We made it! We made it through another NHL offseason! The puck officially drops tomorrow on the 2025/2026 NHL season, so it’s your last chance to get in on some NHL futures before the action starts. Here are our NHL Futures: Best Bets for 2025, so you know where to invest your money this season.
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NHL Futures: Best Bets for 2025
Tampa Bay Lightning – Eastern Conference Winner (+500)
The Florida Panthers’ iron grip on the Eastern Conference (and the Stanley Cup, for that matter) is expected to be loosened this season, almost totally because the league’s best two-way player – and Florida’s captain – Aleksander Barkov tore his knee up and is expected to be out the whole season (plus, Matthew Tkachuk will be starting the season in street clothes). Enter the Panthers’ neighbor, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning are coming off a string of disappointing playoff runs, losing in the first round for the past three seasons after having made the Stanley Cup Finals (and winning twice) in the three years previously. But with Florida depleted, and the Toronto Maple Leafs in a bit of flux, the East could be the Lightning’s for the taking. They’ve got incredible offensive firepower, led by Nikita Kucherov, and a two-time Stanley Cup-winning goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Connor McDavid – Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy Winner (+800)
The Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy, which was introduced for the 1998/99 season, goes to the top goal scorer in the NHL’s regular season. The Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl won it last season after lighting the lamp 52 times. Now, it’s time for a teammate of his to grab the trophy once more.
Connor McDavid is thought of as more of a playmaker than a scorer, but so was former Oiler great Wayne Gretzky, who was the league’s top goal scorer until losing that record last season. Plus, McDavid won the Richard Trophy before, in 2022/23, when he scored 64 goals. He’s announced his intentions to score 50 or 60 goals again this season. While for most players, such a statement should be taken with a grain of salt, with a player of McDavid’s ability, he very well could just decide to score 60+ goals again and go out and do it.
Washington Capitals Under 95.5 Points (-115)
The playoffs notwithstanding, the 2024/25 NHL campaign was a dream season for the Washington Capitals. After being projected at 89.5 points heading into the season, the Capitals blew that projection out of the water, tallying 111 points, best in the Metropolitan Division, best in the Eastern Conference, and second best in the NHL. And, of course, Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s career scoring mark.
Then the playoffs came around, and Washington proved to be a bit of a fluke, not putting up much of a fight in their second-round, four-games-to-one, defeat at the hands of the Carolina Panthers. I’m counting on the playoff Capitals being the true Capitals, and Ovechkin to finally start showing his age this season.
If you’d like even more NHL futures talk, be sure to check out the Hockey Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping multiple episodes a week to make you the smartest guy at the bar.
