Best NHL player prop bets (Dec. 31): Back Hughes to record a multi-point game vs. Ducks

Join Daily Faceoff’s Nick Martin as he handicaps the best NHL player props available on Tuesday night.

Taylor Hall to Record a Point: +125 Sports Interaction

The Chicago Blackhawks will host the St. Louis Blues at the iconic Wrigley Field for the 2024-25 edition of the NHL Winter Classic Tuesday, which leads a high-quality, 13-game New Year’s Eve slate.

The Blackhawks’ results under new head coach Anders Sorensen have not changed all that much, as they hold a .364 points percentage during Sorensen’s 11-game tenure, after posting a .350 points percentage under former head coach Luke Richardson.

What has been clear is that the Blackhawks are employing more modern, aggressive offensive tactics which has led to improved results for a number of Chicago’s top stars. Not only has Sorensen changed the playing style of his team, he has put together more logical offensive lines, and has not shuffled his lines as often as Richardson did.

Connor Bedard has been on fire under Sorensen, as he has put up five goals and 13 points during Sorensen’s tenure as head coach. At times this season we have seen Bedard play on some pretty debatable line combinations, but he seems to be finding chemistry with Taylor Hall and Tyler Bertuzzi right now which has helped power his offensive resurgence.

While the Bertuzzi-Bedard-Hall unit has given up a lot of chances against, they have scored 4.59 goals for per 60, which ranks 10th in the NHL among lines that have played 75 or more minutes together.

Thanks to Hall’s season-ending knee injury last season, and his inability to find chemistry with Bedard earlier on this season, it feels like we have completely forgotten that the former Hart Trophy winner was brought to Chicago specifically to offer Bedard a high-upside offensive piece to play with.

Hall has also bounced back with nine points in 11 games under Sorensen, and has put up five points over the last four games. While the 33-year old is certainly not in his prime anymore, he likely still has more offensive upside than we have seen throughout most of his time with Chicago, and he seems to be fully up to speed after entering the year off a significant injury.

At +125, I think there is value backing Hall to stay hot and record a point in the Winter Classic.

Jack Hughes Over 1.5 Points: +160 Sports Interaction

Over the last 14 games Hughes has put up 21 points and recorded two points or more in seven of those matchups. Even before we dive into how favorable a matchup versus the Anaheim Ducks for Hughes is, there’s an argument to be made that Hughes is worth backing at +160 to record two points in any matchup.

No team offers more space in the offensive zone than the Anaheim Ducks, who also struggle to defend chances coming in transition. Chances are the Devils’ top line of Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Ondrej Palat will spend the vast majority of this game hemming the Ducks in their defensive zone.

In 303.8 minutes together this season, the Devils’ top trio has generated 3.28 xGF/60 and scored 3.95 actual goals per 60.

There’s a strong case to be made that the Ducks have been the worst defensive team in the league, but their spectacular goaltending has helped to mask that fact. Anaheim has allowed 3.89 xGA/60 this season, which is the worst mark in the NHL.

Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal has been arguably the second-best goaltender in the league, with a +16.1 GSAx and a better high-danger save percentage than even Connor Hellebuyck. With Dostal’s dominance in mind, backing Hughes to record over 4.5 shots on goal at +125 odds is also tempting. At the price of +160, though, I still see more value backing Hughes to end up with two points.