NHL Picks: Updated NHL Betting Lines and Predictions   

Updated: March 7, 2024
By Kurt Boyer 

League Specials: Futures NHL Picks on Matthews and MacKinnon 

N. MacKinnon to Record 1+ Point in Each of 41 Avalanche Home Games (+800)

Auston Matthews to Score 70+ Goals (+135)
Auston Matthews to Score 75+ Goals (+1000) 

There are solid reasons Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews' season scoring prop bets at FanDuel remain in the "plus"-odds underdog category. In fact, it hasn't necessarily been unwise of NHL gamblers to dismiss such prop bets as foolish speculation already. For example, MacKinnon's home-ice point streak makes a nice local headline in the Mile High City, but the intricacy of the scoring feat he's shooting for means it's not as prestigious as all-game scoring streak records, or even the classic 50 goals scored in 50 games mark. It also must concern FanDuel users thinking about a long-shot, long-term wager that the Toronto Maple Leafs are essentially jockeying for opening-round home-ice advantage, rather than contending for 1st place or desperately trying to rally to the playoffs. 

It's March now, and things are getting interesting. It looks more promising for both NHL skaters' chances to make history, not just one, leading MacKinnon's prop odds to shrink substantially while the betting action takes Matthews' 70+ goals prop betting pick close to minus-odds "favorite to win" territory. Matthews has scored 53 goals this season, with 20-plus games left on the ledger for Toronto. We won't tell site users to go right ahead and forecast a 70 or 75-goal year for Matthews, but it's good advice for readers to try their hands at predicting Matthews' outcome instead of trying to crystal-ball MacKinnon. 

That goes for whether you're ready to bet 1-to-1 on Matthews' potential 70+ goal tally, or hope for a 10-to-1 jackpot if the Aussie-Canadian lights lamps at a goal-per-game or better pace throughout the rest of the NHL's stretch run. At least Matthews' sniping form, and a so-far solid year for Toronto, gives the armchair coach something to chew on. By contrast, knowing whether MacKinnon will eventually have a bad game at home is a job for Lady Fortune, even if the Colorado linchpin's new odds suggest a better chance to avoid it. 

Stanley Cup Picks: Edmonton Gets Company as Reign Doesn't Last 

The Edmonton Oilers have another winning streak going. Edmonton is headed into Thursday night's faceoff in Columbus as a heavy betting favorite to win for a 6th straight time, having dismissed the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1 on home ice before starting March's maiden road trip with an impressive 2-1 overtime triumph in Boston. 

With Connor McDavid's team already having won over the top spot in Stanley Cup betting odds over the Colorado Avalanche last week, it feels like it’s time for the Oilers to become everyone's favorite pick over the rest of the NHL. 

But despite the optimism surrounding the Canadian team, our betting board has taken a weird turn. Edmonton, after leading as Stanley Cup betting picks for less than a full week, has new company atop the ice hockey betting totem pole. The Florida Panthers have blossomed into 8-to-1 Stanley Cup picks of their own, having run away in the standings from almost all of a powerful 2023-24 Atlantic Division, garnering a monumental +61 goal differential as they eclipsed Boston's win-loss-OT record with 6 straight victories.

Florida's upcoming schedule doesn't look nearly as difficult as it would have when opponents' reputations ran high before the season, with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, and this Saturday's opposing Calgary Flames are all ailing. There's more to appreciate for the long-term in Florida's goaltending stats, which finally gives Panthers media something other than Sergei Bobrovsky's excellence to report on. 

At age 30, backup Anthony Stolarz is not exactly an NHL up-and-comer, but he's gone 11-5-2 in 20 starts for the Panthers this season, posting an excellent 2.07 GAA so far and taking pressure off of Florida's aging superstar in the starting role. The late-career uptick from Stolarz mirrors the career years of forwards at the helm of the Panthers' elite offense, with Sam Reinhart on pace to score 60+ goals, and Aleksander Barkov set to surpass his career-best mark in assists. Speculators are fond of Reinhart's stamina and durability for a sub-200-pound sniper. Reinhart's never been seriously injured at any juncture in the last 2 seasons, and the cement stones of the 'Cats top-6 lineup have consequentially reduced skaters like the former Nashville standout Nick Cousins to a role-playing supporting cast. With opposing teams focused on stopping the club's indomitable rushes, the presence of D-men like Aaron Ekblad gives Florida's 4-on-3 rushes almost an unfair effectiveness. 

Florida's short odds are heavily supported by Bobrovsky’s anchoring force. Florida would not be an (+800) or 8-to-1 pick to win the 2023-24 Stanley Cup, or even to return to the Stanley Cup Finals, if Stolarz was the club's starter between the pipes. However, the NHL's playoff history is littered with title-worthy teams that lost out because of injury-based or circumstantial issues that took a great GK out of the mix. For bettors to enjoy the "safety valve" of Florida potentially making out okay if something happens to Bobrovsky is among the chief reasons Florida Panthers picks feel warm and fuzzy now. Florida's snipers also beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on March 4th, with Reinhart scoring twice, quieting any talk of the Rangers becoming the hottest NHL futures pick at FanDuel. 

The reigning NHL champs also benefit from depth in goal. Golden Knights GK Adin Hill is 15-7-2 this season after taking some time off to deal with an injury and was Vegas’ biggest key in stopping the Edmonton Oilers' historic win streak at a heartstopping 16 games. But the Knights are trapped in a difficult playoff seeding scenario, brought upon by yet another slump in late winter. 2024's L.A. Kings have largely been a disappointment after starting nuclear-hot, but Vegas can't seem to pass them up. All that has led the sportsbook to offer cheap (+1300) futures odds on Vegas to reclaim the NHL title. 

Brands of our neighbors up north are having a better NHL regular season than any in recent memory, leading multiple divisions and vying to claim both #1 conference seeds in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Only the 2023-24 Montreal Canadians have joined clubs like Arizona, Anaheim, and San Jose as dregs of their divisions. It shouldn't be long before an Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, or Winnipeg claws its way back to the Stanley Cup Finals, especially considering the NHL's got some huge pockets of weakness below the border.

NHL's Winter Olympics News Shakes Up International Odds 

National Hockey League bosses just can't win for losing when it comes to taking part, or not taking part, in international ice hockey events. Just take February for an example, a time of revelation in which NHL standouts from all corners of the globe joined to celebrate a potential revival of Olympic Games, IIHF, and World Cup of Hockey competition. 

The NHL's announcement that clubs would allow their players to take part in 2026's Winter Olympics in Italy, paired with a "Four Nations" exhibition less than a calendar year away, becomes yet another boost to the NHL this season. Except that there's one big wrinkle that could cause worry, if the league hopes for an Olympics of 5-4 thrillers. 

Never fear; there's plenty of upside for the NHL in its brand-new agreement with the IIHF and International Olympic Committee. IIHF World Championship and IIHF World Juniors lineups will start to beef up in 2024 and 2025, while the top-name goaltenders and snipers save themselves up for the Four Nations event and the Olympics, an ideal scenario for general managers who've probably worried way too much about costly player injuries in an international hockey landscape of light checking and tough rules. Upcoming versions of the Winter Olympics could feature as many as 11 world-class teams in the Men's Ice Hockey event, contrasting 2026's host Italian lineup coached by the NHL icon Mike Keenan. 

So, what's the wrinkle? It's that Russia and Belarus' further suspensions from international hockey, due to the ongoing Ukraine War, highlight the disparity of an IIHF pond in which there's no longer a "Big Six" of dominant nations, but still a thin-enough Top 10 so that a Russia or Belarus cannot be replaced by teams with anywhere near the same quality. It potentially could pain NHL bosses to know that some of the Men's Ice Hockey scores in 2026's Olympic cycle could be as lopsided as women's top-level scores can often be. 

Think of this summer's Final Olympic Qualification, which would have featured showdown games between combined NHL + European lineups like Denmark versus Belarus in Group F. Russia could still potentially play ice hockey in the 2026 Winter Olympics if the war ends soon, but Team Belarus has essentially been ruled out of the Olympics already, and with it dozens of talented NHL and KHL snipers. In the Belarussians' place goes Team Japan, in the same Group F with its fellow long-shot hopefuls Great Britain and Norway, giving the Danes a chance to romp 3-0-0 behind a lineup led by Oliver Bjorkstrand and Lars Eller. Slovakia should likewise coast to another Games of the Olympiad appearance in which the youthful Slovaks will be a spoiler threat, leaving only Latvia's group, including France, Slovenia, and host-on-the-road fan favorite Ukraine, as the tightest qualifying pool. 

The Four Nations Faceoff next winter will be the modern NHL's first serious attempt to recreate the intense 3rd periods of Canada Cup games, and may again be foiled by weird circumstances. The selections of USA, Canada, and Team Sweden make perfect sense given the scenario of an in-season tournament that can't invite professionals from Europe, any more than the NHL skaters playing in a Stanley Cup Final can stop what they're doing, and go overseas to play in the annual IIHF World Championship. USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, and Tre-Kronor would all choose 100% NHL lineups in any best-on-best tournament, so next February's all-NHL rosters at the Four Nations Faceoff won't impede them at all. Meanwhile, though, Team Finland had to be invited to the NHL's international event thanks to having won so many World Championship medals in the 2010s and 2020s. Weirdly enough, it was mostly Finland's overseas pros who achieved all of that. 

Team Finland should be considered a betting underdog at the Four Nations Faceoff, since an all-NHL team led by forward Sebastian Aho will be in such uncharted waters. Suomi skaters who mostly turned down invitations to play for Finland in the IIHF World Championships will be under pressure to win, or else many fans back home will be found pressuring their hockey federation to include more of Finland's typical team of "Liiga" professionals in the 2026 Olympic lineup. That's the team that's won gold medals on numerous occasions, whether they're up against top NHL talent or otherwise. 

The decade's climactic Winter Olympics in Italy could be full of blow-outs if Team Russia joins with Team Belarus watching from the outside. Switzerland, Slovakia, Denmark, and Latvia are underrated nations who will probably arrive in full force to challenge the NHL All-Star rosters of Milan, but no Men's Ice Hockey field in which pesky Great Britain can approach the top 12 stands to be called "deep" with medal contenders. Italy has no hopes of winning a single contest in a round-robin with Team USA, Sweden, and Switzerland, and a very pedestrian Team Austria could wind up taking Belarus' spot among Milan nations. 

Hockey speculators have more than enough time to react to the hype and rapid changes, with this season's men's and women's World Championship cycles not beginning for another 6 weeks. Canada, Team USA, and other programs whose best-on-best tournament rosters always include plenty of NHL superstars will enjoy boosts in Men's Worlds odds this spring, as FanDuel users anticipate more players saying yes to going overseas in May, potentially to impress scouts who are working to form the Four Nations Faceoff and Olympics roster depth-charts already. But the question for game-by-game sportsbook gamblers is how to adjust from preparing for close-call predictions to making picks on lopsided hockey. 

Be sure to know the hockey culture of the favored teams, who will have different styles of dealing with big leads in a game. Just about everyone who skates at the 2024-25 Four Nations Faceoff will be friendly acquaintances from the NHL community, and if the transition for Team Finland is as hard as we think it might be, then gamblers can anticipate Team USA or Team Canada taking it easy on Suomi in a blow-out. No such friendly outcomes should be anticipated at the 2024 Worlds and Final Olympic Qualification, where favored teams' goal spreads could be beaten by 3-4 tallies routinely. Young snipers at this year's World Championship in Czechia will compete to lead the tournament in point scoring, and give national team GMs no option other than to green-light them for even more prestigious gigs as the 2026 showdown awaits. 

This August and September's qualifying rounds could be even wilder in final scores, given that teams like Slovakia and Latvia will be desperate to qualify in as high standing as possible, and avoid having to play in a Milan group with 2 or 3 elite teams in it. We predict that Team Denmark's experienced lineup will be the "goal-spread winner" hero of the summer, with younger rosters straining just to qualify for the Winter Olympics … as bored NHL bettors watch along and cheer for more goals after another dog-days offseason.

How to Handicap NHL Picks vs Futures Odds

Championship NHL odds can be found at FanDuel Sportsbook by clicking on the “NHL” section on the top left menu, then “Futures” or “Outrights'' for the latest betting odds on NHL picks to win Lord Stanley’s grail. Gambling odds on the next Stanley Cup winner appear soon after the trophy is awarded in summer, and again throughout the season.

To say a 9-to-1 futures line is “badly priced” doesn’t mean that it’s bad for the speculator, but rather that the sportsbook has made a mistake and left itself open to “value” NHL picks by the savvy gambler. If the Colorado Avalanche have 1 chance in 5 to win the next title, but sports betting odds-makers foolishly offer the Avs at 8-to-1, that makes Colorado a good bet at the price given, even though chances are still relatively slim that they’ll win 4 playoff series in a row. Low risk and high reward are the bonus of futures NHL picks.

NHL futures odds have been a source of drama in recent playoff cycles. Led by goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights nearly won a Cinderella trophy for the ages by winning the Western Conference and facing the Washington Capitals in 2018’s final series.

Those who had bet $10 on the Vegas Golden Knights as a souvenir stood to make a surprise fortune at 100s-to-1 odds, but the Washington Capitals prevailed. In the following season, the St. Louis Blues were offered at long-shot futures odds before racing up the NHL standings and going on to win the franchise’s maiden league title.

Futures lines are presented in American odds, or “moneyline” form. Check the section immediately below for a refresher on betting NHL picks on the moneyline.

NHL Picks on the Moneyline: Understanding the Odds

Many expert picks out of Las Vegas focus on moneyline underdogs, teams with “long” odds to win a given game. But what are “long” moneyline odds in the first place?

Moneyline bets pay off when clubs win a game straight-up. Favorites to win a game are labeled with a minus symbol, as in (-150). An underdog NHL team’s “ML” is marked with a plus sign, as in (+200). Favorites’ odds to win a game set at (-150) mean that for every $150 wagered, FanDuel will pay out $100 on a winning bet. Underdog odds represent the amount paid on a winning $100 bet.

Almost all NHL picks in “futures” markets are technically “underdog” NHL picks, since each team’s chances are handicapped against a field of 16 or more potential playoff champions.

Making NHL Picks on the Puck Line

Bookmakers have a canny way of making all NHL “spread” bets pay off. “Puck line” NHL picks are wagered against a standard spread of 1.5 goals taken from the favorite’s total tally in the game. If the (+1.5) puck line underdog wins the game outright, or loses by only 1 goal, the underdog bet wins. Favorites must win a game by multiple goals in order to win for gamblers in the (-1.5) market.

If you bet on the puck line outcome of a game, be prepared for what happens when a team pulls its goaltender. Empty-net scenarios create a “casino”-like atmosphere at the sportsbook. Bettors who’ve made puck-line NHL predictions touting a favorite can be found hoping an underdog will remove its GK for an extra attacker when losing, making it slightly more possible that the underdogs will score, but more likely that the favorites will score a goal without the nuisance of an opposing goaltender, and winning by 2+ goals.

NHL Goal Totals: Betting on Total Goals in a Game

Goal-total lines are the simplest sports betting market available on any game. NHL betting sites ask whether the total amount of goals scored in a contest will exceed or fall short of the “Over/Under” number.

Over/Under goal total lines are often displayed as a halved fraction, like (5.5) or (6.5) goals, preventing a “push” outcome caused by total goals in the game matching the O/U bet. Occasionally, public betting pressure will cause FanDuel or another sportsbook to adjust an NHL O/U line to an even (6) goals.

The Perks of Prop Betting on the NHL

“Fast” betting action is associated with a game of pure luck, like a slot machine. But for a skill-based bet with a short time interval prior to payoff, it’s hard to beat NHL prop bets on “1st period” goal totals.

NHL proposition or “prop” bets include “1st Period O/U” which shortens the usual Over/Under pick to the total goals scored in an opening frame. Gamblers can choose between betting either team’s tally individually or as a pair of opponents.

When it’s time to focus on a single game in the NHL playoffs, look for specialized prop bet lines such as “First Player to Score in the Game,” or proposition lines on hat tricks and other potential feats by popular NHL skaters.

NHL Picks and Predictions FAQ

Can I Win a Jackpot Betting My NHL Picks?

Sportsbooks paid out winning St. Louis Blues championship bets at $200 on the dollar in the summer of 2019. Some betting slips sold on the Vegas Golden Knights during the previous preseason were at 40-to-1 or longer odds for the expansion club to reach the playoffs. Those who took the Vegas Golden Knights’ actual Stanley Cup odds nearly scored the sports betting fortune of a lifetime. Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals came to Sin City’s rescue by vanquishing Vegas 4 games to 1.

While sports betting “jackpots” aren’t common, it’s low-risk and high-reward to take a chance on a futures-odds underdog.

Where Can I Find NHL Betting Odds at FanDuel Sportsbook?

Click the “NHL” tab on the upper left menu, or on “Hockey” further down the page.

How Did the Coronavirus Lockdown Affect the NHL Schedule?

Soon after the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, the NHL held a shortened season, followed by a quick playoff tournament and a “regional” 2020-21 regular season. New divisions were organized to separate Canadian and American teams.

Schedules, division rivalries, and attendance are expected to slowly return to normal throughout the 2020s.

Is Sports Betting Legal in My Location?

Quite possibly! Check out FanDuel’s Interactive Legal Sports Betting map for updates on the status of legal gambling in your state.

Can I Parlay My Bets on Ice Hockey Games?

National Hockey League games can be included in “parlay” bets across more than a single pro hockey faceoff, or even across multiple sports! Surf to our Parlay Betting Strategy guide for more on parlays as an online sports betting tactic.