In what feels like no time at all, the National Hockey League is just a few days away from its opening night, with the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils kicking off the 2024/25 season in Czechia on Friday and Saturday. Granted, it’s a bit of a mixed schedule, with those teams starting their regular season while others are still playing their preseason, but the rest of the league will begin following suit in their home rinks in less than a week.
With that in mind, final rosters are being set, and perhaps most important for many teams is figuring out who will start in goal on opening night. As such, bet365 has begun taking bets on who will sit between the pipes for a few teams’ season debuts.
| Team | Starter | Odds | Backup | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buffalo Sabres | Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen | -400 | Devon Levi | +300 |
| Seattle Kraken | Joey Daccord | -130 | Philipp Grubauer | +100 |
| St. Louis Blues | Jordan Binnington | -600 | Joel Hofler | +400 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Petr Mrazek | -600 | Arvid Soderblom | +400 |
| Utah Hockey Club | Connor Ingram | -1000 | Karel Vejmelka | +600 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Joseph Woll | -1000 | Anthony Stolarz | +600 |
| Calgary Flames | Dustin Wolf | -1000 | Daniel Vladar | +600 |
| Detroit Red Wings | Alex Lyon | -110 | Cam Talbot | -110 |
| Minnesota Wild | Filip Gustavsson | -1000 | Marc-Andre Fleury | +600 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Frederik Andersen | -145 | Pyotr Kotchetkov | +115 |
| Washington Capitals | Charlie Lindgren | -190 | Logan Thompson | +155 |
Many of these bets are heavily lopsided towards teams’ starters from last year, or the younger goalies whose futures the team has made room for over the summer. There are a few close battles here, however.
- Seattle Kraken – I’d be taking the -130 pricetag on Joey Daccord starting this game pretty quickly if it were me. Daccord had the lion’s share of starts last year (50 GP to Grubauer’s 36), the much better save percentage (.916 SV% to Grubauer’s .899), and while preseason statistics don’t mean a lot, he’s also been better in exhibition play. There’s no convincing reason for this to be a tossup.
- Detriot Red Wings – This is an interesting one. Talbot had the better 2023/24 in just about every measurable way, but he’s the new vet on the block. Lyon was Detroit’s starter last year, so the team may show some loyalty. It’s a pick’em between the two, but the Wings are also the team with the most available options on the table – you can also pick Ville Husso (+3300), Sebastian Cossa (+5000), or Jack Campbell (+6600).
- Carolina Hurricanes – A battle of two regulars here, as Pyotor Kotchekov is clearly the Canes’ goalie of the future, and last year, he was their goalie for much of the present, playing a team-high 42 games and putting up above-average results. But much of that opportunity came from Frederik Andersen missing time to a blood clot. Andersen was their guy once he was healthy, both in the late regular season and playoffs. It wouldn’t be a shock to see them go back to him once more.
- Washington Capitals – Similar to Detroit, there’s an old boss / new boss situation happening here. This one’s another tough one – the upside seems more likely to be with Logan Thompson, who the team acquired from Vegas this summer, but Charlie Lindgren dragged the Caps into the playoffs kicking and screaming last year. Lindgren’s one preseason appearance was, frankly, awful, allowing six goals on 25 shots against. Is that enough to pivot Washington to the new guy on Day 1?
Among the underdogs, the one that would interest me the most is Marc-Andre Fleury in Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson is the goalie of their future and that future could come as early as this season, given their 40/45 split last year and Gustavsson’s slightly better results. But with it being known that this is Fleury’s last season, it’s possible that sentiment plays a factor here and they give him one last opening night start. Columbus isn’t a super strong opening night opponent, and it’s certainly not to the point where you have to fear using a similarly-talented backup, so I could see a pivot here.
Worth keeping in mind before bets are placed is the fact that health can change in a hurry over the last few preseason games, especially as players are ramping themselves back up to game shape. Some teams, like St. Louis, have as many as three preseason games remaining on their schedule, leaving room for a lot to happen.
Also interesting here is that bet365 didn’t include the most interesting goaltending situation of all in their betting list, in the Boston Bruins. Jeremy Swayman’s contract dispute has captivated the league, as the Bruins and Swayman’s representation have escalated to a public battlefield in negotiations. Can they get things sorted before next Tuesday, or will it be Joonas Korpisalo’s crease to start the year?
To stay up to date with the league’s tendies throughout the season, our friends at Daily Faceoff remain the best resource for NHL starting goaltenders.
