Before putting any of your hard earned cash down, it’s important to know what you’re getting into with hockey betting. There are many different ways to bet on your favorite hockey teams, so we’ve broken down a few of the most popular NHL betting markets you’ll come across so you can figure out how to bet on hockey and what types of bets you think you can make successfully.
Moneyline
While the moneyline hockey bet is the best for beginners, it’s also one of the most popular among sharps as well. There’s no need to worry about any of the details of the game like how many goals are scored or who scored them or how many goals a team wins by: the sportsbook is simply asking bettors who they think is going to come away with the win that night, plain and simple.
Moneyline NHL betting markets are usually displayed in American odds, with the favorite sporting a negative (-) value and the underdog taking on a positive (+) value. No need to worry about the manner of the victory, all you need is the team you bet on to come out on top. Unless it’s otherwise stated, NHL moneyline bets always include overtime.
Puckline
Similar to the point spread in NFL and NBA betting or the runline in MLB betting, the puckline is the same type of bet for NHL betting. You’re basically betting on how many goals you think a team will win or lose by. While spreads vary from game to game, NHL betting with the puckline is a little more standard.
Instead of changing the spread for each matchup, the puckline is usually at a standard 1.5 goals since there isn’t as much scoring in hockey as there is in other sports. There are times when a game is so unevenly matched that the puckline will go up to 2.5, but that’s rare, and the same goes for 0.5 pucklines for games that are simply too close to call.
That means that if you bet on the puckline of the favorite (-1.5) that team will need to win by at least two goals for your bet to hit. On the flip side, an underdog bet requires the team to lose by no more than a single goal for you to cash out that NHL bet. For example, if you bet on the Montreal Canadiens puckline at -1.5 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, they need to win by 2+ goals while a bet on the Leafs would only require them to not lose by multiple goals.
Totals
Also called over/unders, this type of bet is completely unrelated to the outcome of the game at hand and instead focuses on how many goals are scored. The sportsbook will handicap the game and decide what they think is the most likely total, then put it to bettors to decide whether the two teams competing in that game will score over that number of goals or under.
Because hockey is such a low-scoring game, when you’re betting on the NHL you can generally expect the total to be somewhere between five and 6.5. Unlike in football or basketball, movement on the total will generally not change the actual over/under number, but instead increase or decrease the odds attached to the over market and the under market.
For example, if the total for the above Canadiens-Leafs matchup is set at 5.5, an over bet would need at least six combined goals from both sides for your bet to win, while an under bet would need five goals or less to be a winner.
Player Props
One of the betting markets that has seen a huge spike in popularity recently is with player props. More and more people who bet on hockey are moving to this more specialized betting type because it requires much less handicapping than an entire game. All you have to do is get one stat for one player right to hit your bet.
Basically, you’re betting on a player to achieve or not achieve something in the game at hand. You can bet on quite a wide variety of propositions including whether a player will score, whether they’ll score multiple times, whether they’ll get an assist, how many points they’ll get, whether they’ll score on a power play, how many shots they’ll have, how many saves a goalie might have, or if a goalie will record a shutout. You can even bet on how many blocked shots a player might have in a game.
For some of these, it’s a simple yes or no proposition, but when you get into NHL betting on points, saves, shots, and blocks, they’re going to be in the form of an over/under proposition. For example, if the sportsbook sets Auston Matthews’ shot total at 3.5, you can choose to bet on him to fire off more or less than that number. If Matthews takes four or more shots, an over bet is a winner, if he takes three or less, the under bet is the winner.
Grand Salami
While this type of bet is also offered for the MLB, NHL betting is where you’ll see it most often. This is basically an over/under bet on steroids. With the grand salami, you’re not just betting on how many goals are scored in one game, you’re betting on how many you think will be scored for that day’s entire NHL slate.
The grand salami is not available at every sportsbook so you’ll have to search to find it depending on who you bet with. If you’re having trouble finding an over/under bet with a total and odds you like, take a swing at the grand salami. This type of hockey bet means that every goal scored by every team that night is crucial to your bet’s chances of winning.
The nice thing about the grand salami is that if a certain game lets you down, you can still count on another game to pick up the slack and make up for it. For example, if there’s a five-game slate with a grand salami total of 28.5 and you bet the over, you’re cheering for every team to score as many goals as possible, as your bet wins if they combine for 29+ goals. If you bet the under, you’re rooting for the goalies to all have excellent games to hold the total to 28 or fewer, which would cash your bet.
60 Minute Line
This type of hockey bet is similar to the moneyline but with one major caveat: it does not include overtime. This makes it a three-way bet instead of a regular two-way bet because there’s an added option: either a home win, a visitor win, or a tie at the final buzzer of the third period.
A popular way to use the 60-minute line is to get better odds on a favorite you want to bet on. If the standard moneyline is -160 for the Canadiens, their odds might be down to -120 on the 60-minute line, which adds a ton of value to your bet. You just don’t want to take that risk only to see your team win it in overtime, which would mean you lost your bet.
Futures
For those that like to look at the big picture, doing your NHL betting on futures markets could be beneficial. Instead of wagering on the outcome of a single game, what you’re doing here is betting on the result of a season-long proposition instead. These are long-running markets that allow you to wager on overall season results.
Betting on this kind of market has its drawbacks and advantages, namely that the odds on these markets are usually pretty high, but the reason for that is because so much can happen in one season, making them harder propositions to predict. Some common examples of this type of bet include who will win the Stanley Cup, who will make the Stanley Cup Finals, who will finish the regular season with the most points, who will make the playoffs, as well as predicting the various other awards that are given at season’s end.
Parlays
Another way to get multiple hockey bets in is to package them all up into one hockey bet in the form of a parlay. Parlays have become all the rage recently, and a lot of it has to do with sportsbooks deftly marketing them with crazy reaction videos when bettors do hit the rare parlay for big money. A parlay is basically taking several bets and rolling them into one.
While this will give your bet astronomically higher odds and bigger payouts, they’re also highly unlikely to hit for you because of the fact that every single bet on your parlay needs to hit for you to win anything. For example, if you put together a six-team parlay and you get five out of the six correct, you’ve done pretty well, except for the fact that you lost your parlay.
Parlays can be a lot of fun, however, so if your NHL betting is not focused on sustained long term success and more about enjoying the game, cooking up a parlay from time to time is not a bad idea.
Understanding Hockey Odds
One of the most important things to get familiar with before you start your NHL betting journey is hockey odds. The odds you get on your bet are basically dictating two things to you: the first is the implied probability of that bet being successful, and the second is how much money you stand to win on your bet.
Decimal and fractional hockey odds are simple to work with because all you have to do is multiply your stake by the odds you have to get your payout.
American odds, which are by far the most common in North America, are a little bit more tricky. Odds are displayed with a “+” or a “-” next to a number.
The “-” designates a favorite or something that is more likely than not to happen, while a “+” designates an underdog or something that is less likely to happen.
If you’re betting on a market with a negative value that means that whatever the number is next to the “-” is how much you need to risk to win $100. Meanwhile, when betting on a market with a positive value, whatever the number is next to the “+” is how much you stand to win on a $100 bet.
For example, if you’re betting on the Leafs to win at +200 odds, a $100 bet will net you $200. If you’re betting on the Canadiens at -150 odds, you’ll need to put down $150 to win $100 on your bet.
