NHL Picks

Free Expert NHL picks throughout the 2025/26 NHL season. We crunch the numbers, analyze the data, and provide free NHL picks every day of the regular season and throughout the NHL Playoffs and Stanley Cup Finals.

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7:37 PM ET

Today

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Maple Leafs

Blue Jackets

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Money Line Pick

CLB Blue Jackets Win(-115)

Reasoning

After a jammed-packed Wednesday night, we have one game on the schedule today: The Toronto Maple Leafs against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Maple Leafs are a very fun team to watch; they score a lot of goals and give up even more. That’s not a great way to win hockey games, but it makes it fun for the fans. The Leafs have yet to win a game on the road, but does that change tonight?

The Blue Jackets last season were one of the best teams on home ice, but that success has not followed them into this season. They are 1-3-0 on home ice, but they have won 4 of their last 5 games and are averaging close to 34 shots a night. One of their downsides is their penalty kill, operating at just 63%. They aren’t an undisciplined hockey team, but if they give Toronto too many opportunities, it will come back to bite them. The clear edge in this matchup is in goal. Elvis Merzlikins has been very good this season, and he should be able to outduel Cayden Primeau, who is likely to start for the Maple Leafs. We’ll take Columbus to come away with the win.

Leafs vs Blue Jackets prediction: Blue Jackets ML (-115) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number or better.

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Christopher Morais

Your Home For Free NHL Expert Picks For The 2025/26 Season

At Pickswise we have expert NHL picks for all of the top NHL action throughout the 2025/26 season. We crunch the numbers, analyze the data, and provide the best free NHL expert picks every day. The NHL is an exciting sport to wager on and there are plenty of opportunities for wins during the bumper 2025/26 NHL season.

Lots of hockey is to be played before we find out who the next Stanley Cup champions will be. Check out all things hockey, every day of the season with our free NHL picks and analysis.

How Do I Get NHL Picks For Today’s Games?

NHL Picks are most similar to MLB Picks, in that the most popular NHL wagering is done via the Money line (ML) where a bettor simply picks a winner or loser of the game finding value in the price. Just like an MLB pitcher, NHL game lines are determined largely by the goaltender matchup. You’re going to pay a premium price (-180 or more) for putting in an NHL free pick on a solid goaltender – but it’s one position that can win or lose the bet for you. Fatigue is also a factor in finding the best NHL picks as Team A may be playing their first game in a week while Team B is in their 3rd contest in 5 nights.

We try to post our NHL picks for today at least 24 hours in advance. However, due to the huge volume of games, this can sometimes be impossible if teams are playing back-to-back games. We want to get our picks up as close as possible to the opening lines so we can get on the early line value, but team news and research is always key to making the best possible NHL Picks.

NHL Picks Against the Spread

NHL betting has a 1.5-goal spread known as the puck line (PL). Again just like baseball betting has the run line (-1.5). NHL wagers are exciting until the very last second of the game as teams often pull their goaltender near the end to get an extra skater on the ice. All of a sudden an empty-net goal pushes your NHL free pick to victory – or defeat. Betting on the puck line provides better payout odds and NHL picks against the spread can also be pushed to higher numbers such as -2.5 or 3.5 goals for an even better return on investment.

Free NHL Over / Under Picks

Most games are listed right around 5.5 goals in the NHL. The total number of goals is the total of combined goals by both teams and you can either select over or under the total. If the line is 5.5 and you wish to wager on the over then the total combined goals for the game must be 6 or more for you to cash your ticket.

NHL over/under betting is an interesting wager. A huge factor to take into consideration is the goaltenders as they have a huge part to play in influencing the number of goals in the game. A goaltender’s Goals Against Average (GAA) is a key stat to measure the effectiveness of a goaltender.

NHL Consensus Picks

NHL Consensus Picks is a way of saying the popular pick or often referred to as a public pick. What this actually means is where the majority of the bets are being placed. If we’re looking at Money Line markets, for example, if 70% of the tickets are on the Pittsburgh Penguins to beat the New York Islanders, then the Penguins are the consensus pick for that game. Bettors can use this in their research or check possible line moves in the lead-up to a game.

Ice Hockey Betting Picks

Our ice hockey betting picks will typically follow and feature on the NHL season with picks and Predictions available all season long. Our experts will be primed and ready in times of Olympic years and select other competitions throughout the year too. Our ice hockey picks, as expected will include picks on the money line, puck line, totals, and several player and team Hockey Prop Bets

Hockey Computer Picks

With so many hockey games played each season, analytics, lineups, and small changes can make a huge difference in a matchup. These are just some of the reasons why bettors may opt to use or consider hockey computer picks, as a metric that can be rid of human bias, and offer a solely data-driven analytical look at a matchup, betting markets, and projections.

Free Hockey Picks Today

Here at Pickswise, our hockey handicappers bring you all of the top action, picks, and previews of today’s best NHL matches today. We offer free hockey picks all season, right through until the Stanley Cup Finals themselves. Each match will have an expert hockey pick on the Puck Line, Money Line, and Goals totals, accompanied with detailed analysis and stats. Check out all of our free hockey picks today.

More Than Just NHL Picks

We also specialize in every major North American sport including the following throughout their respective seasons so check out the links below for our top plays right now.