Hockey Handicapping Articles

NHL Betting Advice: Handicapping the Edmonton Oilers
by Trevor Whenham - 2/24/2017

I live less than 200 miles from the home arena of the Edmonton Oilers but just two or three miles from the home of the Calgary Flames. Have for most of my life. As you can imagine, then, I have grown up hating everything about the Oilers - and the city of Edmonton, for that matter. Their Cup victories were torture, the day my Flames first beat them in the playoffs in 1986 is still one of my all-time best, I can tell you exactly where I was when I heard Gretzky had been traded, and the last decade-plus of total incompetence has been spectacular.

NHL Betting Advice: Can Washington Capitals Move Past Historic Playoff Failure
by Trevor Whenham - 2/14/2017

The Washington Capitals are in a league of their own this year. Their 84 points are the best in the league and the best in the Eastern Conference by an incredible nine points. Only Pittsburgh has scored more goals - they lead by just one - and no team has allowed fewer. It's not tough to win when you have a goal differential of just less than 1.25 per game.

NHL Handicapping: Looks like Another Year of Wasted Potential from St. Louis Blues
by Trevor Whenham - 2/10/2017

The St. Louis Blues haven't been a total disaster this year, but they count as one of the bigger disappointments out there. They came into the season viewed as one of the major contenders in the West. Perhaps this was the year that they would finally turn the corner and do some postseason damage? It hasn't worked out that way at all.

Hockey Handicapping and Betting: Any Value in NHL-Worst Avalanche?
by Trevor Whenham - 1/17/2017

The Colorado Avalanche have the dubious distinction of being the worst team in the NHL. It's not a tight race, either - their 27 points gives them a five-point cushion on second-worst Arizona and a shocking 15 point deficit to the Islanders, who are third to last. This is a really, really bad hockey team. Oddsmakers don't argue with that notion, either - they are +250,000 to win the Stanley Cup, which is by far the highest price in the league. So, are they really as bad as they seem? The short answer is yes. Definitely. Without question. If you need more than that, though, then here are five other factors to ponder:

NHL Betting Advice and Handicapping: Minnesota Wild Dominating the Moneyline
by Trevor Whenham - 1/10/2017

The Minnesota Wild have been in the NHL since 2000, and we may be witnessing the best version of their team yet. They currently have 55 points, which is just two behind Chicago for the Western Conference lead, and the Wild have four games in hand. They are on pace for about 115 points, which would be 11 more than the best the franchise has ever had - and that was way back in 2007.

NHL Betting and Handicapping: Looks Like Red Wings Will Miss Playoffs
by Trevor Whenham - 1/9/2017

The Detroit Red WIngs have 39 points, which ties them for last in the Atlantic Division with Buffalo, just one point ahead of the Islanders for the conference basement. If the playoffs started today the Red Wings would not be in, and since they sit seven points out of a playoff spot with several other chasing teams ahead of them it seems unrealistic to think that they will be playing beyond 82 games this year.

NHL Betting Advice: Keep Riding Columbus Blue Jackets or Jump Off Bandwagon?
by Trevor Whenham - 1/3/2017

The Columbus Blue Jackets lost 2-1 in a shootout in Florida on Nov. 26. They haven't lost since. Fifteen straight wins. That's amazing for any team in this brutally tough current NHL environment, never mind a team that was the second worst in the Eastern Conference last season. They are already in elite company, and with a win against Edmonton on Tuesday night they could own the second-longest winning streak of all time in the league - just one behind the 17 wins of the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins.

NHL Betting and Handicapping: Are Edmonton Oilers Finally a Team on the Rise?
by Trevor Whenham - 12/2/2016

If you don't follow the NHL that closely you can understand what the last several years have been like for the Edmonton Oilers by just thinking of them as the Philadelphia 76ers on ice. They haven't openly tanked like Philly has, but they have added an embarrassment of high draft picks and have struggled to see that good fortune turn into wins. This seems finally, though, to be the year that they shed the Philly stench and start to slowly climb into respectability.

NHL Betting Advice: Best and Worst Teams for Wagering
by Victor Ryan - 11/30/2016

It took just six weeks and 22 games for the first NHL head coach firing of the season. Gerard Gallant, who led the Florida Panthers to a franchise-record 103 points and the Atlantic Division title a season ago, was relieved of his duties after a lackluster 11-10-1 start. The ax was dropped in brutal fashion as well. While on the team bus following Sunday night's 3-2 loss to Carolina, team officials had Gallant and his luggage summarily removed from the transport. News crews then caught the newly-fired Gallant, with all his gear, waiting to be picked up by a cab on the sidewalk. Ouch.

NHL Handicapping: Ranking the Divisions by Moneyline Betting Profit
by Trevor Whenham - 11/23/2016

The NHL season is still relatively young, but enough games have been played - just short of a quarter of the season - that we are getting a good sense of which teams are good and which ones aren't. Over the last several seasons about 80 percent of teams that wind up making the playoffs are in a playoff position by Thanksgiving, so where teams are now matters more than you might guess.

NHL Handicapping: How to Bet Montreal Canadiens after Hot Start
by Trevor Whenham - 11/18/2016

The Montreal Canadiens had a bit of a turbulent offseason, capped by the drama of shockingly trading away their most visible star and one of the most charismatic stars in the league in P.K. Subban. All of that made it very tough to get a sense of what to expect from this team heading into the season. The East is deep and tough. They could have been right in the mix, or they could have been on the outside looking in.

NHL Handicapping: Calgary Flames a Team on an Upswing?
by Trevor Whenham - 11/16/2016

Things sure have not gone according to plan for the Calgary Flames this year. They entered the season as a popular wiseguy pick - not a Stanley Cup contender, but a team with a good chance to win a lot of games, contend for their division, and make bettors a whole lot of money along the way. They had a strong offseason that addressed their biggest needs while locking their biggest stars up for the long term, and they made a promising coaching change. It seemed like they were poised to explode.

NHL Betting Advice: Best and Worst Teams for Wagering
by Victor Ryan - 11/15/2016

With a month of the season now in the books, it's time to take a closer look at what have been to this point the best and worst bets in the NHL. The unquestioned leader at the top is the Montreal Canadiens, whose red-hot start has rewarded backers to the tune of 10 units in profits already.

NHL Betting Advice: Best and Worst Teams for Wagering
by Victor Ryan - 10/25/2016

The NHL season has begun to hit its stride with almost two full weeks now in the books. To this point, things have played largely to form. Montreal has been a money-machine for its backers following a sharp 5-0-1 start, while teams such as the Flames, Maple Leafs and Hurricanes have so far confirmed they're lowly expectations.

NHL Handicapping: the Youth Movement is for Real
by Trevor Whenham - 10/18/2016

Things have changed in the NHL. Dramatically. It used to be that a guy eased into form over the first several years of his career, started to peak later in his 20s, and was in his prime until he was 32 or 33. Sometimes later. Now guys are peaking earlier and earlier, and there is no easing into things - the best players are good pretty much out of the gate, it seems. Meanwhile, guys who would have been signing a long-term, rich contract at 30 a decade ago are now just hoping for a chance to try out with a team and land on a roster. It's a young man's world.

NHL Odds and Expert Analysis: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 10/17/2016

That was about the newsiest first week of an NHL season that I can remember! Unfortunately, it was in the form of bad news for three teams. But since I try to be a glass half-full type of guy, let's start with something that had the entire hockey world buzzing: the electric debut of 2016 No. 1 overall pick Auston Matthews with the Toronto Maple Leafs. They basically tanked last season to improve their chances of winning the draft lottery and the right to take Matthews.

2016 St. Louis Blues Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/12/2016

The St. Louis Blues tallied 109 points in the 2015-16 regular season and reached the Western Conference Finals. It was their deepest postseason run in 15 years. Based off that promising campaign, oddsmakers have installed the Blues as one of the favorites to finally reach the NHL mountaintop. St. Louis has never won the Stanley Cup since its founding in 1967.

2016 Boston Bruins Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/12/2016

The Boston Bruins have been denied a playoff bid on the final day of the regular season each of the past two years. This frustrating stretch led the brass in Bean Town to make some slight tweaks to the roster in hopes of a return to the postseason party.

2016 Detroit Red Wings Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/12/2016

Detroit has been treading water the past two years and yet did little to upgrade the roster this offseason. There are two significant issues facing the Red Wings. First, the veteran core is aging and no longer able to provide the heavy lifting. The second problem is the young talent. It's still a year or two away from playing a significant role on a contending team. With those factors at work, Detroit's long playoff streak could snap.

2016 Anaheim Ducks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/11/2016

It was much of the same for the Anaheim Ducks in 2015-16: A 100-point regular season followed by a Game 7 loss at home in the playoffs. As a result of the mounting postseason heartbreaks, the Ducks have gone back to the future. Out as coach is the player-friendly Bruce Boudreau, and returning is predecessor Randy Carlyle, the noted taskmaster who guided the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup 2007.