Hockey Handicapping Articles

NHL Playoff Predictions: Dangerous Lower Seeds
by T.O. Whenham - 4/7/2011

The first round of the NHL Playoffs is typically top heavy -- the higher seeds win, though not nearly to the extent that that is the case in the NBA. There always seems to be an upset or two by a team without the home ice advantage, though. As we get ready for the start of another grueling playoff season in the NHL -- the hardest playoffs to win of any in any sport, by the way -- here’s a look at my NHL Playoff predictions for three lower seeds that have the potential to pull off a surprise and last for more than one series.

NHL Betting Trends: Hot and Cold Report
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 3/31/2011

The Flyers are close to sewing up home-ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, but they are still struggling in terms of winning in regulation and winning by more than a goal. In the Flyers last 17 games they have been favored 14 times, meaning on the puck line they were -1.5. In those games Philadelphia is a staggering 2-14 on the puckline.

NHL Predictions: Stanley Cup Futures Odds
by T.O. Whenham - 3/24/2011

We’re into the stretch drive of the NHL regular season. Teams that have playoff positions secured are looking to get into postseason form, and those that want a spot but don’t have one secured yet are either desperately fighting for one, or wilting under the pressure. This time before the playoffs start, when casual hockey bettors start to pay more attention to the sport, is a good time to take another look at Stanley Cup futures to see if we can find any NHL predictions worth betting on (odds are from BetUS):

NHL Betting: Hockey Totals Trends
by David Schwab - 3/24/2011

The NHL regular season is winding down as teams continue to jockey for position for the upcoming playoffs. While the majority of people that regularly wager on hockey tend to focus their NHL handicapping efforts on the money line, there is plenty of value to be mined from the total line if you take the time to analyze the numbers.

NHL Handicapping: Tight Playoff Races
by T.O. Whenham - 3/11/2011

The NHL playoff races are very intense right now. The East is a typical race, but the West can really only be called insane. As I write this there are eight teams within four points of each other, and room for only five of them in the playoffs. There are going to be three very disappointed teams once the dust settles. That settling of the dust is as many as 15 games away for some of the teams in the battle, so there is a lot left to do.

Sports Interaction: NHL Hockey Picks For Thursday, Feb. 24
by Sports Interaction - 2/24/2011

Dallas has a strong recent record against Detroit, winning seven of the last eight. But the goals have dried up completely for one of the star – sorry – teams before the All-Star break. Dallas is being outscored by worse than two to one in recent games and the Stars’ inability score on power plays just how much they’re struggling to find the net.

NHL Hot And Cold Lists
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 2/23/2011

Plenty of teams are heating up and cooling down on the ice as we head toward the NHL Trade Deadline. That date – Feb. 28 this year – will really separate who’s who and what’s what in pro hockey but how teams are playing leading up to the deadline could have a big impact as far as which teams make moves and which teams stand pat.

NHL Trade Deadline Predictions And Analysis
by T.O. Whenham - 2/21/2011

If you are an American hockey fan and have never watched or followed Canadian coverage of the NHL trade deadline then you really need to. It’s a spectacle. We take this day really seriously up here - thing NFL draft day in the States. There is wall-to-wall coverage all day, and six million people dissect every move. It’s all frankly ridiculous, but also kind of fun. Beyond being a spectacle, though, the NHL trade deadline - which is typically by far the busiest of any trade deadline in major sports - can be very helpful for bettors because of the insights it offers.

NHL Handicapping: Pittsburgh Penguins Struggles
by T.O. Whenham - 2/18/2011

Injuries and player absences are a frustrating but inevitable part of hockey. In the case of the Pittsburgh Penguins, though, things are totally out of hand. The last time Pittsburgh played a game they were missing eight forwards that played on opening night. Given that a team only has 12 active forwards at a time, that’s obviously a significant impact. Never mind that one of those forwards, Sidney Crosby, is the best hockey player on the planet, and another, Evgeni Malkin, is easily in the top t10 in the world. Or that in the absence of those guys, one of the guys who would be asked to carry an extra load, Chris Kunitz, is out as well.

NHL Betting: Hot and Cold Teams for Handicapping
by Nicholas Tolomeo - 2/2/2011

The Flames are finally starting to heat up, and not even the all-star break could cool them off. Calgary is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games, giving $100 bettors a total profit of $607 in just over two weeks. The profitable streak was highlighted by a 4-3 shootout win at Vancouver on Jan. 22 when the Flames were +220. Even after the three-day layoff due to the All-Star Game, the Flames opened the second half of the season with another win as a road underdog, winning 3-2 in a shootout at Nashville as +120 underdogs.

Tips and Advice for Betting the NHL All-Star Game
by T.O. Whenham - 1/28/2011

Sports bettors don’t like uncertainty, and they really don’t like betting on things that they haven’t seen before -- there is no history to rely on to tell them what could happen. It’s clear, then, that the NHL didn’t plan their new format for the All-Star game with bettors in mind. Not only has this not been done in the NHL before, but it hasn’t been done in any major sport. There’s a good reason for that -- it’s a ridiculous idea. If you’ve missed it, the league has chosen two captains -- Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal -- and four assistant captains.

NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft
by T.O. Whenham - 1/26/2011

The NHL, in its ongoing battle for more than niche relevance, has decided that the thing to do is to radically overhaul the All-Star Game format. That would be bigger news than it is if the league had any loyalty to their old format in the first place. They have typically played Eastern Conference against Western, but they have also tried other experiments like North America versus the World in the past.

NHL Picks: Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers Odds
by Darin Zank - 1/21/2011

As the NHL's regular season heads into its second half, the two Florida teams are on opposite ends of the standings in the Southeast Division. But are they really that far apart? We'll get a better idea Friday night when the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning head cross-state to skate with the last-place Florida Panthers at the Bank Atlantic Center in that hockey hotbed of Sunrise (7:30 p.m. EST).

Hockey Betting: NHL Studs and Duds
by T.O. Whenham - 1/19/2011

We are just over half way through the NHL season. There is still a lot of hockey left to play, so this is a very good time to take stock of what has happened so far, and what that tells us about what could happen the rest of the way. Here are the four teams that have been kindest to bettors so far this season, and the four that have been totally disrespectful of bettor’s money. Incidentally, just 11 of the 30 teams in the league have been profitable if you had bet on them for every game against the NHL odds, so it’s far more common that a team disappoints than that they shine.

Stanley Cup Predictions and Odds: NHL Futures Betting
by T.O. Whenham - 1/7/2011

We are halfway through the NHL season. That means that it’s a very good time to look at what we have seen so far, and where the value is in the Stanley Cup futures at this point. Here’s a look at a few of the more interesting numbers for NHL futures along with some Stanley Cup predictions (NHL odds are from BetUS):

NHL Predictions: Teams Making A Case for Playoff Spots
by T.O. Whenham - 12/1/2010

We’re only a quarter of the way through the NHL schedule, but a lot of what we have seen so far gives us an insight into what the playoffs will look like. It would seem like it is far too soon to even consider the playoffs. The truth is, though, that consistently as many as seven of the eight teams that are in playoff positions by Thanksgiving are still there by the end of the year. It’s a good time, then, to look at where the teams stand now, and if they can stay there with my NHL predictions for the playoffs:

NHL Betting: Biggest Surprises
by T.O. Whenham - 10/26/2010

We are a couple of weeks into the NHL season. It’s still too soon to get a real sense of what is going to happen in the league and which team is going to win it all. We have seen enough, though, to start to get a sense of where the betting opportunities might lie - at least for the next few weeks. It’s a good time to look at what has been particularly surprising so far in the NHL betting season. Here are six stories that spring to mind for me:

2010-11 Detroit Red Wings Predictions with NHL Futures Odds and Betting Picks
by Alan Matthews - 10/6/2010

Most NHL franchises would call a season in which they put up 102 points and won a playoff series a success, but most NHL franchises aren’t the Detroit Red Wings. You see, the Wings finished second in the Central Division to Chicago, which was the first time since 1999-2000 that the Wings didn’t win the division.

2010-11 San Jose Sharks Predictions with NHL Futures Odds and Betting Picks
by T.O. Whenham - 10/6/2010

Over the years the Sharks have been the best in the league at one thing - choking when they had everything in their favor. Year after year they have gone into the playoffs with a strong team built to succeed, and year after year they have gone home too soon. Last year they had a bit of a breakthrough - they made the conference finals - but they still weren’t quite good enough to get past Chicago. They need to take the next step, and this year is as good a time as any - they aren’t getting any younger.

2010-11 Dallas Stars Predictions with NHL Futures Odds and Betting Picks
by T.O. Whenham - 10/6/2010

The times are changing in Dallas. For as long as I can remember thinking about the Stars meant thinking about Mike Modano, Marty Turco, and Jere Lehtinen. Now all of them are gone - the legendary Modano is in Detroit, Turco has joined the defending champs in Chicago, and Lehtinen is a free agent who may end up retiring at 37. Those guys have been the face of the team for more than a decade, so now it remains to be seen if the team has any kind of face at all this year.