A New Ice Age Begins: What Makes the 2025/26 NHL Season Different

It’s that time of the year. No, it’s not Christmas. But, for all fans of hockey the news that the 2025/26 NHL season kicked off sounds about right. While you could argue that the early games have low stakes, and low excitement levels, we beg to differ. With the entire offseason behind us, and one of the best leagues having its start we’re more than excited.

What we’re trying to say is that this season is going to be different than any of the previous ones. True fans say this every year, but this year’s NHL truly does have some major differences compared to some past, and the next season of the National Hockey League. So, walk with us as we talk about what’s going to be different, spiced with a few expert betting picks and predictions for NHL Season ahead of us.  Let’s start with another major event in the world of hockey that is not on schedule every year.

2026 Winter Olympics

That’s right. The 2025/26 NHL season will have a three week break in February. The 2026 Olympics are on schedule from Friday, February 6th, to Sunday, February 22nd. The games will be staged in Milano Cortina, Italy. During the Olympics, the 2025/26 NHL season will be paused. The news is already well known, as the league decided to cancel all of their mid season events that are usually on schedule in February. At the end of the day many NHL superstars come from abroad and take a lot of pride in representing their homeland. Many of them have already been selected as their level means that their selection for the national team, is secured, and we’re mostly talking about stars such as Sam Bennett, Sidney Crosby, Mitch Marner, Charlie McAvoy, Tkachuk brothers, William Eklund, Aleksander Barkov, Leon Draisaitl, Erik Cernak, Roman Josi, and David Kampf.

While these players have their spots almost secured, there are still many open spots across the rosters of all nations participating. With the 2026 Winter Olympics having three groups, four teams each, there are twelve teams participating. Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Italy, United States, Germany, Latvia, and Denmark have secured their spots. What’s not secured are all spots on the rosters of these nations. Because of that, the players playing in the NHL will have an additional motive to play their best game in addition to fighting for playoff spots and eventually the Stanley Cup. This is something to have in mind especially if you plan to bet on hockey. So do not be surprised when there’s something odd with the NHL betting odds come Olympics time.

The Last 82 Game Season

More good news. This is the last season that is going to have 82 regular season games. Starting from next year, the schedule will have two more games. The switch from 82 to 84 is coming after an agreement between  the league and Players’ Association. The new labor deal is a collective bargaining agreement and it was widely accepted by all parties involved. Other aspects agreed in the new deal are the shortened length of a max contract, and salary cap designed for playoffs. With the new format and the 84 games season the full number in the year will grow to 1.344 total games. With the number of regular season games growing, the number of exhibition ones will be lowered to only four on the season. The best part of the increased number of the games, in addition to a better hockey betting market on Stake.com, is  also the fact that the added games will be played inside the division. You can already rejoice  at more fights between Boston and Toronto, Dallas and Colorado, or Pittsburgh and Washington.

The schedule we have in power now has some teams only playing their divisional rivals three times a year. This inequality will be gone, and the NHL will once again try their luck with an 84 game season as they’ve already experimented with the format way back in 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons.

2025/26 NHL Rule Changes

New league season, new rules. Hockey is evolving, and each season we’re greeted with some new addition by the league officials. The new CBA brought forth many changes. One of the major ones is the change to how teams can use the long term injured reserve. According to the new CBA the teams will now receive a limited cap space when a player is put on the LTIR. The averages compared to the season’s salary between this year and the last one will differ. Because of this change the teams will no longer be able to put players on the LTIR during the regular season, get cap relief, rest the star player, and have him gearing up for the playoffs. So if  a player is on long term injury reserve, and his entire salary is ducked, he will not be eligible for the playoffs.

Furthermore, the new CBA has done plenty of favours to players. The biggest one is a relaxed  dress code for the next season. The players will no longer be forced to wear jackets and ties when travelling for games. There were a few more tweaks to the rules and NHL customs, but nothing that will drastically change the league short term.

There Will Not be a Three Peat

No, this is not a prediction, but simply stating the facts. The Florida Panthers were eager to start the year strong and show their hunger for more success. Yet, they will simply not be able to make it. It is not the fact that there was no three peat since 1980-1983 with the New York Islanders. It is more about their current roster, and the injury to Panthers starting center Aleksander Barkov. Their misfortune doesn’t stop there either. In addition to Barkov, the team is also missing Tomas Nosek and Matthew Tkachuk. While Panthers do have depth, missing these players for major chunks of the season, and having Barkov missing its entirety is a blow no team could overcome. The end of the 2025/26 NHL season will be different than the previous two, as the Florida Panthers will not be the champions after taking home the Stanley Cup on the last two occasions. If you take a look at their standings, and  a 4-4 record after eight games, you can already tell that their three peat bid doesn’t look promising from the get go. Now that we’ve said this, you’re probably wondering, who do we have as early NHL favorites for the 2025/26 season. Here they are:

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers are our number one pick. At the moment, the Edmonton franchise is not playing all too well, but it is only a matter of time before their engine gets fine tuned, or should we say, oiled up? Their biggest strength comes from their attacking prowess and the addition of  Jack Roslovic will only make them better. The best part is that they got stronger by making their Stanley Cup Rivals, Carolina Hurricanes weaker. With their odds being set at +800 this is the right moment to make a wager on the Oilers.

Vegas Golden Knights

The odds for Vegas Golden Knights are also set at +800, but we place them at the position No2 as far as the Stanley Cup favorites go. The LV franchise has had an early taste of success and they are eager to have some more. The franchise is well run, and you can say that again after you take a look at the $108  million, eight year deal they’ve signed with Jack Eichel. Having your center all set and ready to go can make all the difference, and if you don’t trust us go ask the Florida Panthers if it’s true.

Colorado Avalanche

Many people have had the Avalanche dropping down in rankings especially after their starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was injured. Yet, this is where a team’s depth comes into play. So far, Colorado’s backup keeper Scott Wedgewood has been stellar. It is a sign that if you plan to win in the NHL you need depth. The Avalanche certainly has it, and with the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Martin Necas running the show, the franchise can go far this year, especially with some of the major rivals out of the way. At their odds being set at +850 they’re not the worst wager you can make this October.

Carolina Hurricanes

The ambition runs high in Carolina, but it relies on the speed with which Nikolaj Ehlers can adapt to his new team. He was brought in due to the fact that he works the best when a team has no standout scorer. Hurricanes are one of the top teams in the league when it comes to scoring by committee, and Ehlers first set their agenda perfectly. As soon as he is on the same wavelength as Sebastian Aho, Andrei Scechnikov, and Seth Jarvis, Hurricanes will be one tough team to handle for the rest of the NHL. Their odds to win the trophy come the end of the year stand at +850.

Dallas Stars

The Stars will have to prove that the Dallas franchises are not cursed, after decades of Cowboys’ failing to reach the Super Bowl and the fiasco of the Luka Doncic trade committed by the Mavericks. Bookmakers believe they can do it by having their odds to win the Stanley Cup set at +900. The Stars are one of the top five teams in the league. They just need to prove it game in and game out, and to be there when the Stanley Cup final is played.  The team relies on the Finnish firepower of Mikko Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen who are seen as the team’s best players, and the great Jake Oettinger.

Now that we’ve given you an idea on who to bet when it comes to the 2025/26 NHL teams  and their chances of winning the Stanley Cup, let us walk you through the major NHL types of bets.

Types of Ice Hockey Bets

Don’t worry, it’s straightforward. Let’s start with the easiest one:

• Moneyline: With moneyline, you must guess the match winner in order to win. Making an overtime bet doesn’t take into account the Overtime.
• Puck line bets: If you’re into sports betting, but haven’t tried out hockey yet, puck line bets are like handicaps betting or spread betting in other sports. Let’s say that you have the Carolina Hurricanes as 2.5 favorites against the Detroit Red Wings, it means that Hurricanes have to win the match by 3 or more goals.
• Futures: A form of long term bets. These are in essence outright bets. Like wagering on the Dallas Stars to win the Stanley Cup, or placing a bet on Nikita Kucherov winning the Ted Lindsay Trophy, or Alexander Ovechkin winning the Art Ross Trophy for most points scored throughout the regular season.
• Prop betting: Here you have player props and team props. It is a simple wager on let’s say a goaltender having more than 5 saves, or a player taking less than 5 shots in a quarter. In essence you pick an over/under bet on a designed betting market.
• Parlays: With parlays is where the fun starts. You pick different wagers, and you can take all from the above, and combine them into one betting slip. The odds are great this way, hard to guess right, but also could make you rich with the smallest wager if all legs go through.
• Totals betting: In essence you wager on the number of goals scored during a duel. If the goal line is set at 6.5 goals, the teams need to score 7 goals combined in order for you to win the wager. This wager is ideal for both seasoned betting professionals, and rookies alike, but especially for those who are in love with stats.

The 2025/26 season will have many new things, but also plenty of good old hockey. With matches being played almost every day throughout the week, it is an ideal sport for the fans,  viewers and the bettors alike.