The NHL regular season is here and a quartet of futures bets have my attention.
The latest: David Pastrnak is one of the NHL’s premier goalscorers, and there’s value in picking him to win the Rocket Richard Trophy. The Vegas Golden Knights are shaping up to be a nice pick to win the Pacific Division. Craig Berube has some appealing odds to win the Jack Adams Award, and the Seattle Kraken are my long-shot pick to win the Stanley Cup.
Check out my best NHL futures bets for the 2024-25 season.
Best NHL futures bets
Go to the latest NHL futures odds. Click linked odds to bet now.
| Best NHL futures bets | Odds |
| Pastrnak to win the Rocket Richard Trophy | +750 |
| Golden Knights to win the Pacific Division | +400 |
| Berube to win the Jack Adams Award | +1,000 |
| Kraken to win the Stanley Cup | +5,000 |
Best NHL futures bets
Pastrnak to win the Rocket Richard Trophy (+750)
Auston Matthews is the NHL’s best goalscorer. I’m not going to argue that.
Nobody has more goals than Matthews’ 368 since the Toronto Maple Leafs captain made his NHL debut in 2016-17. He nearly scored 70 goals a season ago, making what previously felt like an unthinkable accomplishment appear to be well within his reach.
But Pastrnak continues to stack up impressive goal-scoring seasons, too. The Boston Bruins winger has 108 goals across his last two seasons, a stretch that includes a 61-goal effort in 2022-23.
A Rocket Richard Trophy feels well within Pastrnak’s range of outcomes because he’s won the honour before. The talented forward shared the goal title with Alex Ovechkin during the 2019-20 campaign.
Pastrnak’s shoot-first mentality makes him a perennial threat for this award. Nobody has accrued more shots than the Bruins superstar over the last three seasons (1,101).
With volume not being an issue, all it takes is for Pastrnak to have an above-average shooting year to win. Pastrnak’s 12.3% shooting percentage in 2023-24 was below his 13.9% career average.
Pastrnak at +750 is the obvious pivot off of Matthews’ shortened -112 odds to win this award.
Other best NHL futures bets
Golden Knights to win the Pacific Division (+400): Injuries hampered Vegas’ 2023-24 campaign, and the squad never really settled in.
With most of the team returning and a little more depth in net, the Golden Knights should be poised to push the Edmonton Oilers for first in the Pacific Division.
Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson form one of the most formidable centre trios in the league and Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore lead the best defensive core in the division. This team is still firmly in its window to compete.
Berube to win the Jack Adams Award (+1,000): The Maple Leafs are a great regular season team and I expect that to be the case again in 2024-25.
Toronto is the odds-on favourite (+225) to win the Atlantic Division. If the Maple Leafs can win their first division title since 1999-00 (not counting the COVID-induced North Division), Berube will receive plenty of credit from an influential Toronto market.
A Stanley Cup hangover for the Florida Panthers and a step back from a talent-depleted Tampa Bay Lightning open the door for a division banner.
After Toronto did little to change its roster, most plaudits will be directed toward Berube.
Kraken to win the Stanley Cup (+5,000): Seattle is a nice Stanley Cup dark horse.
The Kraken bolstered their lineup this offseason, adding Cup champion Brandon Montour and two-time winner Chandler Stephenson. Those two will help Seattle at both ends of the ice.
Expect the Kraken’s top youngsters to progress in their development. Matty Beniers and Shane Wright are players with high potential. They could help raise the expectations for this squad with breakout campaigns.
NHL picks as of 2:42 p.m. on 10/05/2024.
Stevie’s an avid NFL, NHL, and tennis bettor who has no problem talking himself into the underdog. His previous stops include Yahoo! Sports Canada and Toronto Metropolitan University, where he received a degree in Sport Media.