NHL Picks (Today's Free Predictions, Tips, Parlays)

Free NHL Picks: Red Wings at Canucks Odds
by George Monroy - 10/29/2013

Wednesday night’s matchup between the Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks will be a battle of streaks. Detroit is currently on a four-game slide and has not won since they beat the Colorado Avalanche 13 days ago. Vancouver, on the other hand, is in the middle of a four-game win streak that includes a huge victory over the Western Conference-leading St. Louis Blues on Friday.

Free NHL Picks: Maple Leafs at Oilers Odds
by George Monroy - 10/28/2013

The Toronto Maple Leafs may have gotten their most impressive win of the young season on Saturday when the team shut down the Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins during a 4-1 victory. Toronto’s hot start to the season has them tied for the Atlantic Division lead with the Tampa Bay Lightning with 16 points apiece. Before the year began, most sportsbooks and NHL experts had the Maple Leafs as a mid-tier team receiving the eighth- or ninth-best odds to win the Conference.

Free NHL Picks: Sabres at Panthers Odds
by George Monroy - 10/24/2013

The Buffalo Sabres season has gone from bad to worse as forward Patrick Kaleta’s appeal of his 10-game suspension for hitting Columbus Blue Jacket’s defensemen Jack Johnson in the head was denied on Thursday. Kaleta is a repeat offender and was given a stiffer-than-usual penalty for the potentially-dangerous contact, which did not injure Johnson.

Free NHL Picks: Coyotes at Kings Odds
by George Monroy - 10/23/2013

The Los Angeles Kings are in the third game of an extended homestand where they will play eight of their next nine matchups inside of the Staples Centers. The team will probably be looking to put together a solid winning streak in order to gain some ground on a packed Pacific Division that already has four teams with six or more victories. Los Angeles may not have started the season the way it would have wanted to and suffered two losses during their first three games.

Free NHL Picks: Blackhawks at Panthers Odds
by George Monroy - 10/21/2013

The Florida Panthers have not won two games in a row all season, and to be quite honest they will have a difficult time making that happen when the team faces the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Florida is coming off a 2-1 shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, and they will try to take advantage of an extended homestand inside the BB&T Center.

Free NHL Picks: Oilers at Senators Odds
by George Monroy - 10/18/2013

The Edmonton Oilers are in the middle of a brutal portion of their schedule and will visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night to play their fifth straight road game in a seven-day span. The team is finishing out an eight road game stretch that will be interrupted by one home game next Thursday. Edmonton only has one win on the season and is probably building an insurmountable hole two weeks into the year.

Free NHL Picks: Blues at Jets Odds
by George Monroy - 10/17/2013

The St. Louis Blues opened up the season on a ridiculous pace that saw the team win its first four games by a 19-7 margin. The Blues then played a high-profile matchup against the also-undefeated San Jose Sharks that quickly go out of control as St. Louis’ forward Maxim Lapierre left Sharks’ defensemen Dan Boyle unconscious after a brutal hit from behind. Boyle left the game on a stretcher, and Lapierre was ejected and suspended indefinitely pending an in-person hearing.

Free NHL Picks: Blue Jackets at Canadiens Odds
by George Monroy - 10/16/2013

The Montreal Canadiens will open up a five-game homestand inside the Bell Centre when the team faces the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night. The Canadeins are riding a three-game winning streak and have held their opponents to only two goals during that time. Montreal’s goaltender, Carey Price, has been fantastic in that span and earned his 20th-career shutout against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. Prices’ production at the net has masked the Canadiens’ lack of puck control as of late.

Free NHL Picks: Flames at Ducks Odds
by George Monroy - 10/15/2013

The Calgary Flames will take a trip to the Honda Center on Wednesday night to face a surging Anaheim Ducks team has won four games in a row after losing its first game of the season. The Ducks have outscored their opponents 17-6 during that stretch and are playing some of the best hockey in the league. The Flames have also played well to begin the year and have scored eight points on three wins and two overtime losses.

Free NHL Picks: Oilers at Penguins Odds
by George Monroy - 10/14/2013

The Edmonton Oilers started off the season with four losses in their first five games, and to make matters even worse the team now heads to Pittsburgh to face the division-leading Penguins on the second night of a road back-to-back. The Oilers were a team that many experts believed would make the playoffs and, at minimum, be a solid regular-season team. However, the beginning of the season has not gone Edmonton’s way, and unfortunately things are about to get tougher for the team.

Free NHL Picks: Wild at Sabres Odds
by George Monroy - 10/14/2013

The Minnesota Wild will begin a four-game road trip Monday night when the team travels to Buffalo for a matchup against the Sabres. The game will take place in the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York, as the Sabres try to win their first game of the season. Buffalo has six straight losses to start the year and has been outscored 16-6 over those games. The team only has one point so far this season, which came from an overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning nearly a week ago.

Free NHL Picks: Stars at Wild Odds
by George Monroy - 10/11/2013

The Dallas Stars began the season with two games over a three-day stretch, and then were given five days off. Nearly every other team in the league already had four games under its belt before Dallas played the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night. That lack of playing time might have a huge impact during Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Wild. The matchup will be the first of a scheduled four meetings between the teams, with the next game not coming until early next year.

Free NHL Picks: Avalanche at Bruins Odds and Predictions
by George Monroy - 10/10/2013

The Colorado Avalanche have had as good of a start to the season as a team could hope for. The Avalanche are undefeated and have only allowed three goals in three games worth of action. Newly-minted head coach Patrick Roy’s squad was not expected to do much this year and was not really on anyone’s radar before the season began. But after three games, six points scored, and an excellent display on the defensive end, the team just might be a playoff contender after all.

Free NHL Picks: Devils at Canucks Odds and Predictions
by George Monroy - 10/8/2013

The New Jersey Devils are currently in the middle of a brutal schedule to open the season. The team will travel for six road games during its first seven games of the year and will tonight visit a Vancouver Canucks team that has put up 11 points during its last two games. The Devils lost their home opener to the New York Islanders on Friday in a 4-3 shootout loss, while the Canucks handily won their home opener 6-2 over the Edmonton Oilers.

Free NHL Picks: Flyers at Canadiens Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 10/5/2013

The Philadelphia Flyers were easily one of the NHL's biggest disappointments last season. They finished just above .500, but their 49 points weren't enough to reach the playoffs, which is unacceptable for one of the NHL's biggest spenders. It was the first time the Flyers didn't play extra hockey since the 2006-07 campaign and just the second time since 1994.

Free NHL Picks: Sabres at Red Wings Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 10/1/2013

Welcome to my first NHL preview for the new season, on which the puck dropped less than three months after the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup. It's a new-look NHL with the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets now in the Eastern Conference and the Winnipeg Jets out West.

Free NHL Picks: Pittsburgh Penguins Futures Odds
by George Monroy - 9/25/2013

Last season the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the most disappointing way possible—a four-game sweep in the Eastern Conference Finals. The team battled injuries to key players for most of the lockout-shortened season and still managed to make a deep postseason run without it best player, Sidney Crosby, being fully healthy. The Penguins are expected to be one of the top contenders in the league and are projected by many pundits to make the Stanley Cup Finals.

NHL Picks: Los Angeles Kings Futures Odds
by George Monroy - 9/19/2013

The Los Angeles Kings followed up their championship season with another impressive run that ended with a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference finals. The Kings finished the lockout-shortened season with a 27-16-5 record and 59 points, which was good for a second-place finish in the Pacific Division and fifth overall in the West. The team did not defend its Stanley Cup Championship but was able to put another very good season in the books.

NHL Picks: Eastern Conference Championship Odds
by George Monroy - 9/12/2013

The NHL’s Eastern Conference will be a bit more difficult to navigate once the upcoming 2013-14 season begins. The East sent the Winnipeg Jets packing in the Conference realignment but in return received the Columbus Blue Jackets and the perennial-contender Detroit Red Wings. The Conference will have an extra team and another group gunning for a Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

Red Wings at Blackhawks Picks and Game 7 NHL Odds
by Alan Matthews - 5/29/2013

Is the National Hockey League regular season way too long? It most definitely is, although not this year because of the lockout. But the teams battle it out 82 games a year in order to get home-ice advantage in the postseason. And winning the Presidents' Trophy will certainly pay off for the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night as they will host Game 7 of their Western Conference semifinals series against the Detroit Red Wings. Whatever the result, it will be the final playoff game between these Original Six rivals likely for a very long time with the Wings off to the Eastern Conference.