The 2026-27 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season gets underway tonight, with an 84-game schedule that means a slightly earlier start on the calendar than usual. We have an ESPN tripleheader on deck, with Florida-Carolina at 5:00 p.m. ET, N.Y. Rangers-Boston at 8:00 p.m. ET and Chicago-Vegas at 10:30 p.m. ET. We’re going to keep it short and sweet, as we take it slow as the season gets underway. We will let some trends develop before we really go full bore. Below are our top NHL player props for Tuesday, September 29th.
Tuesday's Best NHL Player Props
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Brady Tkachuk Anytime Goal Scorer (+160)
One of the biggest offseason moves was made by the Florida Panthers, who acquired Matthew Tkachuk’s brother, pairing the two down in Sunrise as the Panthers look to make another championship run. It was a disappointing season in Florida, missing the playoffs after two straight Stanley Cup championships.
The Tkachuk brothers will be public enemies No. 1A and No. 1B tonight. Brady Tkachuk’s season ended last season when Carolina beat the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Look for him to get the last laugh here.
Gavin McKenna Anytime Goal Scorer (+265)
Do you remember the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs had the No. 1 overall pick? It was when Auston Matthews made his NHL debut with four goals in October 2016 against the aforementioned Senators in Ottawa. He was the first player in the modern era to score four goals in his very first NHL game.
Are we saying Gavin McKenna will do likewise? That would be crazy, and the odds would be astronomical. But let’s roll the dice on McKenna getting on the board with his first NHL goal against Montreal’s Jakub Dobes for the chance to nearly triple our wager.
Pavel Dorofeyev 3+ Shots on Goal (-130)
The biggest move, by far, for the Rangers in the offseason was their acquisition of Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights. He has scored 35+ goals in each of the past two seasons, and the Rangers sent a wheelbarrow full of picks to Vegas for his services.
Dorofeyev is a sniper who gives the Rangers a huge offensive shot in the arm. I don’t know if he is going to light the lamp on the road at TD Garden against Jeremy Swayman, but he will go all out, throwing plenty of rubber at the Alaska-born goaltender.
Connor McDavid 2+ Points (-125)
It might be a bit on the boring side, but in the early going of the season, you have to play it conservatively until we see trends develop.
Last season, Connor McDavid lit the lamp 48 times and added 90 assists, finishing with a +17 rating. He faced the Vancouver Canucks four times, notching seven assists with a +7 rating, including four helpers on the power play. Let’s not get too cute and just take McDavid to score two points against projected Vancouver backstop Kevin Lankinen.
