NHL

Odds Legend

Puckline (Point spread) - also known as a Canadian line or hockey point spread, it is generally thought of as the predicted margin of victory for one team. In reality, it's a number chosen by the oddsmaker that he feels will encourage an equal number of people to wager on the hockey underdog and the hockey favorite. The negative value -1.5 indicates that team must win by two or more goals. If the team wins 3-2 on the puckline, they still lose and must win 4-2 to cover the puckline. The positive value +1.5 indicates that team is the underdog by 1.5 goals and can lose 3-2 and still win.

Moneyline – common form of hockey wagering which replaces the point spread. The team you choose only has to win the game, not win by a certain number of goals. The negative value still indicates the favorite (-150) and the positive value indicates the underdog (+130). It's easiest to picture the number 100 sitting in the middle of these two values. For example, if you want to bet a -150 favorite, you would wager $150 in order to win $100. On the underdog, you would risk $100 and win $130 if the underdog wins. It's a simple way to have the risk-reward scenario.

Total – also widely referred to as the over/under is the predicted number of points oddsmakers believe will be scored in the game by both teams combined. In hockey, the total is typically between 5 and 6 as the most common average goal output is 5-7 per game. In totals betting, you are predicting whether the combined total score will be more than or less than the total.

Futures – wagers made in predicting an event in the future like next year's Stanley Cup final. Oddsmakers produce lines during the year, depending on the strength or weakness of teams, then offer wagers on each team to win. For example, a league's top team may be +150 to win the championship. That means a $100 wager would pay $150 profit. However, a poor team might be +3000, indicating they are not expected to win and a $100 would pay $3,000 as a huge longshot.