The 2024-25 NHL season has officially arrived and it’s time to take advantage of the “Monthly Points” market on DraftKings Sportsbook. The New Jersey Devils opened with the best odds at +270 to finish the month of October with the most team points, primarily because they have a head start over the rest of the league with matchups against the Buffalo Sabres today at 1 p.m. ET and tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET in Prague, Czechia as part of the NHL 2024 Global Series.
Both the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche are tied with the second-best odds at +700 while the Toronto Maple Leafs (+1000), Vegas Golden Knights (+1300) and reigning Stanley Cup champions, Florida Panthers (+1200) round out the top 5.
Now it’s time for the fun part. Let’s take a look at my favorite bets in this market over on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Colorado Avalanche –– Most October Team Points (+700)
I’m sure New Jersey is going to beat Buffalo in both of these European games. But, I don’t necessarily believe that it is possible to get off to a hot start with two key defensemen still sidelined with injuries (Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce), a brand new head coach and opponents such as the Maple Leafs, Hurricanes, Lightning and Canucks on tap for the month. So, I’m leaning toward Colorado here.
Colorado got off to a hot start last October, posting a 6-2-0 record and dismantling quality squads like the Kings and Hurricanes. The Avalanche’s offensive prowess has rarely been questioned and it should carry them throughout the first month. The goaltending situation figures to be questionable with Alexandar Georgiev (3.02 GAA, .897 save percentage in 2023) likely in between the pipes for the majority of the season. However, Colorado’s opponents in October aren’t necessarily offensive powerhouses by any means. While there are some quality opponents on tap for the Avalanche in October (Golden Knights, Bruins, Islanders and Lightning), the other seven opponents should give them minimal problems. Colorado also faces Columbus, San Jose, Anaheim, Utah, Seattle, Ottawa and Chicago –– seven of the worst eight teams in the league last season, excluding Montreal.
At +700 odds, this is hard to pass up. If Colorado handles those poor squads listed above as expected, we’re looking at 14 potential points alone. Both the offensive and defensive depth should be strong enough to allow Colorado to get off to a strong start even if Georgiev continues to perform poorly in net.
It is also worth your consideration to take the Avalanche’s over on their team point total for October, which is set at 14.5 and currently holds -135 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Nashville Predators Under 12.5 Points (-135)
I understand that Nashville had some serious roster turnover this past offseason by signing quality talent such as Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. And that’s on top of already rostering Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, Roman Josi and Juuse Saros. However, have you taken a look at the Predators’ opening schedule for October? It is not pretty. Nashville starts its season with Dallas and has to face both Edmonton and Detroit twice. Sure, there should be easy wins mixed in there for the Predators with opponents such as the Blackhawks, Kraken and Blue Jackets but we’re talking about 13 points here.
Nashville usually starts its seasons off quite slow, posting a 4-4-0 record in October 2021, a 3-5-1 record in October 2022 and a 4-5-0 record in October last season. The roster turnover is sure to break this trend but the quality of opponents says otherwise. The acquisitions of both Stamkos and Marchessault should absolutely increase the team’s offensive firepower and the defense got even better it seems but how confident am I in all of this meshing well together so quickly? Not so confident. On top of that, the team parted ways with head coach John Hynes after four seasons and will more than likely take additional time to get adjusted to the new coaching style of Andrew Brunette.
Considering the slightly juiced odds on this line already, the public seems to agree that it may take more time than one month for all of the new faces to mesh well together. Nonetheless, the Predators did average 3.24 goals per game in 2023 and that number figures to increase on top of already fielding one of the best goaltenders in the league in Saros, so as Kevin Garnett said, anything is possible. This particular scenario seems unlikely, though.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook, lines and odds subject to change.
All views expressed are my own. I am an employee of DraftKings and am ineligible to play in public DFS or DKSB contests.
