With the Winter Olympics upon us, and the Super Bowl coming to a close, I'm sure you fine people are heavily invested in some NHL futures, right?
There is no better time to invest in some midseason futures, while a select number of the NHL's best have traveled across the pond to battle for gold. And for today, I've concocted a few playoff appearance bets, a winner for the Jack Adams Award, and the President's Trophy winner.
Let's dive into my NHL future picks, predictions, and best bets for the 2025-26 season.
Boston Bruins to Make the Playoffs (+110)
32-20-5, 69 Points, 2nd in Wild Card
I think this is a decent pick at really great value.
By no means are the Bruins a lock to make the postseason, especially in the closely contested Eastern Conference, but I was really encouraged with the way they ended the first half of the season.
They accrued points in 13 out of their last 15 games, and there’s no better time to have a three week break than now.
We started to see Boston’s 5-on-5 play droop a little towards the end of the stretch, but by George, it was able to come out of it with points.
The B’s have the pieces to make it work, led by David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie, who’s on pace to shatter his previous career high in goals, which was 33.
But not just that, they have tremendous depth, getting solid middle-six production from youngsters Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, and veterans Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Zacha.
I also have a decent amount of faith in goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who was one of the better goaltenders last season in the playoffs, posting a .933 SV% and averaged 2.15 goals allowed in 12 games.
Florida Panthers to Make the Playoffs (+210)
29-25-3, 61 Points, 14th in East
To be fair, a lot has to go right for this to happen. But it’s still worth a flier.
The Panthers didn’t make the Stanley Cup Finals three seasons in a row, while winning the last two by mistake. This is a seasoned team, but a team that is missing their captain, Aleksander Barkov.
Which is why, again, a lot has to go right here.
Currently, Florida is still alive and standing eight points away from the playoffs, and in the final two weeks before the Olympic break, the Panthers played a much better 5-on-5 game, before getting smacked by Tampa on their third game in four nights.
I’m not going to bore you with a sales pitch here. But as a hockey fan and bettor, I’m looking at the return of Matthew Tkachuk as a significant upgrade to this team.
Tkachuk was the “attitude” for this team and forced his way to play through the playoffs with a torn adductor straight off the bone.
The one concern I have is goaltending.
Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t getting younger, and he’s played a ton of hockey. However, consider this three week break in the middle of the season a breath of life to his season.
The numbers are ugly, I won’t lie, and you can look at those for yourself if you’re really interested. But a revitalized Bobrovsky with a nice vacation and some time on the South Florida beach may be what the doctor ordered.
It’s pure speculation, but I will bring you back to the beginning of this portion…
A lot has to go right. That’s why I’m putting a quarter of a unit on this.
Los Angeles Kings to Miss the Playoffs (+200)
23-19-14, 60 Points, 9th in West
Wait, what? Betting the team that just snagged Artemi Panarin to miss the playoffs?!
You bet your bottom dollar I am.
As a forever fan of Kings’ captain Anze Kopitar, it hurts to write this, but I feel like the Kings are a lost cause. They’re like the Rangers of the West, which is ironic, but they cannot win at home to save their lives with an 8-11-7 record.
And once the NHL returns from the Olympics, Los Angeles re-opens its season with a six-game homestand. Immediately after that, it heads across the country for a five-game East Coast road trip.
Trades can be finicky too. Sometimes making big time moves midseason like the Kings did with Panarin doesn’t always work out. And as someone who hasn’t been crazy about the Kings, I actually think the Panarin trade will be counterproductive.
Think about it, despite Panarin’s talents, they’re adding a 34-year-old to the second-oldest roster in the league. With that, they’ll have to chase two young teams in the Ducks and Mammoth that finished the first-half with at least a 60% win rate.
Maybe this is just me being more bullish on the other two teams, but Los Angeles also has the exciting Sharks chasing them, as well as the Predators, who are a wild card.
I feel pretty confident fading the Kings this season, and at +290, I’m happy to take that value.
Dan Muse to Win Jack Adams (+1400)
29-15-12, 70 Points, 5th in East
I remember when the Pittsburgh Penguins hired Dan Muse as their head coach to replace longtime coach Mike Sullivan, and the collective response was…
“Who?”
Since then, Muse has had the last laugh, revitalizing the Penguins so much that they’re one of, if not the hottest teams in the NHL.
Over the last 10 games, Pittsburgh has gone 7-1-2 and currently holds the number-two spot in the Metropolitan Division, just one point ahead of the New York Islanders.
For the most part, the outlook on this team was that it was a team that was attempting, but failing to capture the old flame.
Even though Sidney Crosby has shown no signs of aging, Evgeni Malkin was showing signs of regression, and Kris Letang has been on and off the injured list for a few years.
And the trade of Tristan Jarry to bring in Stuart Skinner has completely changed the course of this squad as well.
With that, Pittsburgh has been dominant on the 5-on-5 offensive end, playing to a fourth-best 55.13 xGF%, but also possessing the third best power play, scoring at a 26.4% clip.
As of now, odds for Muse is currently at +1400 which sounds about right given the heaters that the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buffalo Sabres, and Colorado Avalanche have been on, as Jon Cooper, Lindy Ruff and Jared Bednar are the favorites..
Difference is, Colorado has not been playing very well coming into the break, and well, Buffalo… it’s Buffalo. As much as the Sabres have shown signs of promise, I’m still waiting for the shoe to drop.
That just leaves Tampa with Cooper, who’s currently the favorite at +110. As tough as it might be to overstep Coop, his ability to coach is already well known, and maybe voters get Cooper-fatigue. Why not pick Muse? His first year has been a work of art.
Minnesota Wild to Win President's Trophy (+6000)
34-14-10, 78 Points, 2nd in West
During most of the season, I thought the President’s Trophy was the Avalanche’s trophy to lose.
Alas, here we are. In Colorado’s last 10 games, it has gone a rough 4-5-1. A slow period was expected, but if this continues to happen when the NHL returns, look out for Minnesota.
The Wild are probably hockey’s most exciting team, and even more so after acquiring superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes. Teaming him up with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy is only a recipe for madness, and it doesn’t hurt that Minnesota has an exceptional goaltending tandem of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt.
I suppose I’m a little surprised at how drastic these odds are, considering the Wild have literally the second-best record in the league, but then I saw that both the Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes have games in hand on the Wild.
So, being at +6000 makes a lot of sense.
March will be crucial to this race, as Minnesota plays Tampa twice, the Avalanche once, and the Dallas Stars once, who is also a darkhorse in this race.
Because the odds are so stacked against Minnesota, I’m going to refrain putting big money on this, but the potential for the Wild to do this is at a big time high.
So let’s get Wild.
