PuckAPI Review 2026

PuckAPI is a hockey data API built around the NHL. It offers 24 endpoints for schedules, standings, skater and goalie stats, play-by-play, shifts, predictions and sportsbook odds. Every endpoint is a POST to mcp.puckapi.com/v1/{tool} with a JSON body. The same tools also run on a hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so an AI assistant such as Claude can query them in plain English.

It works from a daily refresh and pre-game lines. For live in-game scores, pair it with a live source from the sports data API list.

The NHL history starts in 2010-11 and covers 17 seasons. The atlas page counts more than 6.9 million play-by-play events, each with rink coordinates, strength state and the players involved, plus more than 16 million shifts (checked November 2026).

The main data types:

• Stats: skater and goalie season lines, game logs, team records and head-to-head history.
• Possession and chance quality: Corsi, Fenwick and expected goals for teams, and goals saved above expected (GSAX) for goalies.
• Odds: moneyline, puck line and total from 2019-20 on, plus line movement over time.
• Player props: closing and opening lines by sportsbook from May 2023, with each player's record against his line.
• Model output: a win probability and grade for each game on tonight's slate.

Pass league to switch from the NHL to the PWHL, OHL, WHL, QMJHL, ECHL, AHL or USHL. Depth differs by league, and the atlas marks odds and line movement as partial. For long odds history, see our historical odds guide.

Most hockey sources give you one slice. PuckAPI puts shots, shifts, expected goals and betting lines behind a single key, so you can join them yourself. A model that needs a goalie's GSAX, a team's 5v5 expected goals share and the closing moneyline can get all three from one provider.

The provider is also direct about limits. Odds and props are pre-game only, every row carries a captured_at time, and records are overwritten when a source corrects them with no revision history. A public page states what the terms allow. You can store the data, train models and build commercial products that show your users what you derive. You cannot pass it on as a feed or dataset of its own.

Per-sportsbook odds come from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, ESPN BET and Pinnacle, among others, and the atlas says availability varies by game and book. Browse our player props API guide for context on what to expect from prop history.

PuckAPI bills in credits. A team list costs 1 credit, standings cost 2, a season leaderboard or game log costs 5 and play-by-play costs 10. Time-series line movement costs 25, and the prop projections cost 25 on paid plans only. The free plan gives 500 credits a month with no card, which covers 250 standings calls or 50 play-by-play calls (checked November 2026).

Starter costs $19 a month for 10,000 credits. Pro costs $49 for 30,000, and Scale costs $149 for 125,000. Wallet top-ups start at $5 for 2,000 credits and do not expire while your account is open. Enterprise accounts can ask for custom limits and volume pricing. The pricing page also prices a whole season of each dataset, so you can plan a backfill before you spend. For other no-cost sources, see the free sports APIs we track.

You sign up at the PuckAPI sign-up page. The free plan gives you 500 credits a month and needs no card (checked November 2026). Verify your email, then create a key from the dashboard.

Send the key in an x-api-key header or as Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. The MCP endpoint also accepts a ?key= query parameter. Claude and ChatGPT can connect to the MCP server by signing in, with no key at all. Paid plans start at $19 a month.

This sample posts to /v1/get_standings on https://mcp.puckapi.com with the key in x-api-key (from the docs, checked November 2026). The call costs 2 credits.

import os

import requests

resp = requests.post(
    "https://mcp.puckapi.com/v1/get_standings",
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["PUCKAPI_API_KEY"]},
    json={},
    timeout=10,
)
resp.raise_for_status()

for team in resp.json()["standings"][:5]:
    print(team["teamAbbrev"], team["wins"], team["losses"], team["points"])

The response holds a standings list. Each team row has fields such as teamAbbrev, teamName, points, wins and losses, plus corsiPct and expectedGoalsFor. An empty body is valid, and the call defaults to the current season. Pass season, conference or division to narrow it.

The rate limit depends on your balance, not your plan. With 100 credits or more you get 60 requests a minute. Under 100 credits you get 10 a minute (checked November 2026). Enterprise accounts can ask for custom limits. A 429 means you hit the limit, a 402 means you ran out of credits, and a 500 refunds its credits. REST responses carry X-Credits-Used and X-Credits-Remaining headers, and an x-idempotency-key header makes retries safe.

The docs list every endpoint with parameters and a sample response. PuckAPI also publishes an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, an llms.txt file and a tool catalogue. The official Python client is puckapi on PyPI, with no required dependencies. A status page shows measured uptime and data freshness, and a data changelog lists dataset refreshes. Support is support@puckapi.com.

PuckAPI suits three groups:

• Hockey modelers who want shot coordinates, shifts and expected goals without scraping the league's own endpoints.
• Bettors and tool builders who need closing lines and prop history by sportsbook to backtest an idea.
• AI app builders who want an MCP server that answers hockey questions directly.

It is a history and analytics product, so a live scoreboard needs a second source. The free tier is small for the 10-credit endpoints, but it is enough to test the data before you pick a plan.

PuckAPI is a focused, well-documented hockey API with deep NHL history and a clear price list. The credit model is easy to budget, the docs say plainly what is pre-game and what refreshes once a day, and the MCP server is a real convenience. Start with the free credits and pull a shot map or a season of closing lines to see how it fits your model. You can start at puckapi.com.

Last updated: 5 November 2026 · How providers get listed