The 2025-26 NHL season gets started with a trio of matchups on Tuesday capped off with a late-window clash between the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche. This looks like the best game of the slate by far as these playoff-caliber squads square off on the ice. Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and the Anze Kopitar retirement tour… what’s not to love?
Here’s a Kings vs. Avalanche prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook to start the season.
Kings vs. Avalanche prediction, preview
The Los Angeles Kings were a first-round bounce out of the playoffs last season at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, the fourth straight postseason to meet an end thanks to the rival. With the sting of that outcome still burning, the franchise looks to change the future this year. However, aging veterans and few high-profile moves aren’t likely to be the answer. Anze Koptar begins his retirement tour as a franchise icon, and Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield make up two of the other top-six forward options. The latter’s growth this season proves crucial moving ahead, but the 23-year-old appears on the path to stardom as hope for the next era of Kings hockey. The franchise also added a 40-year-old Corey Perry via free agency, though he’ll begin the season on the sideline with a knee injury which required surgery.
That’s not a bad group of attackers by any means, and the Los Angeles defense was certainly strong last season with an excellent campaign from Darcy Kuemper in net, and that can be expected to continue once more with a healthy Drew Doughty, Brandt Clarke and Mikey Anderson headlining the blue line. A defensive identity was this team’s calling card, but offseason signings Cody Cedi and Brian Dumoulin don’t help with that as much as one may assume. L.A. needs stars all around, and while they’re a deep team, they just don’t have the top-level talent that real Stanley Cup contenders boast.
Looking toward the Colorado Avalanche, the visitors were upset by a shorthanded Dallas Stars team in seven games to start the playoffs last season as former Av Mikko Rantanen ended his old team’s hopes of a title. Now, Colorado brings back a near-identical roster headlined by the same otherworldly duo of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who combine to form one of the best pairings this league has ever seen. Those two alone are nearly enough to compete for a Cup, and the Martin Necas addition worked out swimmingly (though a contract extension does overhead now). A healthy Gabriel Landeskog provides a boost with the captain now around for the full season, and the team is genuinely deep with Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen also capable of producing.
Defensively, Makar headlines the top pairing with Devon Toews, and Colorado also added veteran Brent Burns to the equation to complement Samuel Girart. The goalie tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood also impressed once they arrived in the Mile High City, so while the Avalanche have pieces of a strong defense once more, the offense feels like more than enough to win plenty of games on its own.
Kings vs. Avalanche pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the odds indicate a toss-up for Tuesday’s contest. Both teams enter with -110 odds to win on the Moneyline, though the Avalanche are favored on the -1.5 puck line. The total sits at 5.5 goals with the over favored at -125 odds.
This’ll be a very close call between two quality teams. The elite Colorado first line sees the two best players in this game skate wearing the same jersey with MacKinnon and Makar, who instantly give their team a slight leg up. Even against a quality defense, you can never rule those two players out in any circumstance because they’re winners who find a way to put the puck in the back of the net no matter what. It’ll be quite interesting to see how Kuemper fares for the first glimpse of whether he truly took a leap to elite status last season, and he’ll certainly find himself tested against a deep group of forwards as well.
I also don’t think the Avs’ defense comes into this one in peak form, though. The top couple of lines have plenty of quality players on Los Angeles’ side as well, and though they don’t match the star power of Colorado, these guys can score too. However, I do feel confident in assuming the Avalanche come out of the gate firing from the jump to truly test Kuemper. While it feels like a game that could go into overtime if the Kings grind it out, I’m staying away from game lines here and targeting the visitors to be the first side to five shots on goal.
