NHL Picks for New Year’s Eve: Best Dec. 31st Hockey Predictions

Happy New Year to all! 

We get a pretty full day of hockey today, with the seven game slate starting at 12:30 p.m. with Rangers at Capitals and winding up with Sabres at Stars at 8:00p.m. 

Let's dig in with some NHL picks and try to end 2025 with some wins.

NHL Season Stats
Record: 13–21
Units: –7.56

Jets at Red Wings

Red Wings (-130 DraftKings)

We have two teams here headed in opposite directions. The Jets won the President’s Trophy for the best record in the league in 2024-25 and now look poised to miss the playoffs altogether one season later. That has not happened since…..well the Rangers did it last year so it's not exactly unprecedented. It's a little different in that the Rangers barely missed while the Jets currently sit tied for the worst record in the league at 34 points (15-18-4). 

They rode goalie and league MVP Connor Hellebuyck to the top of the league last year, and he remained in peak form early this year before going on the IR for a month in mid November. Since he returned on December 13th he’s just performed at a league average 89.3% Save% -0.74 GSAA level. The Jets won his 1st game back but have lost the last 6. League average does not work here as the Jets have the oldest roster in the NHL. Kyle Connor is 29 and all their other top players are in their 30’s. It's a win-now team that is on a 3-11-4 mega slump.

Detroit meanwhile has gone 10-3-1 in December and now sits atop the Atlantic Division. John Gibson has officially shaken off his early season slump as he has a 92.2% Save% and 5.88 GSAA this month. Detroit should simply be a bigger favorite here, let’s roll with the Wings.

Sabres at Stars

Sabres ML (+138 DraftKings)

The Sabres have not made the playoffs since 2010-2011. Its the longest drought without a postseason appearance in league history and the most extended period of misery in North American sports if you do not count the New York Jets as a serious franchise. But that may all change soon! They are currently the hottest team in the NHL as they ride a nine game win streak, one short of tying the franchise record. And they sit tied for the final playoff slot and just a few points short of second place in the Atlantic.

They face a tall task tonight as they travel to Dallas to take on the Stars, arguably the second best team in the league after the soaring Avalanche. And hey there’s history between these franchises as they met in the dramatic (and controversial) 1999 Stanley Cup Finals. The Stars won in OT in Game 6 on a Brett Hull goal where he nudged into the crease ahead of the puck at a time when that rule was super strictly enforced (except when it ended a Cup final apparently).

But that’s obviously ancient history given that most of tonight’s players were not even born yet. The current Sabres are on fire, outsourcing opponents 31-17 during their nine game run. Tage Thompson has found the net five times to lead the scorers, and tonight’s goalie Alex Lyon has a 91.9% Save% and 3.89 GSAA in seven games. What I really like though is getting a decently high ML on a hot team, even against the elite Stars.