Betting on the NHL: Finding the best odds, promos, and markets

The 2024/25 NHL season, which is the organization's 108th campaign, is already underway. If you’re looking for the perfect opportunity to get closer to the NHL, today is your time to shine.  

Fancy getting involved, picking a team to follow, watching games on television, and betting on the results at legal and licensed sportsbooks?

Whop is here to help and will teach you everything you need to know in our handy NHL guide.

Follow the advice contained in this article to get up-to-speed on the NHL schedule, find the best betting bonuses, create an online gambling account using your smartphone, and find an NHL betting strategy that will help you beat the bookies and make a profit.

The NHL season has started - but it's not too late to dive in

The 108th NHL season is upon us, and results from the early rounds are now in the books. You may have missed the first few weeks of play, but now is the ideal time to get closer to the National Hockey League.

The best-performing teams have forced their way to the top of the pools, leaving the underdogs and early strugglers playing catch-up. Fans and bettors now have more than enough in the stats and results to make well-informed predictions. 

So who is grabbing our attention after a month of play?

• The Florida Panthers, who quickly stamped their authority on the Eastern Atlantic Division.
• The New Jersey Devils caught the eye in the Metropolitan
• The Winnipeg Jets haven’t put a foot wrong in the Western Central
• The Vegas Golden Knights are winning new fans thanks to their run of victories in the Pacific

Keep reading as we highlight the standout NHL dates for your diary, detail the quickest way to create an online betting account, showcase the most generous promos, and more.

NHL season schedule: key dates to look out for

This year’s renewal will be the 108th season and the first to include the expansion Utah Hockey Club which is welcomed to the party. Utah replaced the Arizona Coyotes, who folded.

Here’s this season's NHL season format:

Pre-season:

• Late September to early October.
• Teams play exhibition games to prepare and test lineups.

Regular season:

• Runs October 2024 to April 2025.
• Each team plays 82 games (41 home, 41 away).
• Two conferences: Eastern and Western, each with two divisions (Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central, Pacific).
• Teams face division opponents 3–4 times, conference opponents 3 times, and inter-conference opponents twice.
• Points system:
  • 2 points for a win.
  • 1 point for an overtime loss.
  • 0 points for a regulation loss.

Playoffs and Stanley Cup:

• April to June, featuring 16 teams (8 per conference).
• Top 3 in each division qualify, with remaining spots filled by Wildcards.
• Best-of-seven series format for all rounds:
  • First round: Division winners vs. Wildcards; 2nd vs. 3rd in divisions.
  • Second round: Winners of division brackets face off.
  • Conference finals: Top team from each conference advances.
  • Stanley Cup finals: Conference champions compete.
• Home ice advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record.
• Game sequence: 2-2-1-1-1 (Home-Away rotation).

Where to watch the NHL

The NHL may be the biggest in North America, but games attract a global audience, with the competition boasting a solid fanbase in Europe and beyond.

The biggest and best games from the regular season, playoffs, and Stanley Cup are broadcast live on television and the best live streaming apps.

Here’s a list of the official NHL broadcasters.

How NHL games are structured

If this is your first season following the NHL, or you’re looking for a quick refresher on how games work, I’ll briefly walk you through the structure.

The more you know about the sport, the better your chances of making a profit when gambling on results.

How many periods are there in an NHL game?

Each NHL game consists of three periods lasting 20 minutes each. There are two intermissions, which last between 15 and 18 minutes. The game clock starts at 20:00 and counts down to zero, stopping for goals, penalties, offside, icing, puck out of play, and other stoppages to the game.

Each team has six players on the ice at any one time: one goaltender, three forwards, and two defenders. 

Each period begins with a face-off, and a goal is scored when the puck completely crosses the goal line. Players are penalized for a range of offenses, including two minutes for minors, five minutes for majors, and 10 minutes for misconduct.

If a game ends in a draw, the play extends into overtime when teams play five minutes of sudden-death three-on-three hockey. The first team to score wins, and if there’s no score, the game is decided by a shootout.

How long does an NHL game last?

The official time is one hour, but games last much longer due to the various stoppages. If you are planning on watching an NHL game live on television, consider setting aside two to three hours. 

As you can see from the screenshot above, leading bookmakers offer a long list of betting markets and opportunities in every game.

The most popular markets are the spread, moneyline, and total points, but you can also wager on specials, including player and team props.

We will get into all these markets shortly.

How to bet on the National Hockey League

Now that we’re up-to-speed on how NHL games work and the league structure, let’s dive into the main objective of this article - explaining how best to bet on the outcome of NHL games.

The most famous legal and licensed sportsbooks across the US, Canada, and the UK offer betting odds on every game in the NHL season, as well as a selection of interesting futures markets.

When gambling on the NHL, you have two options.

You can predict the result of an upcoming game, betting on the winner, total points, handicap, first scorer, and more.

You can also look further ahead and call the big winners of the season, including the top players, a team to make the playoffs, and the outright winner of the Stanley Cup.

Betting odds on the season are published before the opening game, and traders update the market throughout the campaign. You can bet on your favorite teams to win a game or win the championship.

If you’d prefer to bet on individual players rather than teams, bookmakers like FanDuel have your back. Users can wager on an extensive list of player prop bets, including anytime scorer, number of goals scored, shots on goal, and more.

Remove the pressure of picking a game-winner and trust your stake with your favorite player. There are lots of player prop markets available at the touch of a button, allowing you to wager before the face-off or at any time during the contest.

Feeling confused with all the betting jargon? I created this handy bettors glossary to help you stay on track.

Get started: register a betting account using your smartphone

To gamble on upcoming games, you must create an online betting account with a bookmaker that’s licensed to trade in your city.

The process of creating an online betting account is the same, regardless of which bookmaker you join. I’ll guide you through my step-by-step account for registering with an online sportsbook on your mobile or desktop.

I will use FanDuel for my examples and screenshots.

1. Select your sportsbook

Your first step when preparing to bet on the NHL is to choose a sportsbook. You can go with an app you know or try something new. It’s important to fully research the gambling apps available in your city and to shop around to ensure you are betting with the best. 

That's because the online gambling market has become so fiercely competitive in recent years that successful bookmakers must stand out from the crowd, catch your eye, and encourage you to join them over the competition.

They do this by offering a generous welcome bonus when you create an account, deposit funds, and wager. New customer bonuses come in many forms, including free bets, enhanced odds, cashback, profit boosts, and more.

Find a bonus that appeals to you and register as a new customer to claim your share. You can only join a sportsbook as a new customer and claim the bonus once, but nothing is stopping you from joining several betting apps and claiming several bonuses.

The more bookies you join, the more free bets you’ll receive. Having multiple accounts also increases your chances of getting the best odds each time you gamble.

• Best sports betting apps with bonuses to research
• Elevate your betting game: best strategies for sports betting

2. Create your account

When you’ve chosen a bookmaker, it’s time to create an account. Thankfully, registering at a sportsbook is quick, simple, and secure.

Visit the homepage of your chosen bookmaker and click the Join or Register button. You will automatically move to the registration page, where you add your details to the form, including your name, date of birth, telephone number, and email address.

Please be accurate when providing this information, as any wrong information might delay your account or prevent you from receiving the welcome bonus.

You must then decide on a username and password. You will need this information each time you access your betting account, so your login details should be memorable but secure. You should never use your betting account on a shared computer.

Add the promo code and deposit $10 or more to your player account to release the welcome bonus free bet. When your first bet results, the welcome bonus bet credits will automatically appear in your account balance. You can use your free bet tokens to gamble on a long list of NHL games and markets, including the moneyline, handicap, and totals.

The free bet tokens match your first stake, meaning the more you gamble, the better your bonus. If you create an account today, deposit $50 using a card, and bet on an NHL market, you’ll then secure a $50 free bet on any game.

3. Verify your account

As online gambling is done remotely, your bookmaker must verify your details. All legal and licensed sportsbooks require users to verify, and the request may come when you create an account or make your first cash withdrawal from your betting balance.

Just like creating an account, verifying is quick and easy. The best and quickest way to verify your betting account is to enable geolocation settings on your mobile device and take a photo of your ID.

How to select an NHL betting strategy

All professional and profitable gamblers have a betting strategy. Many strategies exist, and you must find the one that best suits your budget and betting style.

A betting strategy I love and use often when gambling on sports is simply research. It’s impossible to know too much about a fixture before parting with your hard-earned stake.

Check the head-to-head stats, league standings, form, injury news, interviews from coaches and players, the picks of respected pundits, and more. The deeper you dig, the more you’ll understand a fixture.

However, while following the stats and trends is a great way to target a win, it can take many hours to gather all the stats you require to make a well-informed pick. That’s time most sports bettors don’t have spare to go rummaging around in the results and numbers.

Thankfully, there’s another option that’s much less time-consuming.

Following the research and predictions of respected tipsters and gambling industry experts is a popular way to bet on the NHL. Handicappers will do the hard work on your behalf, studying a game, gathering the most important data, and returning with a pick.

All you need to do is find a tipster you can trust and follow their picks with your preferred stake.

If you’re looking for researched, rated, and professional gambling advice, including NHL betting tips, I’ve found the perfect place to visit before your next wager.

Whop boasts an extensive list of communities full of expert betting knowledge, predictions, gambling resources, and stats. Join a winning community today and learn from the best from day one.

Start betting on NHL fixtures and markets

Now you know what to look for in a bookmaker, how to create an online betting account, the best bonuses available, and more, it’s time to learn how to strike a bet using a sportsbook website or app.

Follow the steps included in this article to wager on any NHL game covered by your bookmaker.

• Log in to your betting account with your username and password. 
• Browse the sports navigation bar, click on Ice Hockey, and then on the NHL.
• Browse a long list of NHL fixtures and futures betting markets, like to win the NHL Stanley Cup or make the playoffs.
• Select the game you wish to bet on and browse all available markets, including moneyline, handicaps, totals, spreads, and props.
• Click the odds attached to your preferred selection to add it to your bet slip. Input a stake, check the cost of the bet, and then confirm.
• Your wager automatically becomes live, and a cash-out amount will appear on your bet slip.

The best NHL betting markets

Major online sportsbooks offer a wealth of NHL gambling markets, both pre-match and during the play. In this section of my NHL betting article for Whop, I highlight the best options.

The markets included in this section are available at all major sportsbooks.

NHL moneyline

The quickest and most basic way to bet on the NHL is to wager on the moneyline market.

Here, you are simply picking a team to win and trusting them with your stake. As there are no draws in the NHL, you have a straight win-or-lose scenario. If your team wins, you land the profits, but if your pick loses, the bookie will keep your stake.

It’s as simple as that.

As you can see from the screenshot above, the Edmonton Oilers are the -275 betting favorites with FanDuel. The Montreal Canadians are the underdogs with a +220 price attached.

You must then decide if you wish to bet on the favorites or the underdogs. If you choose Montreal, the odds offered mean you’ll land $220 for every $100 wagered.

NHL handicap

Another popular NHL betting market is the handicap, and this option works well in games where there’s a strong favorite to win. Your bookmaker will offer handicap betting, which helps to level the playing field and boost your chances of making a decent profit despite experts predicting an uncompetitive match.

Sticking with the game above, traders may give Edmonton a -2 goal handicap and Montreal a +2 goal handicap. You are now betting on the Oilers to win and cover the handicap or the Canadians to either win or lose by two or fewer goals.

If you bet on Edmonton -2 handicap and the final score reads Edmonton 6-5 Montreal, your bet is a loser. Despite your team winning the game, they didn’t cover the two-goal handicap, meaning the bookie keeps your stake.

The handicap is a more tricky win to land than the moneyline, but the odds are often better.

NHL totals

A great way to bet on the NHL without having to pick sides is to wager on the totals market. Here, you are betting on the number of goals scored in a game rather than the winning team.

Your bookmaker will select the score totals line, and you must decide if you think the game will produce more or fewer points, known as over or under.

Suppose the bookmaker picks 6.5 points as the line.

As we know, there are no half-points awarded in NHL games, but bookies use the 0.5 element of the bet to remove the chance of a level finish. If the line is 6.5 points, you will bet on under six points scored in a game or seven and above points scored.

Bet on the overs, and you’ll be cheering for every goal, regardless of which team scores.

You can gamble on the NHL totals as a single, but this market is most commonly used in parlays where bettors target large profits off small stakes.

NHL futures

I touched on NHL futures betting earlier in this article, but because it’s such an important and popular market with sports gamblers, I want to discuss it in a little more detail.

The most common way to gamble on the NHL futures is by picking a team to win the Stanley Cup.

You can do this before game one of the season or at any stage of the season.

Above is a screenshot of the current Stanley Cup betting odds available at FanDuel. As you can see, Edmonton is the +800 favorite, meaning you’ll bank $800 for every $100 gambled on the Oilers.

If Edmonton doesn’t win, traders expect either the Dallas Stars or Caroline Hurricanes to finish as 2025 Stanley Cup champions.

Looking further down the list, there are attractive odds on the Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers.

NHL parlay

One of the most exciting ways to gamble on games from the NHL is to select a parlay. Now, instead of gambling on one team to win, you’re betting on several.

Add as many picks to your parlay as you wish and you’ll notice the potential returns rockets with every team. But as a parlay is just one bet with one stake, all picks included in your bet slip must win for you to land the profits.

If just one pick lets you down, your entire bet loses.

In the above parlay, you’re betting on wins for Montreal, Columbus, and Philadelphia. The combined odds for all three teams to win is +2172, meaning if you bet $10, you could win $217.20.

Remember, if one of those three teams loses, you’ll drop your $10 stake. Parlay betting is an all-or-nothing approach.

You’ll often see bookmakers advertising a single, double, treble, parlay, and other popular combination bets, like the Round Robin. It’s important to understand how a bet works before you deposit funds and stake.

NHL prop bets

An exciting and unique way to bet on the NHL is through prop bets.

Prop bets allow you to gamble on several features of the game by picking the winning team. You can wager on the total points, the spreads, which period will have the most points, the score after 20 minutes of play, and more.

There’s a bet to suit every bettor, and when you study the stats, you’ll often find a strong option in the prop bets.

The screenshot used above highlights the 60-minute moneyline, which offers you the chance to predict which team will be leading after an hour of play, including the draw.

You can now profit even before the game ends.

NHL player props

Just like the NHL team's prop bets, there are also player prop bets. You are now gambling on a player’s performance rather than how their team performs in a game.

Here are some of the options available when gambling on NHL player props.

You can see there’s plenty to catch your eye. You can bet on which player will score the final goal of the first period, how many shots a player will have on goal in the first period, who will be the first player to have a shot at goal, and more.

NHL spreads

Spread betting often offers better odds than you’ll find on the moneyline market, and that’s one of the major attractions for gamblers.

The points spread is similar to the handicap, where you’ll bet on how many points a team will win by. The higher you go, the better the odds offered. You’re looking for a spread that offers the best chance of winning with the highest potential returns.

You can move the points spread to any number you like, from 1.5 points to 5.5 and beyond.

Find NHL betting picks and advice at Whop

That’s a wrap in my NHL betting article for Whop. 

We covered all important areas of the gambling experience, from how the ice hockey season works, to creating an account with an online sportsbook, landing a welcome bonus, betting on the most popular markets, and more.

Knowing how to bet is great, but if you're just starting out, getting expert tips from the pros at Whop can make all the difference. Choose from a huge range of winning sports picks communities and make your first bet a winning one!

The sports picks communities at Whop are led by experienced gamblers with a history of making profits from bets on the NHL and other major competitions.

Join a whop today and start receiving winning NHL predictions in time for the next round of fixtures.