Hockey Handicapping Articles

Tracking the Calgary Flames: Season-Long NHL Picks and Handicapping for Hockey
by Trevor Whenham - 11/10/2014

I have had tonight’s Calgary Flames at Carolina Hurricanes game circled since Oct. 23. On that night I watched these two teams play in person in Calgary. It was a truly horrible game. The Flames won 5-0, and the game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. Carolina was terrible, and Calgary matched up very well with them. (Incidentally, by far the highlight of the night came after the game when we watched Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and several other Capitals who were in town awaiting their game two days later play some reasonably high stakes blackjack at the casino near the arena while dozens of fanboys tried to watch without looking like they were staring.)

Tracking the Calgary Flames: Season-Long NHL Picks and Handicapping for Hockey
by Trevor Whenham - 11/5/2014

This has been a very strange NHL season so far — at least when it comes to the Calgary Flames. On paper they have all sorts of issues. Their roster contains very few stars — Mark Giordano, Jonas Hiller, T.J. Brodie. For the most part it is made up of two types of players — questionable veterans who are most valuable because their over-inflated contracts allow the team to reach the salary cap floor and young players who have potential but not the experience to realize it. Somehow, though, it’s all working. Really working.

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 11/3/2014

Playing at home has an actual schematic advantage in the NHL because the home team gets to make the final line change (after a stoppage of play), and thus the head coach can get the best matchups possible on the ice. Still, it shouldn't make that much of a difference, and that's what I can't figure out about the reigning Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 10/27/2014

Could the Carolina Hurricanes be on pace to be one of the worst teams in NHL history? I'm not really ready to say that yet, but the Canes certainly appear like the worst in the league this season. They are the only team without a victory and have just two points through seven games. Every other team has at least seven entering Monday. Carolina is 27th in goals per game at 2.0 and 29th in goals against at 3.9.

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 10/20/2014

A couple of weeks ago in this space I wrote that Dallas forward Tyler Seguin was great value at 15/1 to win the Hart Trophy in the NHL this season. Well, I'm not quite ready to gloat about that yet, but so far so good. Seguin enters Monday tied for third in the league with eight points, and he was the NHL's first star for last week.

NHL Handicapping: Lessons Learned From First Week of Hockey Betting
by Trevor Whenham - 10/17/2014

It is very early in the NHL season. Three teams have played only two games. No team has played more than the six Boston has under their belts. It’s far too early to draw any serious conclusions or to pretend that we actually know anything about how the season is going to play out, but we can make some observations based on what we have seen — the fast starts, the eye-opening duds, the surprises, and the head-scratchers.

Tracking the Calgary Flames: Season-Long NHL Picks and Handicapping for Hockey
by Trevor Whenham - 10/16/2014

You’re going to be seeing a lot of previews and betting picks for Calgary Flames games during this NHL season. A whole lot. That’s because I’m about to embark on a season-long experiment. We talk a lot about getting to know a league or a team well and focusing on them as one way of maximizing the search for potential value in sports betting. In other words, specialization.

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 10/13/2014

The most impressive team of the first week of the NHL season? Probably the Minnesota Wild. The least impressive? Perhaps the Colorado Avalanche. It just so happens that those teams first two games were against one another.

NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 10/6/2014

The puck drops on the 2014-15 NHL season Wednesday night, and not a minute too soon in my opinion. I'm one of those who loves daily sports action and thus have been having some withdrawal shakes since the baseball regular season ended. Plus, those two ALDS sweeps were no fun. Generally in this space I will look at any potentially big NHL games for the upcoming week as well as any injuries that might alter your betting choices. This week I will also touch on some futures odds.

2015 Stanley Cup Contenders
by George Monroy - 9/26/2014

The Los Angeles Kings ended last season’s thrilling playoffs with a five-game domination over the New York Rangers and taught NHL bettors and fans that one of the keys to making a title run is by having an elite goaltender in front of the net. The second part of that recipe includes getting hot at the right time, which was exactly what both Los Angeles and New York did midway through the first round.

2014 Boston Bruins Predictions and NHL Futures Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2014

The Bruins won the President’s Trophy last year for having the best record in the NHL, but not a single fan of the team cares. All they care about is that the team lost in the second round of the playoffs — and to their hated rivals from Montreal. It was a brutally-disappointing end to a season that should have seen them win the East — at least.

Odds to Win 2015 Stanley Cup and NHL Futures Betting Lines with Picks and Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 6/20/2014

You can still probably find confetti on the streets of L.A. following the Stanley Cup parade, so there is a lot of time and changes to come before we see another hockey game — never mind another Stanley Cup finals. It is never too late, though, to take a look at Stanley Cup futures for interesting value — and spots to stay away from. Here’s a look at the latest numbers Bovada posted just after the Kings beat up on the Rangers:

2014 Stanley Cup Finals Series Odds and Prop Bet Predictions
by George Monroy - 6/3/2014

The Los Angeles Kings completed a thrilling come-from-behind victory during Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals to set up huge matchup between two of the league’s marquee team’s—at least market wise—when they face the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday night inside the Staples Center.

2014 Stanley Cup Finals Totals Betting: Value in Over or Under?
by George Monroy - 6/3/2014

The Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers have been backed by the excellent goaltending of both Jonathan Quick and Henrik Lundqvist, respectively, throughout the 2014 NHL playoffs. Both squads have allowed an average of less than three goals per game and have relied on their defense to shut teams down and win games. Handicapping such a close series might be a difficult proposition, so focusing on the totals lines may be the best opportunity to find value throughout the series.

Conn Smythe Trophy Betting Picks with Odds and NHL Award Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 5/27/2014

Every so often you come across a prop bet that is particularly interesting because the more you look at it the more complex and challenging it seems to be. This offering from Sportsbook.ag is certainly one of those. When you bet on which player is going to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup MVP you are not only handicapping which player is likely to be the star of the Stanley Cup Finals, but you are also betting on which teams will be playing in the finals.

NHL Playoffs Betting: Lessons Learned in 2014
by Trevor Whenham - 5/8/2014

The NHL playoffs are heading into the brutal middle stretch. Teams are getting tired, the action is getting even more intense than it has been, and even though we are not even halfway to the hoisting of the Cup yet it seems like the regular season ended ages ago. This is a good time, then, to look back at what has happened so far to see what has stood out and what we have learned so far:

NHL Playoffs Betting: Second-Round Series Odds and Predictions
by George Monroy - 5/1/2014

The first round of the 2014 NHL playoffs ended with a bang on Wednesday night with three Game 7s on the schedule. The road team ended up winning two of those matchups when the Minnesota Wild topped the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in overtime right before the Los Angeles Kings completed their monumental comeback against the San Jose Sharks after starting the series with three straight losses.

Sports Betting Insights: Finding the Value in NHL Stanley Cup Futures Odds
by Dave Schwab - 4/16/2014

The quest for this season’s NHL Stanley Cup title gets underway tonight with action in the Eastern and Western Conference Quarterfinal Round. Eight teams from each conference will square off against each other in a best-of-seven series format in the first step towards winning this year’s Stanley Cup.

NHL Playoffs Picks: First-Round Series Odds and Predictions
by George Monroy - 4/15/2014

The NHL has just finished up what might be one of its most competitive seasons in recent memory. Heading into the playoffs, which begin on Wednesday, there are no less than eight teams will legitimate hopes of hoisting the Stanley Cup in June, and there are a few others that have the talent to make a deep postseason run. The most intriguing part of the 2014 NHL Playoffs, however, will be how the division realignments and new playoff formant will affect each team.

NHL Playoffs Betting: Handicapping the Most Dangerous Lower Seeds
by George Monroy - 4/10/2014

The new NHL playoff format, beginning for the first time this postseason, is set to complicate things in both conferences and set up a slate of tougher matchups from the very first round of the playoffs. Teams will now play a mini tournament within their own division before moving on to the conference finals, and those squads in tougher divisions—the Atlantic or Central—will now have to face a stiffer set of opponents earlier in the playoffs than usual.