NHL 2023-2024 Schedule and Betting Guide
The NHL drops the puck on its 107th season of play on Tuesday, October 10. The regular season will conclude on April 18, 2024, making it the longest regular season in North American professional sports at 192 days. The 2023-2024 NBA regular season stretches 174 days, and the recently concluded Major League Baseball season lasted 186 days.
With games on the schedule for 186 of the 192 days (the NHL takes off Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas, and three days around the All-Star Break), betting on the NHL can be done on more days in the year than any other major American professional league.
NHL Regular Season
On Tuesday, the NHL has three games on the schedule for its opening night. The Nashville Predators are at the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Chicago Blackhawks are at the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Vegas Golden Knights will hang their Stanley Cup champions banner when they host the Seattle Kraken.
In 2017, the NHL began playing its Global Series, which features games in Europe. This is the fifth year of the series, and for the fourth time they are playing in Sweden.
Four teams will be in Stockholm, with each playing two games over four days. The Detroit Red Wings play the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs the first two nights. The next two nights feature the Minnesota Wild playing the Senators first, then the Maple Leafs.
There are four outdoor games scheduled for the upcoming season. The Heritage Series will be the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Calgary Flames at the 56,000-seat Commonwealth Stadium on October 29. The 2024 NHL Winter Classic is on New Year’s Day, with the Kraken hosting the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Park, the 47,000-seat home of baseball’s Seattle Mariners.
There are also two Stadium Series games on the schedule for the first time since 2016. Both will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils playing February 17, 2024, and the New York Rangers and New York Islanders playing the next day, February 18.
The NHL All-Star Game is scheduled for February 3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Twelve teams are scheduled to play on the final day of the regular season, April 18, 2024. The following Monday, April 22, is when the first of four rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are tentatively scheduled to begin.
Odds to Win the 2023-2024 Stanley Cup
Colorado Avalanche (+800)
Florida Panthers (+900)
Edmonton Oilers (+1000)
New Jersey Devils (+1000)
Vegas Golden Knights (+1100)
Toronto Maple Leafs (+1100)
The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022, and they tied with the Golden Knights last year for most regular season wins in the Western Conference. They are the betting favorites to win the Cup this year as we head into opening night.
The Florida Panthers were in the Stanley Cup finals in June, losing to Vegas. They are the second preseason betting favorite. The defending champion Golden Knights are tied for the fifth-shortest odds.
Odds to Win Hart Memorial Trophy (MVP)
Connor McDavid (Even)
Nathan MacKinnon (+900)
Leon Draisaitl (+1000)
Matthew Tkachuk (+1200)
Connor McDavid is the best hockey player on the planet, and last year he won the Hart Memorial Trophy for the third time by leading the league in goals, assists, and points. It was his fifth career 100-point season. BetUS.com has him as the heavy favorite to win it again this season.
Hoping to pull off the upset are Nathan MacKinnon of the Avalanche, McDavid’s Oilers teammate, Leon Draisaitl, and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers.
Odds to Win Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender)
Ilya Sorokin (+400)
Igor Shesterkin (+600)
Juuse Saros (+600)
Connor Hellebuyck (+700)
Andrei Vasilevskiy (+800)
The season-long race to be the best goaltender in the league is expected to be more competitive than the MVP award.
Three of the men in the top-five in betting odds have won the award before. 2018 Olympic gold medalist Igor Shesterkin won in 2022, three-time All-Star Connor Hellebuyck was the winner in 2020, and Andrei Vasilevskiy won in 2019, the year before he won back-to-back Stanley Cups in Tampa Bay.
BetUS.com has Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin as the preseason favorite.
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