NHL Best Player Prop Bets For December 12

Join Canada Sports Betting’s Nick Martin as he handicaps the best NHL player prop bets available from Friday’s two-game slate.

Best bet-Andre Burakovsky/Connor Bedard 1+ Point Each: +145

One key reason that it was reasonable to still have plenty of faith in Bedard coming out of a disappointing 2024-25 campaign was the fact that his team and average linemates were quite poor. It was downright astounding how often you could watch an entire Chicago Blackhawks game and see the team fail to help Bedard get a shot off in a dangerous area at any point.

While Bedard has obviously also elevated his game to another level this season, he does have slightly more help than last year, and his team has seemingly done a better job of finding him in dangerous areas. He still undoubtedly has less help than anyone else near the top of the league in scoring, but he’s found pretty strong chemistry with Andre Burakovsky, who’s enjoyed a nice bounce-back year in Chicago.

Though they still have room to grow defensively, the Blackhawks’ top line of Bedard, Burakovsky, and Ryan Greene has scored 4.1 goals per 60 this season in 160.9 minutes of play.

Over the last 10 games, the St. Louis Blues have allowed 3.10 goals against per game and have allowed 3.53 xGA/60 in that span. Joel Hofer has outperformed Jordan Binnington this season and will start Friday’s game, but this is still a solid spot for the Blackhawks’ top unit to do some damage.

The Blackhawks’ top power-play unit has succeeded on 22.2% of opportunities this season, and Burakovsky has also helped Bedard get some scoring chances with the man advantage as well.

The Blackhawks have a good opportunity to tally at least three goals in Friday’s matchup, and at +145, there looks to be value in backing Bedard and Burakovsky each to record a point.

Best bet-Dylan Guenther Anytime Goal-Scorer: +165

Utah’s new-look second line of Dylan Guenther, Barrett Hayton, and Lawson Crouse looked tremendous versus the Florida Panthers on Wednesday evening, generating 5.31 xGA/60 in 10.2 minutes of play and combining for 13 shots on goal. Guenther scored two goals from seven attempts on target.

After breaking out with 27 goals in 70 games last season, Guenther has put up 13 goals in the first 32 games of this season. He’s a career 13.3% shooter at the NHL level, and that’s not remotely surprising given his lightning-quick wrist shot release and excellent one-timer from the off side.

After finishing as the 10th-most successful unit in the NHL last season, Utah’s power play has had a disappointing start to the season, but the talent is certainly there for improvement. Clayton Keller is one of the better half-wall guys in the league, while Nick Schmaltz is a strong bumper option, and Mikhail Sergachev is a quality quarterback.

Without question, Guenther’s one-timer is still the top unit’s “A” look, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him chip in power play goals at a greater rate moving forward. Maybe that will start Friday, as Seattle’s penalty kill has been the worst unit in the NHL.

And across all strengths, the Kraken have been horrific defensively of late. In 13 games over the last month of play, Seattle has allowed 3.91 xGA/60, which is the worst mark in the NHL.

This sets up as a good spot to back one of the NHL’s purer shooters, building on a two-goal performance with another goal at +165.

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