The NHL’s free agency frenzy begins on Tuesday, July 1, at noon ET. It is the biggest day of the hockey offseason, and the last real chance for teams to fundamentally change their roster before training camps open in September.
That makes the next 24 hours crucial for bettors looking to get the best of the number before everything changes after all the best free agents find new homes.
And while this year’s pool of free agents isn’t deep, there are a couple of stars at the top of the list who could drastically change their new team’s outlook for the 2025-26 season.
With that in mind, we’ve highlighted a few teams that may be worth betting now, three months before the season starts, because their price is only going to go in one direction between now and October.
Vegas Golden Knights (12/1, FanDuel)
Always aggressive in courting big names, the Vegas Golden Knights are among the favorites to land Mitch Marner, the biggest free agent since John Tavares hit the market in 2018.
Marner is a production machine, posting 383 points in his last 302 regular-season games. That’s good enough for a 104-point pace over 82 contests.
Injecting Marner into a top-six that already features Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl, Mark Stone, and Pavel Dorofeyev would make the Knights the best team in the Western Conference.
Don’t be shocked if Vegas, which currently boasts the sixth-shortest odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, goes into the new season as the consensus betting favorite.
St. Louis Blues (50/1, bet365)
One of the most surprising stories in the NHL last season was the emergence of the St. Louis Blues in the second half of the season under new head coach Jim Montgomery.
A playoff long shot by the time the league paused for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Blues turned things around and finished the campaign on a 19-4-3 run.
The Blues are projected to go into July 1 with just over $5 million in cap space, but they’re expected to put Torey Krug on LTIR, which would open up another $6.5 million.
St. Louis isn’t expected to be a major player when it comes to the high-end free agents, but their roster is in decent shape, so they just need to fill a few holes. The Blues could use another top-four defenseman, and they will need a middle-six center.
Players like Mikael Granlund, Dante Fabbro, Ivan Provorov, or Nick Perbix would be of great use for the Blues, and they would solidify a roster that’s already in terrific shape.
St. Louis is flying under the radar right now, but I expect the Blues to become a trendy pick as we get closer to puck drop. Now is the time to strike.
Detroit Red Wings (100/1, bet365)
It’s been a long, painful rebuild for the Detroit Red Wings, but things should get better in a hurry in MoTown.
Not only do the Wings have some terrific young players already on the roster, but top prospects Axel Sandin Pellikka, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, and Nate Danielson are knocking on the door and should plug some of the holes on this roster.
Those three won’t turn the Wings into a contender on their own, but they’ll raise the ceiling of this roster considerably, while also leaving general manager Steve Yzerman plenty of cap space to address some holes at the top of the lineup.
The Wings are expected to be interested in flashy winger Nikolaj Ehlers and steady defenseman Aaron Ekblad, while also having an outside shot of landing Mitch Marner.
Any of those three would be a big addition to the Wings, who will also benefit from the Atlantic Division opening up with the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs trending in the wrong direction.
Detroit won’t go into the season priced as a contender, but this number could get slashed considerably if Yzerman makes the right moves this summer.
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Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
