NHL Pick’em: How to Play

SportsMillions is the home of NHL Fantasy Pick’em, where you can play to win real money by making higher/lower predictions on the latest hockey games. On this page we are going to give you an in-depth guide to playing hockey pick’em, including all of the different over/under markets and the league average stats.

We will get things going with a simple guide to signing up with SportsMillions to play Hockey Pick’em.

How to Play NHL Pick’em for Real Money

Here is your step-by-step guide to creating an account with SportsMillions and getting started with NHL DFS Pick’em.

1. Create a free SportsMillions account in minutes.
2. Claim your Pick’em welcome offer from the promotions page.
3. Deposit funds to your account by credit/debit card.
4. Choose real money Pick’em if it is available in your state.
5. Select NHL from the list of sports available.
6. Choose teams or players.
7. Make Higher/Lower picks: a minimum of 2 picks to a maximum of 12 for a x1500 payout.
8. Go to My Entries to follow your picks live after the games start.
9. If your picks win then your SportsMillions account will be credited automatically.

Higher/Lower NHL Pick’em Options

When you play Fantasy Hockey Pick’em at SportsMillions you get to choose from a number of different stats, not all of which will be available for every player. You will see one of the features below next to a number, and will have to pick whether you think the player or team will score higher or lower than that number.

To help you out, we are going to go through each of these fantasy stats, and give you an idea of the average scores per player position over the course of the past regular NHL season.

Assists: Over/Under

An assist in hockey is when a player contributes directly to the scoring of a goal by a teammate, without the defense breaking up the play in between the assist and the score. This table shows you that the center is likely to notch most of these, with more assists coming from the right than the left wing.

Position	Average Assists per Game
Center	0.31
Right Wing	0.30
Left Wing	0.28
Defenseman	0.27

Goals: Over/Under

The Goals stat is pretty self-explanatory. Clearly a defenseman is much less likely to score than a forward, but that’s not really telling you anything you don’t already know! During the 2023-2024 NHL regular season, the average goals per game by position were as follows:

Position	Average Goals per Game
Center	0.30
Right Wing	0.28
Left Wing	0.27
Defenseman	0.10

Points: Over/Under

Points scored per game is the combination of goals and assists a player makes in a game. Each counts equally, so for example if a player scores 2 goals and makes 1 assist their points total is 3. Here is how the average points per game scores went last season, according to position:

Position	Average Points per Game
Center	0.61
Right Wing	0.58
Left Wing	0.55
Defenseman	0.37

Power Play Points: Over/Under

A Power Play occurs when one team has more skaters on the ice than the other, normally because the second team has penalized players sitting on the bench waiting to come back on. Power Play Points are any goals or assists made during a power play, with both goals and assists counting for 1 apiece.

Position	Average Power-Play Points per Game
Center	0.15
Right Wing	0.14
Left Wing	0.13
Defenseman	0.10

Saves: Over/Under

No need to show you a table for this stat, as clearly goaltenders are the only players of interest for this stat. To give you a guide, we can tell you that during the 2023-2024 NHL regular season, goaltenders averaged approximately 25.52 saves per game.

During that same regular season, Lukáš Dostál of the Anaheim Ducks set a franchise record by making an incredible 55 saves in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 3, 2024.

Shots on Goal: Over/Under

A Shot on Goal is counted when a shot which would otherwise have gone into the net is blocked by a goaltender. Wides and shots blocked by a defenseman do not count towards this stat, and neither do shots which hit the frame of the goal.

Position	Average Shots on Goal per Game
Center	2.5
Right Wing	2.3
Left Wing	2.2
Defenseman	1.5

Playing NFL Fantasy Pick’em at SportsMillions

At SportsMillions you will find pick’em options for every regular and post-season game over the course of the NHL season. We’ve outlined above how to create your account and make your picks – and don’t forget that you can mix and match your pick’em sports, meaning you can include baseball, basketball, football and soccer picks alongside your hockey selections. Bear in mind though, that you can only add one player per hockey team to your list of selections.

Our team of US sports writers will have NHL previews for you ahead of all the big games, where they direct you towards the best pick’em picks for the game. One of the advantages of playing with SportsMillions is the market-leading 1,500x maximum payout for getting 12 from 12 selections correct.

NHL Fantasy Pick’em FAQs:

Q: What happens if one of my players gets injured?

• If one of your chosen hockey players is injured or otherwise is ruled out and cannot start the game then this stat will be voided from your picks. So if you had made 6 picks, this will be reduced to 5 valid picks.

Q: How many NHL Fantasy picks can I make?

• You need to make at least 2 picks (for a x3 payout) up to a maximum of 12 picks (for a x1500 payout).

Q: Does every pick need to be correct to win?

• You can choose Fixed Play or Flex Play (if this option is available). With Fixed Play all of your hockey picks must be correct to pay out, and with Flex Play one pick can be incorrect and you still win.

Q: Can I pick a mixture of different sports?

• Yes, your pick can include different games, players and sports. This means you can combine your NHL pick(s) with – for example – NFL or NBA picks.

Q: Can Higher/Lower projections change?

• Yes, the stats can change in the lead up to a game. However, if you make your pick at a given stat, even if the stat line changes closer to the game your pick remains active with the original stat from when you made your selection.

Q: Is Hockey Pick’em available in my state?

• If you are located in one of the following stakes then you can play the SportsMillions NHL Fantasy Pick’em game: Alaska, District of Columbia, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.