NHL ice hockey regular-season betting preview & free tips

Free NHL ice hockey tips and season preview for the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central & Pacific Divisions.

Where to watch

Live coverage on Premier and FreeSports, starting with Ottawa at Toronto, midnight Wednesday.

Best bets

Tampa Bay Lightning to win Presidents' Trophy (regular season)
2pts 3-1 general
New Jersey Devils to win Metropolitan Division
1pt 6-1 Power, RedZone
Winnipeg Jets not to make the playoffs
1pt 27-20 RedZone
Los Angeles Kings under 75.5 regular-season points
2pts 10-11 RedZone

Season preview

Atlantic Division

Tampa Bay were stunned to be swept out of the NHL playoffs 4-0 by Columbus last season, but they should be a mighty force again in the regular season.

The Lightning had a spectacular season, winning 62 of their 82 games – 12 more than any other team – and winning the Presidents' Trophy for most points in the league at a canter.

Repeating that level of success won’t be easy, but even if they regress they still look much the most likely team to top the regular-season standings.

Scoring 40 goals in a season is the mark of an elite forward, but three Tampa Bay players, Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point, surpassed that mark last season.

The core players all return and if anything they have strengthened their roster with Pat Maroon, fresh from Stanley Cup success with St Louis, adding depth and toughness.

It’s a lop-sided division, in which Toronto and last year’s beaten Cup finalists Boston will also be targeting the big prize, but Tampa Bay’s class should tell over 82 games.

Metropolitan Division

The Metropolitan Division looks incredibly tight on paper, and it may be worth taking a chance that New Jersey can jump from bottom to top of the group this season.

The Devils got only 33 games out of 2018 NHL MVP Taylor Hall last season and having him fit from the start will be huge.

Hall lines up with a number of new faces including number-one draft pick Jack Hughes and elite defenceman PK Subban.

They look sure to improve in a division which features several teams who look to be on a downward trend.

Central Division

The Central Division was the most competitive last season. Just 17 points separated winners Nashville from bottom club Minnesota last season, compared to the 64-point gap from first to last in the Atlantic Division.

Winnipeg finished last season a point shy of Nashville but it has been a summer of struggle for the Jets.

They eventually managed to re-sign key forwards Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor, but they have lost four significant defencemen including alternate captain Dustin Byfuglien, who is taking a leave of absence for personal reasons.

For a team who relied on their defensive depth, it might be enough to shuffle them out of playoff places.

Pacific Division

Only hapless Ottawa scored fewer than Los Angeles’ 71 points last season, and they have done little to improve things over the summer.

The team is made up of veterans from their 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup triumphs along with teenagers yet to hit their peak.

They don’t look well equipped for a league where quick, slick play has taken over from strength and brutality and they will do well to score many more points than last term.

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