The NHL Draft is upon us after a stressful season of betting. The Florida Panthers have made their ascension into immortality after winning the Stanley Cup in a legendary seven-game series—one hard-fought battle that will forever be engraved into NHL lore. The Panthers recently cemented their triumph by celebrating with the tens of fans who attended the “eventful” victory parade. (No, we’re not bitter. Yes, we really wanted to see Canada take the win).
Meanwhile, the rest of the league is preparing for the NHL Draft with the hopes of one day achieving the same thing. For NHL front offices and the players they’ll be drafting, the fairytale beginning of their NHL Draft journey starts at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 28th. Subsequently, that means Canadian sportsbooks are at the ready with the sharpest NHL Draft betting odds.
Macklin Celebrini First Overall Pick
NHL Draft 2024/25 @ The Sphere in Las Vegas, June 28 – 29th
In a venue that should one day host a Pink Floyd reunion concert (if the old buggers could ever stop beefing), the NHL’s stars of tomorrow will get their new homes. It’s almost guaranteed that the San Jose Sharks will draft centre Macklin Celebrini from Boston University as the first overall pick in the NHL Draft. What happens after will be a whole other story.
The 2024 draft class will almost certainly contain some sleepers, massive disappointments, and players who come to terms with their professional hockey mortalities before they can even start playing. That said, if you’re reading this page, you’re probably not worried about the storylines; you’re more focused on the NHL Draft betting odds. Luckily, Canada Sports Betting has you covered fully and completely. We’ll give out a best bet or two from experts who know their stuff. But wait, there’s more! CSB will you the low down on the specific NHL draft betting markets and where to find the best odds.
NHL Draft Betting Picks & Predictions
If you’re just stumbling across CSB for the first time, let’s quickly walk you through what we do. Along with reviewing sportsbooks and keeping readers in touch with the latest news around all the major sports leagues, we also make some betting predictions. We’re ever so humble, so we don’t want to say we’re the best. As Stephen King once said, “show, don’t tell.”
That said, if you’re a true OG reader, you know CSB doesn’t mess around. We kick butt and take names by finding edges and exploiting them. That’ll once again be the strategy for our NHL Draft betting picks. Remember, this is for entertainment purposes only. If you follow CSB’s best bets, please gamble responsibly.
Check out the post below for some of our favourite NHL Draft bets, in addition to a few fun options listed below.
NHL Draft Pick 1: Michael Brandsegg-Nygård Draft Position Under 15.5 (-105 odds at BET99)
When it comes to NHL Draft odds, you can usually get a good bang for your buck messing around with the “draft position” markets, especially in a wide-open draft like this year’s.
Some people might be saying, “Who the fook is that guy?” but Brandsegg-Nygård is set to be a history-making selection, potentially being the first Norwegian player to ever be drafted in the first round. Tons of mock drafts have this kid going between 16th to 21st overall, with insiders saying his most likely landing spot is with the St. Louis Blues. That’s a good guess, but let’s be real: The Detroit Red Wings should be all over this talented forward with the 15th overall pick.
The Red Wings need a good all-around forward who can slot in anywhere throughout their line combinations. Brandsegg-Nygård can do exactly that. He’s a team player who backchecks well, hits hard and finds ways to put pucks in the back of the net. No BS — MBN would be an instant fan favourite like Dan McCarty was, and still is, to this day.
NHL Draft Pick 2: Zayne Parekh 3rd Overall Pick (+3000 odds at SIA)
Okay, we get it; this is one heck of a long shot. You might be saying, I may as well buy a lottery ticket. Hold your horses — the Anaheim Ducks, who own the third overall pick, have a fixation with offensive defensemen. At least, in the past they did. Most places have Anton Silayev, an intriguing defenseman who has the ability to be a menace for years to come, going in this spot. Nevertheless, Parekh is a legit stud.
He lit the OHL on fire playing for Saginaw. Honestly, Parekh gives us Scott Niedermayer vibes, and the folks at Elite Prospects have made the case for him to be the next Quinn Hughes. Who’s to say the Ducks don’t take a chance on him? Of course, it would be a super risky roll of the dice, but the risk versus reward ratio in our books makes it worth it for bettors and Ducks General Manager Pat Verbee alike.
For those wondering, a $10 bet would net you $660 in profit.
Popular NHL Draft Betting Markets & Trends
Okay, you’ve heard what we like. Now, let’s do a brief rundown on how specific NHL Draft betting markets work, what sportsbooks offer decent value for the said markets, and maybe sprinkle in some strategy along the way.
1. NHL Draft First Overall Pick Odds
Out of all the markets, the “NHL Draft First Overall Pick” is by far the most popular. Most, if not all, the sportsbooks are offering Macklin Celebrini (-2000 odds at bet365) at very steep odds. Although the market is popular, there’s not a ton of value in 2024. Essentially, with this particular market, you’re betting on who will be drafted first overall. There’s not much more to it.
NHL Draft First Overall Pick Odds
2. NHL Draft Position Betting Odds
Our first bet that we discussed above utilized this market. We found that the way these bets are worded can trip some people up, so let’s explain that first. When you bet on “NHL Draft Position,” you’re wagering on whether the player will go higher or lower than a certain position.
With our bet above, we’re betting that:
- Michael Brandsegg-Nygård will be drafted under the 15.5.
- In other words, MBN has to be drafted 15th overall or lower for our bet to win.
- If he gets selected at 16th overall, we would lose because the draft position is higher than 15.5.
In terms of value, books like to keep things pretty sharp, so you might not find varying prices with MBN unless a book wants to give out a five-cent discount to outdo a competitor. We usually like to monitor three books for this market: Bet99, Sports Interaction, and bet365.
For those who don’t know, bet365 has a reputation for being a sharper book that changes lines quickly to adjust when profitable gamblers place bets. If bet365 is hanging a chalky number on the Over/Under for a player’s draft position and SIA offers a more reasonable price, you might want to look deeper into the play. The same can be said for the other markets we’ll discuss.
NHL Draft Position Betting Odds
3. NHL First Player Drafted Odds
The easiest way to look at this market is like it’s a moneyline. You’re betting on who gets drafted first out of the two options. Right now, a very popular matchup both the squares and sharps are targeting is:
- Liam Greentree (-105 odds at Bet99)
- Versus Trevor Connelly (-130 odds at Bet99).
Essentially, if we sided with the sharps and grabbed Connelly, and he gets drafted at any point before Greentree, no matter the round he gets drafted in, we’re fabulously rich. If Greentree gets the nod before our boy Connelly, tough stuff, we’re eating an L.
NHL First Player Drafted Odds
Top NHL Draft Betting Sites in Canada
To save you the trouble of finding the best sportsbooks on the market, we’ll list a few sportsbooks here that we know and trust to give you the best NHL Draft betting experience.
BET99 NHL Draft Betting
Bet99 has a pretty decent offering for this year’s draft. Usually, they’ll be one of the first to have markets out during the start of the NHL Draft Combine or slightly later. Currently, they’re not offering a first overall pick market, but the book promotes similar markets like second overall pick, third overall, etc. Not to mention a market where you can predict the correct order of who gets picked through the second overall to the fourth overall pick, with some eye-catching odds. Don’t worry, Bet99 offers draft position and first player drafted markets. Plus, they’ll boost some special markets that vary from province to province.
Sports Interaction NHL Draft Betting
Sports Interaction (SIA) will be more or less offering the same betting selection as the other books on this list for NHL Draft betting odds. They can lay some competitive prices in the draft position markets, but that’ll require you to monitor market changes as we get closer to the draft. In 2024, SIA has some decent specials markets, including one that asks bettors to wager on who the Montreal Canadiens will take with their first pick. At the time of this writing, SIA’s leading choice is Ivan Demidov at +170, followed by Cayden Lindstrom at odds of +240 and Beckett Sennecke at +275.
Betway NHL Draft Betting
Betway is a book that doesn’t get much lip service regarding their NHL Draft offerings. That said, they’re not all that bad, especially with Betway’s first round specials markets. There’s been a ton of talk regarding all the intriguing European players, but there are also a lot of Canadian boys who could get taken in the first round. Want to have a reason to cheer ’em on? Look no further than the “20+ Canadians to be drafted in the first round” specials market at odds of +250.
bet365 NHL Draft Betting
As we mentioned earlier, bet365 is what we like to call a “market-setting” sportsbook. When bet365 rolls out its lines, other books usually follow suit or try to one-up the operator. Along with offering everything that you’d expect a sportsbook to shill out for the NHL Draft, such as draft position, the first player drafted, and overall pick markets, you can catch some nice numbers in bet365’s specials market. Bet99 offers 20+ Canadians to be drafted in the first round at odds of +250. For a slightly chalkier price, you can take Over 15.5 Canadians drafted in the first round at odds of roughly -111 through bet365. It’s tough to beat that price.
2024 NHL Draft Lottery Results
The NHL Draft Lottery odds have gotten slimmer over the years to discourage teams from intentionally tanking to get a high draft pick. Luckily, for us fans, that makes things way more interesting. Fortunately for the San Jose Sharks in 2024, they didn’t get screwed over like other teams who’ve had the top odds to secure the first overall pick. The balls fell in their favour. As the old saying goes, “The rest was history.”
If you’re a bettor, the NHL Draft Lottery can offer a lot of value. It’s not entirely out of the question that the team with the third-best odds to secure the top pick in the draft ends up getting lucky. Food for thought when thinking about the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery and beyond.
NHL Draft Betting FAQs
As always, this kind of question largely depends on where the individual player is residing when making the bet. The legality of wagering on NHL Draft betting odds is much like betting on any other market. As long as the online provider is licensed, then the market is legal.
NHL Draft betting is a market that offers a great range of betting options to players, but it’s difficult to claim one sportsbook which excels compared to others. Each provider offers its own unique package, which will suit certain bettors more than others. Shop around, find the right book for you.
The answer to this kind of question is the same for all sports betting markets. If you’re wagering with knowledge of the market, then you’re more likely to turn a profit. But at the same time, be responsible and don’t risk beyond your means.
This really depends. If you feel that the odds are favorable, within a field of players potentially making the pick position you’re wagering on, then this is probably a decent bet. However, if the odds are lopsided and the favorite offers no value, then don’t.
Much like many other Draft betting markets, such as the NFL, NBA and MLB, this the start of the season and is of great interest to many sports fans.
There are seven rounds in the 2024 NHL Draft.
The first round of the NHL Draft will take place on Friday, June 23rd, at 7 PM EST/4 PM PST. Rounds two through seven will start on June 29 at 11:30 AM EST/8:30 AM PST.
The NHL Draft takes place at The Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The favourite to go first overall is the talented centre Macklin Celebrini at the current odds of -2000.
