Hockey Handicapping Articles

2015 Detroit Red Wings Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2015

With Mike Babcock in charge, we know that this will always be a playoff team. It's guaranteed. Oh wait, after a decade of consistency Babcock made a decision that I likely will never understand - leaving Detroit for the circus that is Toronto. That's not a reflection on current Toronto management. They are in better shape than they have been in decades up top. It's just that the Toronto media are completely insane in a way that no other city has to deal with.

2015 Dallas Stars Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2015

Thinking of the Stars last year just makes me angry. I feel like they owe me money. After a solid year in 2013-14, I was very high on this squad. I liked the talent and loved the coaching. I thought the sky was the limit, and I said so in writing often. But then they were lousy early and didn't really get on track. They were never a true playoff threat. Total wasted season. So frustrating. So, more of the same this year? Or do they forget last year never happened and do this year what I thought they would last year?

2015 Columbus Blue Jackets Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2015

The Blue Jackets seem to have a game plan that they follow religiously. Unfortunately for them, it's a really dumb plan. Each of the last few years they have limped out of the gate as if they didn't get the memo that the season had started until Christmas time. In 2013-14 they were able to recover and make the postseason. Last year, though, they were in such a big hole early on that going 16-3-1 in their last 20 games, which was the best record in the league, wasn't enough to make the playoffs.

2015 Carolina Hurricanes Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2015

It wasn't really that long ago that this team won it all. Just 2006. Eric Staal and Cam Ward were both on that team, and they are only 30 and 31, respectively. It was a lot more recently than most teams have drunk from the blessed chalice. When you look at this team, though, it seems like so, so long ago. Like a hundred thousand lifetimes. This team is so far away from repeating what they accomplished that it is ridiculous. It's not even like they have been rebuilding for a long time - like Edmonton or Florida. They just seem to be wandering around.

2015 Colorado Avalanche Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/28/2015

Strange story with this team. In 2012-13 they were dead last in the Western Conference. Not good at all. They next year they improved by 73 points in the standings - pretty much impossible to do - won their division and were second in the West. Last year the glass slipper quit fitting, and they dropped back to last in their division. So, what is this team? Are they contenders or also-rans? Is coach Patrick Roy the genius he looked like in his first season in 2013-14 or the very mortal guy who coached last year? What the heck is going on a mile above sea level?

44th-Year Anniversary - NHL Hockey Picks Special
by Doc's Sports - 9/28/2015

The NHL hockey season has almost started, and we at Doc's Sports are thrilled to have another avenue to burn the sports books this winter. We offer the best hockey handicapping service in the country, and we are so confident of that fact we're willing to let you try all three of our NHL handicappers for one low price.

NHL Expert Picks and Predictions for Variety of Futures Odds
by Alan Harris - 9/24/2015

Odds on who was going to hoist the 2015-16 Stanley Cup have been out since the Blackhawks drank from Lord Stanley in June, but now that the season is right around the corner, odds to win the divisions, season point totals, player props (goals/points) and individual awards have begun to pop up both offshore and in the desert. Here is a look at some of those numbers with a few quick predictions on what I think may go down this season.

2015 Anaheim Ducks Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

It was a very good year for the Ducks last year - 51 regular-season wins and three wins in the Conference Finals against Chicago. One more win and it could have been a great year. Now they need to prove that they can take the next step. Things aren't desperate yet, but the urgency can be felt - they haven't won it all for nine years, and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry have both had their 30th birthdays. Those two essentially are the Ducks, so if they start to wane then the team has some serious decisions to make.

2015 Washington Capitals Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

It has been like Groundhog Day in Washington for too long now. Ovechkin scores in bulk. The team looks fine in the regular season then does nothing in the postseason. Disappointing. Wasted potential. It's premature to expect anything different until it happens, of course, but things feel different. They have the best coaching situation they have had in a long while. Ovechkin is playing his best hockey in a while. It was a strong offseason that clearly made them better. If they can't make a deep run this year then maybe it's really time to go back to the drawing board.

2015 New York Rangers Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

There are some teams that just don't work for you. They have success and plenty of reasons to like them, but for some reason you just can't get excited about them. It could be style of play, personnel, philosophy - pretty much anything. The team just doesn't fit your vision of what you want a team to be.

2015 Los Angeles Kings Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

In 2006 the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. It was a big surprise. It was less surprising that they didn't even make the playoffs the next year. No team had repeated that dubious achievement until the Kings, who won their second Stanley Cup in three years in 2014, missed the playoffs last year. It was certainly not what the team was hoping for, but it can't be that surprising - they played essentially four seasons over three years with all the playoff action, so the team was surely worn down.

2015 Philadelphia Flyers Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

The Flyers are an odd franchise. For most of my life they have alternated between being very good but not quite good enough, or, as they are now, being so bland and underwhelming that you almost forget they exist. They are never truly awful enough to mock or pity. They just feel like they are making things much harder for themselves than they need to. So, can they finally bust out of their funk this year? Or can we expect more of the same? Short answer - it doesn't look good. Longer answer:

2015 Edmonton Oilers Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

There is no prize to be won for having the best offseason. No awards given to the most improved team. Nothing matters until the spring. It's too bad, really, because if there was an offseason award the Oilers would run away with it - the first thing they have won as a franchise in a long, long time. It was a truly great summer for the team - even if you ignore the draft. You know, the one where they selected the best player chosen in a decade.

2015 Minnesota Wild Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

It was the most unlikely of Cinderella stories. The Minnesota Wild were 18-19-5 on Jan. 13 and seemed to be in a truly hopeless position on the season. Then they added goalie Devan Dubnyk, a player who had done nothing remarkable since his junior days and seemed like he was quite likely making his last NHL stop before heading off to Europe to extend his career. Impossibly, Dubnyk played all but one game the rest of the way, and the team was 27-9-3 after he started.

2015 Calgary Flames Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

It was a shocking year for the Flames last year. Coming into the season they seemed doomed - a sure contender in the Connor McDavid sweepstakes. By the time the dust had settled, though, the team was the biggest surprise in the league. They not only made the playoffs, but they won a series against the Canucks. Bob Hartley won the Jack Adams as Coach of the Year. Jiri Hudler won the Lady Byng. Johnny Gaudreau was a Calder Trophy finalist. Mark Giordano was on track to win the Norris before an injury cost him the last quarter of his season. It was a dream season.

2015 Florida Panthers Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

The Florida Panthers are going to be really good one day. They deserve it. They have struggled for a long time but have remained patient and have assembled an impressive collection of youngsters to build around. The question, though, is if this is the year that they break through and claim a playoff spot - one that will likely be theirs for many years. It could be a year or two too soon, but sooner rather than later this team will be looking to win Atlantic Division titles.

2015 Winnipeg Jets Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

It was a pleasantly surprising season for the Jets last year. It seemed like they were destined for another frustrating season - the only kind they knew since returning to Winnipeg. Really, the only kind that fans in Winnipeg have ever known. But then something strange happened - they started playing well and kept doing it. It wasn't flashy, and other like other surprising teams like Minnesota or Ottawa they didn't need freakish goaltending streaks to get it done. They just kept doing what they did, and it worked for them. It was the ultimate workman-like effort.

2015 Ottawa Senators Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

An unheralded goalie arrived from the AHL on Feb. 18. Andrew Hammond, who was 27 at the time, was very much a journeyman. His NHL career to that point had consisted of one game of mop-up duty a year earlier when his team was already down by six goals. That was it. His AHL numbers weren't out of this world, either. All he did was go a remarkable 20-1-2 in his first 23 NHL starts. That propelled his team from the depths of mediocrity to the seventh seed in the playoffs. Truly an incredible, totally unpredictable thing.

2015 Buffalo Sabres Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

Last year the Sabres elevated tanking to an art form. Anyone with an ounce of talent or effort was shipped out of town. The roster iced each game was consistently both random and bizarre. They didn't actually dress any fans and give them ice time, but they might as well have. They had one goal and they achieved it - by finishing last overall they guaranteed that they would get to select either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

2015 Arizona Coyotes Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2015

There are 14 teams in the Western Conference. Thirtenn of them can make a fairly legitimate case that they are playoff contenders. The 14th is the Coyotes. It must be rough to be an Arizona player or one of the 12 fans that regularly attends the games. Of course, if you are a Coyotes player you are likely just thankful to be playing in the league at all - most of these guys aren't good enough to be the vast majority of other rosters in the league.