Hockey Handicapping Articles

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.

2015 Montreal Canadiens Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

Carey Price was heavily-decorated last year - not just the Vezina Award for top goalie but the Hart Trophy as MVP. He deserved it all. This is a team that really struggled to score and was laughably hopeless on the power play. That should be a recipe for disaster, but they managed to tally 110 points. The reason for the success was simple - you don't have to score that much when other teams consistently can't score on you. Price is the best goalie on the planet right now and the biggest key for this team.

2015 Vancouver Canucks Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

Need proof that karma is real? In 2011 the Vancouver Canucks were up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals against Boston. The Cup, a first for the organization, was theirs for the taking. But then they lost a lopsided 5-2 game in Boston in Game 6 and then didn't even show up for the deciding game and lost 4-0. In one of the worst shows of sportsmanship in recent memory, the citizens of Vancouver responded by trying to burn their city to the ground. It was a riot for the ages.

2015 Nashville Predators Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

Last year the Predators were one of the biggest surprises in the league. They were easy to count out heading into the season, but when the dust cleared they were second in the Central Division - and could have been even higher if they hadn't slumped down the stretch and lost their last six games. The regular-season momentum didn't stretch into the playoffs, though - they lost to the Blackhawks in six games in the opening round.

2015 San Jose Sharks Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

The window hasn't slammed shut for the eternally-competitive-but-never-successful Sharks just yet, but it isn't exactly wide-open. In the spring of 2014 they collapsed like few teams ever have, coming from way ahead to lose to the Kings. Last year they pouted through the whole season and weren't even a legitimate threat to make the playoffs. It was a fairly aggressive offseason for the team, so now we have to see if they can pretend that last year never happened and become a strong contender again or if last year was a sign that this team needs to start over.

2015 St. Louis Blues Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

If it weren't for those pesky playoffs, this would be the team of the decade so far. They have been very good in the regular season for the last four years. In the playoffs, though, they have just one series win over that time and have found unique ways to disappoint each year. Now they have no excuses, and they sit at the crossroads. Will they cross the threshold and become the serious contender they should be, or are they just going to be the like the San Jose Sharks and content themselves with being very good until it matters?

2015 Toronto Maple Leafs Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/23/2015

I write hundreds of articles each year. Perhaps my favorite annually is this one. The reason is simple - it's so easy to write, and I have a near certainty of being right. See, my preview every year contains basically the same phrase - the Toronto Maple Leafs suck, and they are going to continue to suck this year. It's that easy - succinct and always right.

2015 New York Islanders Predictions and Futures Odds with Betting Picks
by Trevor Whenham - 9/22/2015

It's a time of significant change for the Islanders. After a long history in Uniondale, including a stretch when they were one of the best teams to ever play the sport, the team is leaving the decrepit Nassau Coliseum for the shiny Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It's a huge upgrade in so many ways, but it will still take a while to get used to the Islanders playing elsewhere.