On Tuesday night, professional hockey makes its return as the puck drops on the 2025-26 NHL regular season. There are three games on deck including Panthers vs. Blackhawks, Rangers vs. Penguins, and Kings vs. Avalanche, so some of the league’s brightest stars — young and old alike — all don the pads and sweaters of their respective franchises. Sam Reinhart, Connor Bedard, Igor Shesterkin, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Anze Kopitar… what’s not to love about our beautiful game?
With three matchups across the evening, we’re taking a look at the top NHL anytime goalscorer props to consider on DraftKings Sportsbook for the first day of the new campaign.
Best NHL anytime goalscorer picks
Sam Bennett anytime goalscorer (+135)
The loss of Aleksander Barkov certainly hurts the reigning champion Panthers, but in the absence of the captain, Sam Bennett takes over as first-line center. The 2025 Conn Smythe winner excelled throughout Florida’s playoff run and now sees the chance to move up in the pecking order. He’ll now slot in alongside wings Carter Verhaeghe and Brad Marchand up top. Bennett himself is an aggressive two-way player and averaged over three shots on goal per game last season, netting 25 goals in 76 regular-season contests with an additional 15 in 23 postseason outings. Tonight, the Panthers face one of their own former teammates in Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight, who logged a 3.18 GAA and .896 SV% after a trade sent him to Chicago last season. Bennett and Co. will know his tendencies, setting up an anytime goalscorer prop pick here.
Artemi Panarin anytime goalscorer (+150)
The Rangers’ top forward is back once more for another campaign that’s sure to involve plenty of pucks buried in the back of nets across the league. Artemi Panarin connected on 37 goals in 80 games last season and shot 15.6% on his 237 attempts, and he scored a whopping 49 goals in the season prior as well. New York didn’t see the result they wanted last year after missing the postseason, but adding an experienced head coach in Mike Sullivan as well as some extra talent on the blue line should help the outlook significantly. The Rangers should be aggressive on the forecheck tonight and a matchup against surprise Penguins starter Arturs Silovs brings upside for scoring thanks to his NHL inexperience (19 GP) and poor numbers last season (3.65 GAA, .861 SV%).
Nathan MacKinnon anytime goalscorer (+125)
We’re going back to the well with another star, but an even bigger one this time around. Nathan MacKinnon is listed at the second-shortest odds to win the Hart Memorial Trophy this season for an Avalanche group that looks even deeper than last year’s squad. He’s an unreal talent who needs no introduction though, and as the driving force of this Colorado attack, it’s easy to see him putting one in the net tonight against the Kings. MacKinnon scored 32 goals last season but posted 51 and 42 in the two prior campaigns, and he’ll truly put Darcy Kuemper to the test in the final contest of this opening-night slate. The veteran netminder looked like a Vezina candidate last year with a 2.02 GAA and .922 SV%, but he posted a 3.31 GAA the season prior and could be due for regression.
