The NHL is renowned as one of the most exciting sports leagues in the world – from the fast-paced playoffs that open the season to the nail-biting Stanley Cup Finals, discerning hockey fans can be sure to catch plenty of goal-heavy action on the ice. A guaranteed way to gain a more immersive perspective of the 2022-2023 NHL season (and potentially generate some real money earnings in the process) is by placing bets on hockey games. If you’re an NHL fan looking to cash in on your predictions for the season but you’re new to online gambling, check out this beginner’s guide to NHL betting to get up to speed with the basics:
Where to Bet on NHL Games
Because single-game online sports betting is now legal in Canada, it’s possible for players in the Great White North to place wagers on the latest NHL fixtures. While the majority of Canadian players tend to favour mobile betting platforms, wagers can also be placed online with licensed sportsbook sites. Many sports betting sites are also paired with online casinos, which means you can take advantage of juicy casino bonuses to play games for free and potentially generate real money winnings when you’re not watching hockey. If you’re looking for the best no deposit bonus Canada, then you can simply follow this handy link to find a wide range of promotions – credit goes to Nodepositwow for their amazing selection of bonus offers for Canadian players.
Factors for NHL Betting
The best way to be successful in online hockey gambling is to keep up with the latest news from the NHL and make use of statistics related to wins and losses, goals, points and possession percentage. While it may be tempting to simply bet on your favourite team, betting on hockey can be a multi-faceted process if you want to generate winnings. Some of the most important factors to take into consideration when betting on specific games in the NHL include the current form and record of the teams, recent goaltending records, weather conditions and injury news – even minor injuries sustained before the game can have a dramatic impact on the end result, especially if the injured party is a valued star player. All of these factors will contribute toward the bookmaker’s odds for the tournament – find out more about hockey odds below.
Hockey Betting Odds Basics
In every NHL hockey game, one team will be deemed as ‘the favourite’ and the other as ‘the underdog’. The easiest way to distinguish the two is by checking whether their odds use a plus or minus sign, such as +225 and -275; in this example, the +225 team would be the underdog whilst the -275 team would be the favourite. As you can see in the betting odds for the NHL Stanley Cup 2022-2023, the Colorado Avalanche is the most likely to win the tournament this year with odds of +450. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning are the second and third most likely to win, with respective odds of +850 and +950, whereas the main underdog (or least likely to win) this season is the Arizona Coyotes, with odds of +50,000.
Money Line Bet / Hockey Moneyline
Money line betting is probably the most simple way to gamble on hockey – using the favourite/underdog odds, the player simply decides on which team they think will win the game. The numbers in the favourite’s odds indicate the amount of money you would need to wager in order to bag a $100 win, whereas the number in the underdog’s odds indicates how much money you would win by placing a $100 bet on that team. Because putting your money behind underrated players and underdog teams can potentially generate a higher payout, going with the underdog can be a highly lucrative (if risky) money line betting strategy.
Puck Line Bet / Spread Betting
In hockey, puck line betting is the equivalent of spread betting, in which gamblers decide whether or not the favourite team will win the game by a margin of two goals or more (1.5 in odds). If you’re betting on the favourite team to win by two goals or more, you’d go with the -1.5 bet, whereas you’d go with the +1.5 if you expect the underdog to win or keep the favourite’s lead down to 1 goal.
Totals Overs/Unders
Betting on ‘overs and unders’ is extremely popular amongst hockey gamblers – in an over/under bet, you wager based on whether or not you think the combined total goals of both teams will be over or under the projected score total, which usually stands in the region between 5.5 and 6.5 goals per game.
NHL Grand Salami
The Grand Salami is essentially a souped-up over and under bet in which gamblers wager on the total number of goals scored across multiple NHL games on the same day. The ‘salami’ is a projected total, which is usually determined based on how many games are being played on any particular day and the associated over/under totals for each specific match.
Prop Betting
Prop (or proposition) betting is favoured by hardcore hockey fans who live and breathe the sport. Prop betting is multi-faceted and covers a wide range of outcomes, usually associated with statistics related to the goals, assists and points earned by teams or individual players. Prop betting can be daunting for beginners but is well worth it if your hockey knowledge is on point.
Live Hockey Betting
As you might expect, live (or in-game) hockey betting involves placing wagers on matches as they happen. Mobile platforms and sportsbook sites provide an extensive range of in-game hockey odds so you place a variety of wagers as the action unfolds on the ice.
