NHL Prop Betting Guide

How to Find the Best NHL Prop Bets

With so many NHL games out there to watch and bet on, how can you find which props provide value? You can spend hours scrolling through the deepest parts of FanDuel and DraftKings, or you could start with a few tried-and-true methods. Here’s how we advise beginner-to-intermediate punters to start searching for the best NHL prop bets. 

Watch Games and NHL News

Of course, you should only bet on the NHL if you know how the sport works. Watch games, listen to post-game coverage, and keep up to date with NHL news. Plus, following teams, coaches, and individual players on social media is a good way to learn about what’s going on behind the scenes. Is a star player getting traded to a new team? Are they injured? These kinds of factors will impact any props surrounding them as an individual, as well as their team. 

Analyze NHL Player Stats

The next step is to get deep in the weeds of NHL player stats. Thankfully, the NHL website has comprehensive coverage of every player in the league, and ESPN has similar coverage. All of these stats are public knowledge, and not only do they help you identify good bets, it’s how sportsbooks set their odds. 

Some of the most useful data is the full-season statistics. For example, you can see that last season, Connor McDavid had 100 assists and scored 32 goals. This data could help you make an informed wager on a full season over/under on either stat. 

To get more granular, you can also look at the game log. Here’s a look at McDavid’s performance during the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers so far. You can see he didn’t score in many games, but he did have a fair number of assists. This is good data to use to make wagers on over/under for McDavid’s points going into game 7 of the playoffs. It would be a fair assumption that betting under 2.5 points will be profitable. 

Search Multiple Sportsbooks

Not all sportsbooks have the same odds on similar bets. This often comes down to the datasets that each sportsbook pulls from, and the opinions of the bookies they have setting the odds. It’s always good to have accounts at many of the big sports betting sites so you can capitalize on the discrepancies between the wagers. 

For example, DraftKings has the Edmonton Oilers priced at +950 to win the 2025 Stanley Cup, while BetUS has them priced at +900. If you’re confident in making a long future wager like that, you’d want to pick DraftKings to lock in that higher odd. A $10 wager would win you $95 at DraftKings, and only $90 from BetUS. 

Sign Up for Professional Picks

By far the best way to find the best NHL props bets is to sign up to receive professional picks. Handicappers and betting services make it their job to bring you the best wagers to place on every NHL game, so you know they’re going to come with some heat. 

Plus, the data that these NHL prop picks provide can help you plan out your wagers to be more successful. Most handicapping services will offer a probability percentage on how likely a wager is to hit, and by only placing highly probable wagers, you can maximize your profit. 

Best NHL Props Bets Today

Types of NHL Prop Bets

There are plenty of different kinds of props you can bet on during the course of the NHL season. You’ll see that many wagers that are considered to be props are similar to puck lines, moneylines, and totals wagers you can lace on each game, but framed around a specific ream or player. 

Here are the most common kinds of props you’ll find for the NHL:

NHL Player Props

Player props are specific wagers that are focused on an individual player, such as Sidney Crosby or Aleksander Barkov. These wagers are all about that player’s performance, and whether their team wins the game has no bearing on the player props. Common player props include:

• Goals/Points
• Shots On/Off Target
• Assists
• Will they score the first or last goal?

Player props are one of the easiest wagers you can place, but they also require a bit of research and context. In the example above, we saw that McDavid was scoring 1-2 goals during his games against the Panthers. That kind of data is key to making a successful player prop. 

NHL Team Props

Similar to player props, team props focus on just one team in any matchup and are feature many of the same kinds of wagers. Again, whether the team wins or not isn’t likely to impact the outcome of the prop wager, as the props are concerned with points, assists, etc.

The team props you’ll find most often include:

• Over/Under Total Points or Goals
• Power Play Points or Goals
• Total Accumulated Penalty Minutes
• Over/Under Shots on Goa

You’ll want to analyze team stats for these kinds of wagers, but keep an eye on individual players, too. For example, if the star of a team was to bow out because of an injury, and he was the main point-maker, then you might be in trouble. 

NHL Game Props

Game props for the NHL are based on the accumulation of stats by both teams during the course of the game. Who wins the game doesn’t matter, as the wagers are based on totals from both teams.

These wagers often include:

• Over/Under Total Points (from both teams)
• Winning Margin
• Empty Net Goals
• Race to X Goals

Betting game props is a good way to make money if you’re not certain which team will win in the end. You don’t have to stake money on just one team’s performance and instead get to wager on the combined outcomes. Game props are considered lower risk than team or player props. 

NHL Future Props

Futures props are probably the riskiest, while most profitable, kind of prop wager you can place. They are often called season-long props, because your bet won’t come to fruition until the end of the season. A lot can happen between now and the end of the next season, which is why these wagers carry more risk. 

They can include:

• Stanley Cup Winner
• Division Winner
• Playoff Appearance
• Team Point Total (for the whole season)

You can also place wagers on which players will receive the end-of-the-season awards, such as Hart Trophy (MVP), Rocket Richard Trophy (top goal scorer), Vezina Trophy (top goaltender), Calder Trophy (rookie of the year), and Norris Trophy (top defenseman).

Stanley Cup Props

The Stanley Cup is the Super Bowl of ice hockey, and with it comes many exclusive prop wagers that you wouldn’t otherwise see. 

Wagers you can place on the Stanley Cup include:

• Series Length (out of 8 games)
• Nationality of Winning Team
• Will There Be Overtime?
• Series Final Total Score

You can also find some game props for the finals, such as the one shown below that involves betting on which team will score the first or last goal. 

Tips for Betting on NHL Props

Betting on NHL props can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be challenging. Don’t get discouraged if you lose a few wagers because there’s always a chance for redemption. 

Here are a few betting tips to help you win more, and feel more confident about your wagers. 

Avoid Making Emotional Bets

Hockey can be a pulse-pounding sport, but don’t let your emotions get the better of you when it comes to placing wagers. We all want our favorite teams to take it all the way, but rarely do they ever win every game. You should avoid betting on wagers you want your team to win, and instead base your wagers on solid research and probability. 

Some might even suggest that you don’t wager on your team at all! That’s a surefire way to remove emotion from the equation. Instead, only bet based on stats and picks you’ve read. This way, you’re not tempted to spend more than usual on a wager with the hopes your team will pull it off. 

Look for Underdogs and Long-Shot Props

Betting on the all-star players in the NHL is certainly a strategy, but with those wagers, the odds are rarely spectacular. Everyone expects the best from the playmakers, but what about the less famous players or the underdogs? 

The odds on these kinds of wagers are often more favorable, and if you do a bit of research, you can certainly find props worth betting on. 

Set a Betting Budget

This one is a no-brainer. All good bettors know that they have to set a gambling budget and stick to it. This might look different for everyone. For example, you might deposit $500 to bet with for the entire year, and you might split that into $400 for moneylines and other traditional bets, and $100 for prop betting.  

More important than setting an overall budget is setting an individual bet budget. After all, you don’t want to blow your whole bankroll on one or two wagers. We’d say that for casual bettors, $5 is a good value for props, while more advanced bettors can often spend $50 to $100 per wager. As your confidence as a bettor grows, you can spend more to make more.  

Sometimes You Can Play It Safe

Props wagers often come with a significant amount of risk, especially if you’re betting on a specific player or placing long futures. There are a lot of unpredictable external factors that can impact your wager, so sometimes you can play it safe!

In the wager below, you can bet -400 for either the Oilers or Panthers to win the Stanley Cup Game 7. One of the two teams will likely win, and even though the odds are high, you can still make a bit of money. No need to bet $400, you can bet $40 and still win $10. 

Use Stats and Numbers to Your Advantage

Unless you’re betting on an entertainment or luck-based prop, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be pouring over the data at your disposal. As we highlighted earlier, player and game records are how sportsbooks determine how lines are priced, so understanding the math behind each wager helps you see profit opportunities. 

This is where a prop analyzer or cheat sheet can come in handy. You don’t want to spend all your time gathering data, so prop bettors often use a pre-existing service to maximize efficiency. 

Keep a Personal Betting Record

Professional bettors keep a fastidious track of their wagers, big or small. Why do they do this? Well, they can look at their own personal betting trends, and make connections between the type of wager, the probability of winning, and the outcome. This can help them make similar wagers in the future. 

While you don’t have to write down every detail, you might want to start a spreadsheet or betting journal for your NHL props. Key details to record would include the type of wager, odds, probability, amount bet, and the outcome, including the amount won or lost. After a bit of time, you can go back and see what types of wagers you win most often, and work to replicate those. 

 

NHL Props Cheat Sheet and Picks

While there aren’t as many games or player props to bet on in the NHL as there are in the NBA or MLB, it’s still a great league for hockey-betting fans. 

To find the best NHL props wagers, you should focus on identifying opportunities based on historical data, keeping up to date on what happens off the ice, and reading professional picks and betting advice. 

Many bettors opt to use an NHL props cheat sheet or subscribe to a handicapping service to increase their chances of making money. Scores & Stats has dozens of professional handicappers selecting picks for NHL props all season long, and they can be yours for a small subscription. Our handicappers are out there getting paid like McDavid, and you can be too!

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