NHL Betting Lines, Best Bets & Promos for NHL Week 1

By Mark Fordham

Sep 30th, 2026 11:20 AM EDT

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The longest NHL regular season in more than three decades started Tuesday, September 29, when the Carolina Hurricanes raised their Stanley Cup banner but will have to wait another game at least to get their first win as reigning champions having lost 1-0 after overtime to the Florida Panthers.

The 2026-27 NHL season is 84 games long for the first time since 1993-94, and Week 1 has already reshaped the market. This guide covers the current NHL betting lines and best bets as the week unfolds, how opening night played out, and how the different NHL promo types and betting offers work.

NHL Season Storylines to Watch

Carolina returns largely the same championship roster, though its biggest offseason loss came in goaltending. Frederik Andersen left for Edmonton after backstopping the Hurricanes' 16-3 postseason run, handing the crease to Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov for the title defense. 

Florida, meanwhile, gets a healthy Aleksander Barkov back after the ACL and MCL tear that helped sink last season’s push for a third consecutive Stanley Cup. The Panthers also added star Brady Tkachuk after an offseason trade with Ottawa. The two teams enter as co-favorites on the Stanley Cup market at the best betting sites.

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Toronto's rebuild is the story to watch outside the top of the market. The Maple Leafs won the draft lottery and took Gavin McKenna first overall. They also added goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time champion with Florida, in free agency and hired former Kings coach Jim Hiller to run the bench. McKenna made his NHL debut on opening night and called it "a lot of fun" despite a quiet stat line, and Toronto gets straight back on the ice against the Islanders Wednesday night.

Out West, Colorado enters as one of the top two or three Cup contenders after leading the league in goals per game and penalty-kill percentage last season, even after a conference finals sweep at the hands of Vegas Golden Knights. Edmonton sits close behind, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl chasing a return trip after another early playoff exit exposed the Oilers' goaltending. They will hope Andersen can help plug that gap.

There's also a homecoming story on opening night. Patrick Kane signed a two-year deal to return to Chicago, the team he won three championships with before he was traded away at the deadline to the Rangers. He made his season debut on the road against the Golden Knights, while the Blackhawks play without injured top-line center Connor Bedard.

This Week's NHL Betting Lines

Three games stand out on tonight's board, and the market has already reacted to how Tuesday's results played out.

Toronto stays a moneyline favorite tonight despite Tuesday's loss to Montreal; a shorter price than a team coming off a defeat might usually carry. Colorado's total has moved from 5.5 to 6.0, largely on the back of the Kings' 30th-ranked penalty kill running into a full Colorado power-play unit. Lines on every other game this week, along with the full Stanley Cup futures board, are updated continuously on our NHL odds page.

NHL Betting Trends to Know

A few trends from last season carry weight into this specific opener. Carolina went 29-10-2 at home last season, the platform that carried the Hurricanes to the league's top seed entering the postseason. Florida, by contrast, went just 17-23-1 on the road, a big part of why a team that had reached three straight conference finals missed the playoffs entirely. Those numbers will keep the Hurricanes favorites with most betting apps.

Home-ice trends like this are worth checking before any season-opening bet, not just for the marquee game. A team's road record from the previous season rarely resets overnight, and early-season lines often lag behind how a roster has actually changed over the summer.

Our Best Bets This Week

We went 2-1 on our three opening night best bets. Florida's plus-money upset over Carolina cashed, Vegas's moneyline over Chicago cashed and only Toronto's over on its own team total missed, with the Maple Leafs held to two goals in Gavin McKenna's NHL debut.

Toronto Maple Leafs moneyline (-120) vs. Islanders: A quiet opening night doesn't erase a roster this retooled. Bobrovsky settles in after stopping 21 shots in his Toronto debut, and a home crowd gives McKenna and company a better setting to find their footing than a road opener against a well-coached Montreal team.

Colorado Avalanche moneyline (-180) vs. Kings: This isn't a value price, but the fundamentals justify it anyway. Colorado's penalty kill ranked first in the league last season at 84.6%, the Kings' ranked 30th at 74.6%, and Los Angeles's road record last year leaned heavily on overtime points rather than regulation wins.

For the full slate of betting picks across the entire opening week, our NHL picks page breaks down every matchup in more depth.

Understanding NHL Promo Types

Not every NHL welcome offer and sportsbook promo works the same way, and knowing the difference matters before you sign up. The table below covers four current offers, each built around a distinct structure, so you can see how they differ rather than just comparing headline numbers.

A no sweat bet, like BetMGM's, insures your first wager and refunds it in bonus credit if it loses. A bet-and-get promo, like DraftKings', pays out bonus bets over several days regardless of whether each wager wins. bet365's structure pays a flat bonus on a single qualifying bet no matter the result, while Fanatics matches your stake in site credit as you keep betting.

None of these are better or worse across the board. They just suit different betting habits, and full terms for all seven operators running NHL offers this season are covered in detail on our NHL betting sites guide.

About the Author

Mark Fordham

More About Mark

Mark spent over a decade as a sports reporter and editor with Goal.com and Bleacher Report. He is now a Content Manager at Bookies.com covering all manner of sports from the Premier League and cricket to the NBA and NFL. Mark also has years of experience working in the online casino industry and knows how to rate a good one over a bad one.

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