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Hockey pool sites compared: Estrade, Marqueur, PoolExpert

Season 2026-2027 · Updated 2026-11-08

Sections

Playing on Estrade is free for poolers. The commissioner pays for a Season Pass at $39 per pool, for the NHL year, before starting the draft. Split between twenty poolers, that comes to about $2 each. No ads, no data resale, and the price doesn't go up with the number of poolers, up to twenty.

This page puts Estrade next to three hockey pool sites that pools in Quebec use: Marqueur, PoolExpert and HokeyPool. For Estrade, each cell describes the product as it is today. For the other three, each cell comes from their own site, and the address of each page is in the sources. A cell that says "–" means their site doesn't let us confirm the feature: it doesn't mean the feature doesn't exist, only that we didn't find it in writing.

The table

Checked November 7, 2026.

Estrade Marqueur PoolExpert HokeyPool
Price Free for poolers. Season Pass at $39 per pool, paid by the commissioner Free Free on the web, with ads. Standard $3 per person ($50 max), Pro $5 per person, Enterprise $500 Free for the 2026-27 season
Draft types Snake draft, with or without a third-round reversal. Join order or random draw Live draft session, or picks entered by the commissioner. Box pool Random or set pick order, two sequence options In order or snake, with a pick clock and auto-pick
Real NHL salary cap Yes, if the commissioner turns it on. A pick that goes over is refused – Salary cap set on the website. A pick that goes over is refused –
Live draft room Yes, up to twenty poolers, on computer, phone or tablet Yes, live draft session On the mobile apps only Yes, on the website
TV mode Yes, the draft room full screen – Draft results on a big screen Yes, a TV screen for draft night
Updates during games Every minute Stats updated daily Player stats once a day, around 3 a.m. Real-time mobile app on paid plans Games checked every 30 seconds
Import an already-drafted pool Yes, a file or a pasted table, checked row by row – Free transfer of LePool.com pools, on request through a form Draft list from Word, Excel or pasted text
Ads None Yes, on the site's Hockey page Required on the basic plan, limited on Standard, none on Pro and Enterprise None

The price

On Estrade, the price is per pool, never per pooler. Creating the pool, inviting your group, setting up the draft and preparing your queue cost nothing. The pass is paid when you start the draft, or before you apply the import of an already-drafted pool. Prices are before taxes, in Canadian dollars.

  • Season Pass, $39 per pool: the regular season, up to twenty poolers, with the draft, lineups, trades, waivers and standings.
  • Playoff Pass, $19 per pool: the playoff pool, as a draft, a grid or predictions.
  • Combo Pass, $49 per pool: the season and the playoffs.
  • Grand Pool Pass, $99 per pool: a box pool with no limit on participants, for the office, the family or the community.
  • Company leagues: Team ($199 for the NHL year, up to five season pools) and Organization ($599, unlimited pools).

Each pass covers one NHL year. The details, taxes and refunds are on the Pricing page.

The other sites chose other models. Marqueur is free, with no limit on poolers according to its pool page. PoolExpert is free on the web with ads, then charges an amount per person for its Standard and Pro plans, and a flat amount for its Enterprise plan. HokeyPool advertises a free site with no ads for the whole 2026-27 season.

The draft

On Estrade, the draft happens in a draft room, on computer, phone or tablet. Up to twenty poolers draft together, and each pick shows up for everyone in under two seconds.

  • The order: join order in the pool, or an animated random draw the whole group watches (from four poolers).
  • The rule: snake draft, where the order reverses every round, or snake with a third-round reversal.
  • The clock: from 30 seconds to unlimited per pick, set by the commissioner.
  • The queue: each pooler prepares their list ahead of time. When their clock runs out, Estrade drafts the first player in their queue who is still available.
  • The commissioner: they can draft for someone who's away, undo the last pick, pause with a reason everyone sees, then resume.
  • The slow draft: if draft night ends before the draft does, the commissioner switches to a slow draft. Each pick then lasts a few hours, and Estrade notifies the pooler whose turn it is.

The details are in the guide, under the draft room and commissioner powers.

The others, according to their pages. Marqueur offers a live draft session, or lets the commissioner enter the picks themselves. PoolExpert runs its virtual draft on its mobile apps only; its draft page says the clock is "for reference only" and that a draft can't be stopped once it has started. HokeyPool drafts live on its site, in order or snake, with a clock per pick and an auto-pick when time runs out.

The salary cap

Estrade's salary cap is based on real NHL contracts. The commissioner turns it on in the pool settings and chooses the cap amount. Player salary values are refreshed every week.

  • At the draft, a pick that goes over what the pooler has left is refused, and the auto-pick skips that player. In the draft room, each pooler sees their payroll next to the cap.
  • During the season, a trade that puts either pooler over the cap is refused. So is a waiver claim.
  • The commissioner can set a player's salary value for their pool, with a reason.

The cap, the draft and the order lock at the first pick. See salary cap and salary values.

PoolExpert also has a salary cap: its FAQ says it's set on the website, not in its apps, and that a pick that would go over the cap is refused. Marqueur doesn't mention one for its pools. Its Masterpool game, a separate game, asks you to build a team within a $104,000,000 payroll; its page doesn't say where the salaries come from. The HokeyPool pages we read don't mention one.

Standings during games

During games, Estrade reads the NHL game sheets every minute. Each read that brings new stats recalculates the standings, and open pages update on their own, without reloading. Reading starts fifteen minutes before the first faceoff. Outside game time, it slows down to once an hour. If the NHL limits requests, the next read waits five minutes.

Live points can also reach your phone as alerts, if you turn them on in your notifications, and the pool's Discord if the commissioner has connected it.

HokeyPool says its games are checked every 30 seconds, so more often than Estrade, and that points are confirmed every morning against the official game sheets. Marqueur says its stats are updated daily and that all its pools have live stats. PoolExpert's FAQ says player stats are updated once a day, around 3 a.m., and its paid plans include a real-time mobile app.

TV mode

Estrade's TV mode shows the draft room full screen, for the living room TV or a projector. There is nothing to click: the screen follows the draft on its own. The poolers draft from their phone or computer. See TV mode.

HokeyPool advertises a TV screen for draft night. PoolExpert suggests sharing the draft results on a big screen, at home or in a bar. The Marqueur pages we read don't mention one.

Switching sites mid-season

Your pool is already drafted somewhere else? Estrade imports your teams into a new pool. You start from the template (pooler, email, player, NHL team, position), or you paste a table from a spreadsheet. Each problem shows up with its row: players with the same name, typos, duplicate players. Nothing is saved while an error remains. Points already earned are added at the start, with a reason everyone sees. Each pooler with an email in the file then gets an invitation tied to their team.

Preparing the import costs nothing; the Season Pass is paid before you apply it. Everything is explained on the switching hockey pool sites mid-season page.

HokeyPool also imports a draft list that's already done, from Word, Excel or pasted text. PoolExpert transfers LePool.com pools for free, on request through a form: the rules, the participants and the drafted players come along, but not mailing addresses or passwords. The Marqueur pages we read don't describe importing a pool drafted elsewhere, and neither do PoolExpert's for sites other than LePool.com.

Ads and your data

Estrade shows no ads and resells no data. A pass is paid through Stripe: Estrade never sees your card number. Poolers never pay, and Estrade never handles the stakes.

The code of Marqueur's Hockey page loads Google ad slots. PoolExpert's basic plan requires consenting to and showing ads to access the pool; its Standard plan has "limited ads", and its Pro and Enterprise plans have none. HokeyPool says it shows no ads and does no ad tracking.

What the others have that Estrade doesn't

  • Marqueur has no limit on poolers per pool, has been free since 2002 and keeps results year after year. A pool drafted on Estrade has twenty poolers at most; a box pool or prediction pool takes more with the Grand Pool Pass or the Organization plan.
  • PoolExpert has iOS and Android apps. Estrade's iPhone and iPad app is coming soon; until then, Estrade can be added to the home screen, and Chrome installs it on Android (install Estrade).
  • HokeyPool is free for the whole 2026-27 season and checks games more often.

Sources