Welcome to the 2024-25 NHL Season! Opening Night is officially here – not counting the two games in Prague last week – and we have a three-game slate to get things started!

I will be here throughout the season bringing you NHL Best Bets or the NHL DFS Playbook multiple days per week. Here's to a great season with plenty of scoring and highlights along the way!

 

 

 

NHL Picks, Predictions & Best Bets Today, 10/8

In this NHL Best Bets article, I'll give a quick preview of each game and dive into what props I'll be targeting today. As the season goes on, we'll get a clear idea of which teams – or types of teams – we should be targeting for our NHL predictions on a nightly basis. 

Generally, I like teams that play fast and generate a lot of offensive chances, which gives our NHL best bets the ability to consistently target shot props and goal props. I also like to target teams that allow a ton of shot attempts, as this gives players an easier path to piling up the shots on goal and hopefully, finding the back of the net. 

 

 

 

Blues vs. Kraken Prediction: Tuesday, October 8th

An afternoon puck drop gets the NHL season started between two teams that missed the playoffs last year and are hoping to get things started on the right foot this season. 

A 5.5 total with -130 juice to the over, is interesting from an offensive production standpoint and gives us a glimpse into what we should be seeing tonight. 

During the preseason, both teams were in the top 11 of the league in Total Shot Attempts Created per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations. While it's a smaller sample size and also the preseason, it's encouraging to see both teams put an emphasis on offensive chances, a year after both teams finished in the bottom half of the league in scoring. 

Sorting through the rosters and trying to find one single goal scorer is not what I'm looking for from this game, which leads me to a shot prop for defenseman, Brandon Montour. The newly signed defender is set to see time on the second power-play unit, which is always a plus for grabbing some extra shots on goal. 

A refreshed mindset for both teams should give us ample chances back and forth, putting Montour in a good spot to make a strong impression with his new team. He leads off the first of our NHL picks for this season.

 

 

 

Bruins vs. Panthers Prediction: Tuesday, October 8th

Whew, what a doozy we have here! The defending Stanley Cup Champion Panthers will open the regular season against the team they ousted from the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, the Boston Bruins. 

Without question, this should be the best of the three games on the slate and likely filled with a decent amount of scoring, and probably a fight or two along the way. 

Both teams have high expectations coming into the season and will get that started tonight, but finding props to make NHL predictions on this game I like is a tough task. 

While David Pastrnak is an elite goal-scorer, the Panthers have a rock-solid defense and goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky. Pastrnak's goal prop is up at +135 on FanDuel, which is a rather high number for such a consistent scorer. There will be times throughout the season when we see Pastrnak listed at -110 to score a goal, so there's some objective value in his prop tonight, but I have no interest. 

Much of the same can be said about Sam Reinhart, who finished last season with the second-most goals in the league up at 57, and we see his goal prop listed at +140. 

Add in the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Brad Marchand, Aleksander Barkov, and Elias Lindholm, and there are sometimes too many great options where no one player jumps out a clear target. 

 

 

 

Blackhawks vs. Utah Prediction: Tuesday, October 8th

The final game on the slate sees the Utah Hockey Club in their inaugural game hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, led by emerging star, Connor Bedard. 

Bedard exploded into the league last season and captured the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year, which should be the first of many awards throughout his career. While he brings tremendous talent to the table – or ice – the Blackhawks aren't a good team overall. They're projected to be among the worst teams in the league and despite a few improvements in their lineup, they're going to give up a ton of goals and worth targeting whenever they're on the slate. 

Last year, the Blackhawks allowed 3.26 Goals per 60 minutes in five-on-five situations, which was the fourth-worst in the NHL. That has remained true in the preseason, with 3.53 Goals allowed, which is good for the second-worst in the league. 

This brings me to Clayton Keller, who was recently named the first Captain in Utah team history. Do we like a bit of a narrative when making NHL best bets? Yes.

Franchise home opener? Check. Newly named Captain? Check. Consistent goal-scorer? Check. 

While the narrative is fun, Keller has piled up 28, 37, and 33 goals over the last three seasons. That's 98 goals over his last 228 games played. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise as he's averaged over 2.7 shots on goal per game in each of the last two seasons. 

He was a primary shooter for the Arizona Coyotes and that should only continue with the newly minted Utah Hockey Club. Keller skates on the first forward line and the first power-play unit, which is the ideal spot to find goal scorers and their props. Keller and the Utah Hockey Club get off to a strong start this year with a win over the Blackhawks.