The NHL opens the first weekend of 2026 with a modest four-game slate headlined by the Winter Classic between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers.<\/p>\n
My best NHL prop bets for Friday night are targeting Brad Marchand, Adam Fox, and Kiefer Sherwood.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get right into my favorite NHL player props and anytime goalscorer picks \u2013 and their odds at the best betting sites<\/a> \u2013 for Friday, Jan. 2.<\/p>\n Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Brad Marchand Anytime Goalscorer (+165) vs. Rangers<\/a><\/p>\n One year ago, it was crazy to think of Brad Marchand as anything but a Boston Bruin. However, he\u2019s become a prototypical Panthers player and one of their leaders with Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk out.<\/p>\n Marchand leads the way for the Panthers with 45 goals and 23 assists through 38 games. It\u2019s been a mighty impressive season so far for the veteran at 37 years old.<\/p>\n Marchand comes into the Winter Classic riding a three-game goal streak and a nine-game point streak (seven goals, seven assists). While he\u2019s a strong play to record a point at -210, I\u2019ll take these plus odds for him to find twine outdoors.<\/p>\n Adam Fox OVER 0.5 Assists (+100) at Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n Adam Fox returned from a month-long absence on New Year\u2019s Eve and picked up right where he left off. The Rangers defenseman extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist in New York\u2019s 6-3 loss to the Capitals.<\/p>\n Fox was left off the Team USA roster for the 2026 Olympics, which was quite the curious decision. While NHL players shouldn\u2019t need extra motivation to play their best, that\u2019s certainly a chip on Fox\u2019s shoulder for the near future \u2013 and potentially beyond.<\/p>\n The blueliner now has 28 points in 28 games this season, and 24 of those have come via the assist. You can play it safe with the point at -130, but the 30 cents is enough for me to take him to get a helper instead.<\/p>\n Kiefer Sherwood OVER 2.5 Shots on Goal (+140) vs. Kraken<\/a><\/p>\n Kiefer Sherwood has been shooting the puck a ton over the last few weeks. The Canucks forward has at least three shots on goal in four straight games and six of his last seven, including 5, 4, and 5 in his last three contests. Those four shots on goal game against the Kraken, who he had 3+ SOG against in two of three meetings in 2025.<\/p>\n The Canucks will be without two forwards in Conor Garland and Marco Rossi, for at least a week, opening the door for more opportunities for guys like Sherwood.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a bit surprised to see this at such a nice price considering Sherwood\u2019s recent stretch of play. I\u2019d ladder this up to 4+ SOG (+350) and 5+ SOG (+850) as well.<\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Register with DraftKings today and get $200 in bonus bets instantly<\/a> if you win your first bet. Claim this DraftKings Sportsbook promo code<\/a> offer by making a $5 deposit, applying your bonus token, and winning your first $5 wager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL opens the first weekend of 2026 with a modest four-game slate headlined by the Winter Classic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-387326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}