Thanks for visiting our regular-season home for hockey prop betting tips. Keep track of our postseason picks over at our hub page for the best NHL bets.
The 2022-23 National Hockey League regular season comes to a conclusion this evening with only two games on the schedule as we patiently await the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Even with the light slate, there are ample opportunities to place various wagers on prospective player and team props.
I think the Buffalo Sabres are in an excellent smash spot this evening against the Columbus Blue Jackets, so we’ll target them accordingly.
In this article, I’ll examine two of my favorite NHL bets as the curtain officially closes on the regular season. Let’s take a deep dive into our plays.
NHL Player Prop Bet Odds
All NHL odds used in our prop tips are current as of Thursday, April 13, at 11:30 p.m. ET and courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Domenic Lunardo’s 2022-23 NHL Prop Betting Record: 2-6-1 (-3.17 Units)
NHL Best Prop Bets Today
Rasmus Dahlin: Over 2.5 Shots on Goal (+105) • DraftKings Sportsbook
Buffalo Sabres vs Columbus Blue Jackets • Wager: 1 Unit
Despite a 12th consecutive season in which the Sabres missed the playoffs, there were indeed a few bright spots in their lineup. Stud defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was one of them.
When he’s on the ice, Dahlin dominates puck possession like few other defensemen in the NHL as exemplified in his whopping 52.8 CF% (Per HockeyReference). Tonight, he’ll face a Blue Jackets’ club that ranks 31st in the NHL in SA/60, as well as dead-last in both GA/60 and goals-against (Per EvolvingHockey).
The Jackets are beyond atrocious in their own end, which should provide Dahlin with plenty of good looks on goal. For these reasons, Dahlin hitting his shot prop at plus-money is our NHL bet of the day.
Sabres: -1.5 (+140) • DraftKings Sportsbook
Buffalo Sabres vs Columbus Blue Jackets • Wager: 1 Unit
In what is a completely meaningless game for both teams, we’ll ride with the Sabres at plus-money. Buffalo enters play carrying a 57.6% implied win probability (per MoneyPuck), and rightfully so.
Buffalo is the better team here, and should finish its campaign on a high against one of the worst defensive clubs (metrically speaking) in hockey.
On the heels of back-to-back games for Columbus, I like the Sabres to light up the scoresheet and win by a fairly comfortable margin in this one.
How NHL Prop Betting Works
Prop bets are wagers that aren’t tied to the outcome. Prop wagers can be related to an individual team or player’s performance as opposed to betting moneylines, totals, or spreads, which are also available each night for hockey games.
Prop betting is one of the most popular styles of wagering, especially for NHL betting, since it can be challenging to determine who will win on a night-in, night-out basis.
Plus, it is le to wager on a star player’s performance, especially if he plays for your favorite team.
Best NHL Prop Betting Sites
Caesars
Caesars is an elite option for hockey betting, including prop wagers. Caesars offers many prop options for every NHL game every night, including player props like an individual player to score a goal or go over or under in an individual stat category.
Plus, every wager with Caesars gives bettors Caesars Rewards, the sportsbook’s VIP rewards program, which they can use to reimburse for things like meal and hotel credits at Caesars properties.
BetMGM
BetMGM is one of my favorite sportsbooks, especially for prop betting in hockey, because it makes finding prop wagers easy to find. Bettors have a slew of great prop options, including player props, and also empower hockey bettors to customize their own one-game parlays.
Plus, BetMGM also has a terrific rewards program where bettors can get points that can be redeemed for bet credits and hotel stays at MGM’s properties nationwide.
FanDuel
FanDuel is the No. 1 sportsbook in America and is constantly innovating to make playing more fun and exciting for sports fans. FanDuel standardized same-game parlays when they rolled out the feature in 2018 and offers a robust number of game and player props for every NHL game each day.
With FanDuel, bettors can also take advantage of more markets like futures wagers, and the sportsbook is the only one that empowers users to create same-game parlay, where they can combine multiple markets from multiple games for a huge payout.
DraftKings
The DraftKings Online Sportsbook is an official sports-betting partner of the NHL, which makes it a superb option for hockey betting, especially props. DraftKings has a plethora of prop options and a user-friendly interface and lets bettors consult the prop bets via its helpful tabs at the top of the page
Plus, DraftKings makes same-game-parlay betting a breeze and gives users dozens of betting markets to combine with the simple toggle of an icon.
PointsBet
The PointsBet Online Sportsbook is changing the way sports, and hockey specifically, is bet. PointsBet offers two unique styles of betting, traditional fixed-odds betting and its own custom PointsBetting style that rewards bettors for being right and punishes them for being wrong.
PointsBetting is designed for player-and game-prop betting since the markets available for PointsBetting are props. But if PointsBet-style sounds too intense for you, you may still wager props with fixed-odds style betting too, and competitive odds on those wagers too.
How To Pick the Best NHL Prop Betting Sites
Variety of Props
The most important factor when betting on sports is that there is the wager you wish to make.
Fortunately, most of the sportsbooks above will give bettors a robust number of prop markets, especially player props for hockey. From there you can determine what bets you love and which ones you want to not wager on.
Odds
The best odds will produce the best payout. It is sometimes as simple as that.
Given that sportsbook odds are not always standard — FanDuel will sometimes offer -104 odds when other sportsbooks offer -105 or -110 — it is integral to shop for odds on the betting market you wish to make. Having a sportsbook account, and funds in multiple sportsbooks, is integral for this fact.
Interface
Finding your preferred betting market is almost as important as getting great odds. Plus, you’ll want to find those prop markets easily too so you can wager them before the odds change.
Logging in should be seamless too without too many steps, particularly if you’re a regular bettor, again so you can place your wager fast before the number and odds change.
Welcome Bonuses
Every sportsbook offers a welcome bonus, such as a risk-free bet, bet-and-get or first-deposit match. Taking advantage of these bonuses is integral since they’re one-shot deals that you’ll lose if you don’t use.
A prop bet is as good a wager to make on a risk-free bet, especially if it’s one you love.
NHL Prop Betting Promotions
Boosts
Every sportsbook offers odds boosts, especially on player and game props, each night.
Some sportsbooks, like DraftKings, will boost odds on prop bets that are likely to hit in an effort to give users more playable funds. Others will boost odds on more questionable props or on prop parlays for marquee regular-season and playoff games.
Betting boosted props can be enticing, but be sure to be responsible and do your homework when assessing boosted props.
Best NHL Prop Bets
Race to 3 Goals
The winning team in the NHL often is the first to score three goals, and if you can successfully predict which team that will be, you’ll likely get great odds — even better than moneyline odds.
NHL Player Props
It can be tough to predict which player will score in an individual game each night. But every sportsbook has other player props like over/under shots, points, power-play points and even goalie saves.
The player props get ratcheted up in the playoffs, but each sportsbook listed above will also offer player-prop options for every game in the regular season too.
NHL Prop Betting Strategy
Do your homework. Seek out trends, like how a player performs against a specific opponent historically or if a star player’s style of play matches his opponent’s deficiencies.
For example, if the Tampa Bay Lightning are facing off against an opponent that allows a lot of shots, taking advantage of Steven Stamkos or Nikita Kucherov’s shot prop is essential.
Keep in mind that trends regress, especially in hockey, which is why there is inherent risk to sports betting. But if you do your homework and seek out trends then you’ll win more often than you lose.
Benefits of NHL Prop Betting Online
Betting hockey props online is the best way to wager on NHL props for a variety of reasons. For example, you can shop for the best odds since the best odds produce the best payouts. Or you can seek out the most favorable number that is most likely to hit.
Betting on NHL props online is more convenient than wagering at a brick-and-mortar sportsbook since users can place their bets from their couch, bed or even the car — though we recommend not betting while driving.
Plus, online sportsbooks boost odds on props, which bettors are not entitled to when wagering in person.
How to Place an NHL Prop Bet Online
To place an NHL prop bet online, please follow these steps:
- Register at your preferred sportsbook or log into your sportsbook account
- Deposit funds into your account
- Consult any promotions or odds boosts for prop bets
- Use any welcome bonus funds or opt-in to take advantage of any promotions like risk-free bets or bet-and-gets
- Click the NHL tab on each sportsbook and tap the game you are interested in wagering on.
- Consult the odds and prop numbers then research trends to determine if they are good or bad bets to place
- Choose your wager
- Place your wager and root for it to hit
Where Can I Legally Place NHL Prop Bets Online?
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Nevada
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington D.C.
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Choose More Than One NHL Prop Betting Site
As stated above, prop betting odds and numbers vary from site to site. Having funds in multiple sportsbook sites enables odds and number shopping for the most lucrative and conducive wager.
Plus, also as referenced above, odds boosts set sportsbooks apart. Having funds in multiple sportsbook sites lets users take advantage of those lucrative boosts since they vary each day.
