a 60-minute bet. The NHL puck line is always 1.5 goals. If you think a team has a very good chance of winning a game, why not take them to win by more than 1.5 goals and increase your payout and profit?
Or, if you prefer to bet a team to win in regulation time instead of laying the 1.5 goals, eliminating the overtime option in a bet will always give a gambler better odds than a straight moneyline wager.
Just because a team is a heavy favourite doesn’t mean a gambler doesn’t have options to find them at better odds. Use the puck line or regulation time bets when you have a really good feeling about a team.
NHL stats & info
The NHL schedule can be divided up into three sections: Preseason, regular season and the always exciting Stanley Cup playoffs. For all the NHL schedule information, check out our list of key dates below.
When does the 2021/22 NHL preseason start?
It starts on September 25 and concludes on October 9.
When does the 2021/22 NHL regular season start?
It starts on October 12 and concludes on April 29.
When do the 2021/22 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs start?
They begin in early May and finish late June.
When is the 2022 NHL draft?
It will be held June 24 and 25 in Montréal, Québec.
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FAQs
The National Hockey League is a 32-team professional hockey league based in North America, and is regarded as the best professional hockey league in the world. There are 25 American teams and seven Canadian franchises.
