We know you love betting the NFL and NBA — and Portfolio EV users are certainly making money doing that — but sometimes you have to branch out a bit if you want to maximize your chances of long-term profitability. And this year, the NHL betting market has been one of the most lucrative for Portfolio EV. Let’s dive into the early NHL EV results from Portfolio EV’s betting tools, your ultimate resource for profitable NHL betting this season.
All NHL EV Results: These Markets Are Some of the Most Profitable
Here are the EV results for all NHL bets that populate with an OS Rating of at least 2. These results encompass all sportsbooks, timeframes, expected win ranges, EV ranges and odds ranges:
Overall, our NHL bets with a passable OS Rating in the betting tools are returning a jaw-dropping 6.1% ROI. To put that into perspective, if you had tailed every one of these bets at the recommended bet size, you’d be up $135,552 on NHL betting alone this season!
Of course, some portfolios outperform others based on sportsbook, market and timing. The above EV results also factor in bets placed as far as a week ahead of time. However, since the NHL is a nightly league, it’s often more insightful to narrow the timeframe.
Here are the EV results for NHL bets restricted to two hours before puck drop, sorted by the highest ROI so you can identify the best-performing portfolios. These also use an OS Rating of 2 or higher:
While some of these results have smaller samples (fewer than 100 bets), these numbers provide strong signals about the profitability of certain markets — particularly assist and save props. As the season progresses, these results will stabilize, but the early returns are promising.
Let’s look at which sportsbooks provide the best returns on NHL bets. These results use OS Ratings of 2 or better and are restricted to bets placed two hours before puck drop:
Most sportsbooks we track are yielding positive ROI early in the NHL season (Fliff, as usual is more efficient with its odds, and Caesars, surprisingly, is also very -EV). However, the range of ROI varies significantly across sportsbooks. For example, ESPN BET has had 1,709 bets with an OS Rating of at least 2 two hours before game time and delivered a strong 10.2% ROI. In contrast, BetRivers has had over 7,000 qualifying bets and gave us a decent but less exciting 2.1% ROI.
This highlights why it’s critical to build portfolios with the best sportsbooks, markets and other criteria to figure out what is giving you the best chance to be a profitable NHL bettor. Luckily, we have a guide to building sports betting portfolios that takes you step by step through the process.
Ultimately, about a third of the way through the NHL season, the NHL EV results demonstrate the effectiveness of Portfolio EV. And now the sample sizes are large enough that you can count on this profitability to sustain at least to some degree.
That said, don’t start planning your Stanley Cup parade just yet because you’re up 3.4% on bet365 NHL bets this year — sports betting is a marathon, not a sprint — or even a 5K. Still, these EV results are strong and making NHL novices like Greg Ehrenberg and Dave Loughran a lot of money this season.
