Hockey Handicapping Articles

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.

NHL Handicapping for New Betting Season: Potential Surprise Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 10/11/2016

We are right on the verge of the start of the NHL season. Here where I sit in Canada it is like we are on the eve of a national holiday. At this point the fans of almost every team in the league are optimistic. They believe that things will be better than last year - except for in Pittsburgh where they just expect it to be the same as it was. Some of those fans will be right. As many will be desperately wrong, and their souls will be crushed by the fate of the squad.

NHL Betting Advice: Potential Wagering Disappointments for the New Season
by Trevor Whenham - 10/11/2016

As I write this it is Tuesday. The NHL season starts on Wednesday. Most of the opening day levels are either set now or are just hours away from being so. That means that we can start to have a sense of what we think teams are and what their seasons are going to look like. In some cases we will be right. In others we will be very wrong. As I look at teams and where they are at, here are four teams that strike me as vulnerable. They may be just fine, but they could very easily fall well short of the expectations people have for them. (Odds to win the Stanley Cup are from BetOnline):

2016 New York Islanders Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/10/2016

If you're looking to take a flyer on Stanley Cup futures bet long shot, why not the New York Islanders? It may be a year early, but this young and largely blue-collar, tight-knit group is coming off consecutive 100-point seasons and the franchise's first playoff series win since 1993.

NHL Odds and Expert Betting Picks: Season Preview and Analysis
by Alan Matthews - 10/7/2016

The NHL offseason feels shorter than any of the four major American sports leagues -- and it is by a little over the NBA -- but the chase for the Stanley Cup resumes already next week as the pick drops on the 2016-17 campaign Wednesday.

2016 Montreal Canadiens Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/7/2016

Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens is considered the best goalkeeper in the NHL, if not the world. On Nov. 25, Price went down for the season with an MCL sprain. The downfall of the Canadiens immediately followed. Montreal, which the year prior had posted a lofty 110 points in the regular season, opened a perfect 9-0-0 and was off to the quickest start in team history until Price's injury.

2016 Dallas Stars Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/6/2016

The Dallas Stars roared back to relevancy last season. After reaching the playoffs just once the previous six years (2013-14), the Stars topped the Western Conference last season with 109 points (50-23-9). That was followed by a second-round playoff exit to the second-seeded Blues in seven games, but make no mistake-this is a team rising quickly