The National Hockey League (NHL) is the world's premier ice hockey competition, featuring teams from Canada and the United States. As you might expect, ice hockey is an extremely physical sport, which adds to the overall hype of each contest. Betting on hockey games has spread to several countries around the world, largely because of the entertainment value that each game brings along with the potential to win. The NHL is made up of 31 hockey teams from six different conferences in North America. Each team competes internally and externally for the opportunity to make the playoffs and then play another team in the Stanley Cup Finals. Check out our truly comprehensive guide to finding out how to win with NHL betting. Our experienced experts have combined the latest NHL lines and odds with some really good statistics from the championship series over the past few years.
Best NHL Betting Sites 2025
|
Operator
|
Bonus
|
Features
|
Claim Now
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
200% Match
|
|
|
|
100% Match
Up to 100€ |
|
|
|
100% Match
|
|
|
|
150% Match
|
|
|
|
100% Match
|
|
|
How Do You Bet on Hockey?
Join the excitement and bet on the NHL where anything can happen and often does. The first and most important piece of information players need to understand about betting on the NHL is that nothing, absolutely nothing, is ever a sure thing. You can scour the playbook for picks and even pay digital diviners to tell you where to place your bets. But if you don't understand the fundamentals, all that practice and playing the roles of good and not-so-good diviners will amount to very little. It just has to be said: You have to know something to make your efforts worthwhile.
- NHL Futures - You can place an NHL bet on the hockey team with the best odds to win the Stanley Cup before the competition even begins.
- The team's performance in the previous season's competition should support this bet.
- Moneyline Explained - For betting on specific NHL games, you can pick the team with the strongest lineup to win.
- NHL Picks and Parlays - Each online bookmaker will offer odds on the most competitive games of the round.
- Select multiple hockey games to bet on in a single ticket and watch the payout escalate.
- Puck Lines - this is the version of hockey handicapping where oddsmakers try to balance the scales by predicting the winner of the game as well as the score.
NHL Betting Tips
The National Hockey League runs from October to June each year. Players who have lost bets have plenty of time to make up for those mistakes. The advantage of online hockey betting is that you can get a clear idea of how other bettors are betting. This is thanks to the many forums that exist solely to expose bad NHL bets and provide guidance on how to make better ones. Our expert tipsters recognize that some bets are just too good - or too bad - to pass up, and they offer free daily predictions on those types of bets.
- To begin with, bettors should focus on one conference and develop a thorough understanding of the teams in that conference.
- NHL point spread betting is the most popular of all the bets you will find. Bet on the NHL scores and watch your wager multiply.
- Bettors need to understand the different periods within the sport. A hockey game consists of three 20 minute periods. Bets can be placed on each period or on the entire game.
- Keep the NHL schedule in mind when placing your bets. Some teams struggle on the road, while others thrive at home. Conversely, some teams are much better on the road than in their own building.
NHL Betting Odds
Betting on hockey in an online environment has proven to be far more attractive than placing the same bet in a brick and mortar bookmaker. Bettors on the NHL can expect to find decimal odds at the best Tanzanian betting sites they frequent. If you're not sure how these odds translate into potential winnings, here's an example.
Pittsburgh Penguins (2.00) vs. Los Angeles Kings (1.50)
This means that the Kings are favored by the oddsmakers to win the tie against the Penguins. If your stake was R100, you would multiply it by the odds to get your potential payout. You can bet on the NHL from September, when the regular season starts, until June.
Below is a complete list of the NHL divisions you can bet on at online NHL sportsbooks:
- Eastern Conference
- Eastern Conference Metropolitan
- Western Conference Pacific
- Western Conference
- Eastern Conference Atlantic
- Western Conference Central
Past Stanley Cup Winners
Here’s a list of the most recent winners of the Stanley Cup Championship:
| Season | Winner | Conference |
| 2022 | Colorado Avalanche | Western Conference |
| 2021 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Eastern Conference |
| 2020 | Tampa Bay Lightning | Eastern Conference |
| 2019 | St. Louis Blues | Western Conference |
| 2018 | Washington Capitals | Eastern Conference Metropolitan |
| 2017 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2016 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2015 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2014 | Los Angeles Kings | Western Conference Pacific |
| 2013 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2012 | Los Angeles Kings | Western Conference Pacific |
| 2011 | Boston Bruins | Eastern Conference Atlantic |
| 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks | Western Conference Central |
| 2009 | Pittsburgh Penguins | Eastern Conference |
| 2008 | Detroit Red Wings | Eastern Conference Atlantic |