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About the NHL
For the benefit of anyone who isn’t already aware, the NHL has a total of 31 teams. 24 of those teams are based in the US, whilst the other 7 are based right here in Canada. The teams are divided into two separate conferences, known as the Eastern and the Western, and each conference is divided into two divisions. The Eastern Conference has the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions, and the Western Conference has the Central and Pacific divisions.The NHL season normally starts in October and runs through to April. That said, the 2020/21 NHL season didn’t get underway until January 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit in 2020.
When the regular season has concluded, eight teams from each conference participate in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which lead up to the Stanley Cup Finals in June. That’s when the two best teams (one from each conference) play against each other for the most prestigious trophy in the sport, the Stanley Cup.
We mention all of this because it illustrates that there is normally a great deal of NHL betting action to be enjoyed between October and June. Each game gives fans multiple opportunities to make predictions and place wagers, and the chance to turn forecasting skills into profits can make games even more exciting than usual.
Find the best place to bet online on the NHL!
The advantages of online NHL betting
Anyone who is of legal age can obviously bet on NHL games at any land-based casino that also offers sportsbook facilities. However, there are certain advantages to online NHL betting that can’t be enjoyed at land-based sportsbooks. The three main advantages are:Range of choice
When you bet online, you can choose from a much wider range of operators than you probably have in your own area. Although sportsbooks will tend to cover the same games and offer similar markets, the odds available can often differ. Sometimes the difference can be substantial. That allows you to shop around for the best odds and enjoy a bigger profit if your bet wins.Convenience
Even if you have a sportsbook on your doorstep, you’ll still need to wait until it’s open to be able to use it. You’ll also need to take time out from your schedule to pay a visit, and you’ll certainly need to get dressed first. In contrast, none of those things apply when you bet online. You can visit the sportsbook from the comfort of your own home, at any time of the day or night, and you can do so in your pyjamas if you want to.Incentives
The third advantage of NHL betting online is that it allows you to take advantage of various incentives that might not be available at your local land-based sportsbook. Online sportsbooks often have a slew of bonuses and promotions that you can enjoy. These include risk-free bets, deposit bonuses, odds boosters and more.Is online NHL betting legal?
Online NHL betting is perfectly legal for Canadian hockey fans. Of course, there are a couple of caveats to that statement. First, you need to be old enough to bet online according to the law. And second, you need to make sure that you only bet at properly licensed and regulated sportsbooks. Adhere to those two simple guidelines, and legality isn’t an issue.Ice Hockey Betting Markets
The variety of NHL betting markets that can be found at online sportsbooks is enormous. For that reason, a detailed discussion of all of them is far beyond the scope of this Rookie’s Guide. What we can do, however, is throw the spotlight on the three most popular betting markets that are offered and explain what each of them involves.NHL moneyline betting
The NHL moneyline market for any given game requires you to predict which team will win. You will be presented with odds for both teams. Odds prefixed by a plus symbol (+) will require a bet of $100 to win the odds stated in dollars. Odds that are prefixed by a minus symbol (-) will require you to bet that number of dollars to win $100.For example:
| Vancouver Canucks | +150 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | -182 |
In this game, if you bet $100 on the Canucks and they win, you would get $150 profit plus your $100 stake back. If you bet $182 on the Maple Leafs, you would get $100 profit plus your $182 stake back.
For those of you who are wondering why the odds are so different for each team in this and most other games, the answer is simple. The Canucks are the underdogs here, whilst the Maple Leafs are the favourites.
NHL Spread Betting
The NHL spread market gives a theoretical advantage to the underdog team and a theoretical disadvantage to the favourites. This evens the odds up considerably and allows fans of either team to have a fighting chance of success.Consider the following:
| Vancouver Canucks | +1 | -133 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | -1 | +135 |
Here the Canucks have been given a +1 goal advantage. If you believe that this advantage will allow them to win the match, you could bet $133 to make a profit of $100, plus your $133 stake back.
The team would need to draw the game or win it outright for the bet to win. That’s because the +1 advantage would turn a draw into a one-goal victory.
At the same time, the Maple Leafs have been given a -1 goal disadvantage. If you believe that they can still win despite this, you can bet $100 and make a $135 profit, plus your $100 stake back, if you’re right. The team would need to win the game by two goals or more for this bet to win. That’s because the -1 disadvantage would turn a one-goal victory into a draw.
NHL total betting market
The moneyline and spread markets both require you to make a prediction about which team will win. However, that isn’t the case with the total betting market. Here you only need to predict how many goals will be scored in total. And you don’t even need to be specific. You simply predict whether the actual total will be over or under the figure quoted by the sportsbook.For example:
| Vancouver Canucks | 7.5 o | +155 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 7.5 u | -222 |
Here the sportsbook requires you to predict whether the total number of goals scored in the game will be over or under 7.5.
If you think that there will be over 7.5 goals (8 or more), then you could bet $100 to get a profit of $155 plus your $100 stake back. If you think that there will be under 7.5 goals (7 or less), you could bet $222 to get a profit of $100 plus your $222 back.
