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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.
Read more about NHL Betting and Handicapping: Are Edmonton Oilers Finally a Team on the Rise?.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Read more about NHL Handicapping: Calgary Flames a Team on an Upswing?.

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Read more about 2016 Detroit Red Wings Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

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.
Read more about 2016 Boston Bruins Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

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.
Read more about 2016 St. Louis Blues Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

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):
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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.
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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.
Read more about 2016 Anaheim Ducks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 10/11/2016

It's the day before the NHL season starts. That means that I can no longer hold off on making my Stanley Cup predictions before the season begins. I was waiting as long as I could because there was more contract uncertainty than we have been used to at this time of the year. A lot of the dust is settling in the last 24 hours, though, so we can now plunge ahead fearlessly. Here's a look at who I like and who I really don't (Odds to win the Stanley Cup are from BetOnline):
Read more about 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions.

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.
Read more about 2016 New York Islanders Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

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.
Read more about 2016 Montreal Canadiens Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

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.
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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
Read more about 2016 Dallas Stars Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 Los Angeles Kings Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/5/2016

Los Angeles appears to be a team in transition. Its two Stanley Cup-winning teams were big, powerful and outright imposing. That is still the case to some extent with its championship-winning core of Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty, Selke and Lady Byng winner Anze Kopitar, and All-Star goalie Jonathan Quick. But now Los Angeles is looking to instill more speed to its attack with fast-paced youngsters like Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.
Read more about 2016 Los Angeles Kings Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 San Jose Sharks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/5/2016

The San Jose Sharks broke through their most immediate glass ceiling when finally reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 2016 after years of playoff heartbreak. The Sharks, which this decade have twice lost in the conference finals and also coughed up a 3-0 series lead in the first round as a No. 2 seed in 2014, finally shed the under-achieving label with hard-fought win in six games over the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference finals. San Jose fell to the Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals 4-2.
Read more about 2016 San Jose Sharks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 Tampa Bay Lightning Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/5/2016

The time is now for the Tampa Bay Lightning. After reaching the Stanley Cup Finals two years ago and getting knocked out in the Eastern Conference finals last season, this is now a battle-tested unit still at the peak of its powers. Oddsmakers seem to agree. At 10-1, the Lightning are the co-second choice to win the Stanley Cup.
Read more about 2016 Tampa Bay Lightning Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 Washington Capitals Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/5/2016

2015-16 was a banner season for the Washington Capitals-right up until the playoffs. The Capitals finished the regular season with easily (56-18-8, 120 Pts) the league's best record to add a President's Trophy to the collection, Barry Trotz won the Jack Adams Award as best coach and Braden Holtby took home the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie.
Read more about 2016 Washington Capitals Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 Chicago Blackhawks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/5/2016

The Chicago Blackhawks have been the NHL's most successful franchise the past several years with Stanley Cup victories in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In last year's quest for a championship repeat, Chicago finished the regular season third in the Western Conference (47-26-9, 103 Pts) before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the higher-seeded St. Louis Blues in a seven-game slugfest.
Read more about 2016 Chicago Blackhawks Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

2016 Pittsburgh Penguins Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds
by Victor Ryan - 10/4/2016

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins had little turnover to their roster this offseason. The only notable departures from last year's team, which provided Pittsburgh its first Stanley Cup since the 2008-09 season, were veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy and backup goalkeeper Jeff Zatkoff (4-7, 2.79 GA). The loss of the productive Lovejoy would seem a hit, but coach Mike Sullivan has tabbed 2012 eighth-overall pick Derrick Pouliot as ready for action. Other than that, this is virtually the same team as a season ago.
Read more about 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins Expert Predictions with NHL Futures Betting Odds.

NHL Futures Odds: Point Totals for New Season Released by Sportsbooks
by Alan Harris - 9/14/2016

Over the last two days, we took a look at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey that gets underway this weekend in Toronto, and now we have some more NHL odds to sink our teeth into before the season starts in early October. Our friends over at The Westgate Superbook have released their point totals for all 30 NHL teams, and they are listed below. We haven't dug too deep into these as we've been working on the World Cup, but we will get to them shortly and have a couple of free plays for you down the road.
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2016 World Cup of Hockey Odds and Expert Betting Predictions Part 2
by Alan Harris - 9/13/2016

Yesterday we previewed the eight teams that will compete in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and at the end of our preview, we promised our futures pick on the team that we have played to win the tournament. So without further adieu, here is our prediction.
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2016 World Cup of Hockey Odds and Expert Betting Predictions Part 1
by Alan Harris - 9/12/2016

The World Cup of Hockey has started exhibition games before the official start of the tournament so the players can get their legs under them before the round-robin stage gets under way on Sept. 17. The tournament, as usual, will feature eight teams, but there is a big difference in this edition compared to others.
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2017 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 6/16/2016

The Stanley Cup has been awarded for another year. Now players can shave their ridiculous beards and get ready for another season. It is, of course, a ridiculous time to be thinking about who will win it next year - there is still the draft, free agency, and an entire season left to get through before the playoffs even begin - and then more than two months of games for teams to survive until just one is left standing. Bovada has Stanley Cup futures odds posted already, though, and when there are odds on something it's never a bad idea to at least take a look.
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2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 5/28/2016

So, it's all set. After what has been a very entertaining playoff run so far we are down to two teams. The Pittsburgh Penguins are far from a surprise. They were among the best teams in the league in the second half of the season, they have two of the best players on the planet, they have a system they believe in very strongly, and the roster is strong. They were a popular pick to be here. The San Jose Sharks were much more of a surprise.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 5/9/2016

Just one team entering Monday has reached the conference finals, and it's a club I didn't think would get there without two of its best players in center and captain Steven Stamkos and defenseman Anton Stralman: the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 5/2/2016

The Pittsburgh Penguins have overtaken the Washington Capitals as Bovada Eastern Conference favorites, with the Pens at +140 and Caps at +150 entering Monday's Game 3 of their tied series in the Steel City. Both are +375 to win the Stanley Cup.
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Free NHL Picks: St. Louis Blues vs. Dallas Stars Second Round Preview
by Chris Vasile - 4/28/2016

St. Louis is definitely the more experienced team that has been down this road before. This year they finally managed to make it out of the first round and exercised some demons. It was a gruelling seven-game battle with Chicago, which could come back to haunt them in the second round.
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2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 4/27/2016

Except for one game, the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in the books. The second round starts on Wednesday as that final game of the first round is played. It is a good time, then, to revisit our NHL Stanley Cup predictions, consider the futures odds, and look at the rest of the road to the Cup. The field is reduced from 16 to nine, so it should be that much easier to find a winner. I don't remember a year as wide open and competitive as this one, though, and with the first round of eliminations of both Chicago and L.A. we are inevitably going to have a less-experienced team winning it all.
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Free NHL Picks: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals Second Round Preview
by Chris Vasile - 4/27/2016

No matter the sport, there will always be a pair of players seemingly intertwined and compared on a daily basis. Whether it was Magic and Bird or Kobe and LeBron in the NBA or Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in the MLB or even Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the NFL… The NHL is no different. It has been Crosby and Ovechkin since the start of the 21st century. And after a seven-year wait the media-built rivalry takes center stage in Round 2 of the NHL Playoffs.
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Free NHL Picks: New York Islanders vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Second Round Preview
by Chris Vasile - 4/26/2016

As the NHL gets set to kick off the second round of playoff action, the two teams who were almost certainly picked to lose their first-round matchup will get the chance to do battle for a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 4/25/2016

Somewhat tough to scout the week ahead because the NHL hasn't yet announced the schedule for the conference semifinal round of the playoffs. In the West, Dallas has advanced after taking out Minnesota in six games. That one was an easy call. I didn't expect to see San Jose eliminate the Los Angeles Kings, but the Sharks did so in five games. That had to be sweet redemption for San Jose after blowing a 3-0 series lead against L.A. in 2014.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 4/18/2016

In my opinion, the big winner of the first week of the Stanley Cup playoffs was the Western Conference top-seeded Dallas Stars. The big loser? The greater Los Angeles area. I didn't give the Stars a great chance of winning the West because while it's a fabulous offensive team, Dallas wasn't great on defense during the regular season. But with has happened to the two L.A. teams thus far, now I'm rethinking that.
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NHL Playoffs Series Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Dave Schwab - 4/13/2016

There is nothing better than playoff hockey in the NHL, and starting this Wednesday night with the Game 1 action in the Conference Quarterfinals there will be eight best-of-seven series on the betting board that could go either way no matter what the regular-season records or the current betting odds say.
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NHL Playoffs Betting Picks: Series Underdogs Worth a Wager
by Trevor Whenham - 4/12/2016

The first round of the NHL Playoffs are set. As a Canadian I can't help being a little sad that no teams from my country are represented, but sadly that just means that the hockey will be better this year - we invented hockey, but our teams are all terrible at it. Without the Canuck influence, what we have are eight pretty compelling playoff series - or, more accurately, seven compelling series and Nashville and Anaheim.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 4/11/2016

Certainly the top storyline has to involve the Chicago Blackhawks, the team of the decade. Chicago has won three Stanley Cups in the past six seasons but has yet to repeat. The last team to go back-to-back was the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 & '98. These Hawks don't look as good as last year's club, but if any team knows how to flip a switch, it's this one. Patrick Kane finished with an NHL-high and career-best 106 points to become the first American-born player to win the Art Ross Trophy as top scorer.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 4/4/2016

Rather hard to imagine already, but it's the final week of the NHL's regular season. And if you happen to be living north of the border or are a fan of a Canadian hockey team, well, sucks for you. That's because all seven teams from that country will miss the playoffs. It's the first time since 1970 that no Canadian team will compete for Lord Stanley's Cup. Back then, the only Canadian teams in the 12-team league were Montreal and Toronto, two of the Original Six franchises.
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2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 3/29/2016

The end is near for the NHL regular season. The New York Islanders have eight games remaining, and every other team has less than that. Most of the playoff fields are set, and the remaining spots are down to just a few teams. For several teams the season is basically over, while for others it is only just beginning. It is a good time, then, to make some final regular-season Stanley Cup predictions and look for futures value before the playoffs are here and casual bettors start paying more attention (all odds to win the Stanley Cup are from BetOnline):
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 3/28/2016

For the most part, we know which teams are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the West, it will be Dallas, St. Louis and Chicago from the Central Division. Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose will make it from the Pacific Division. And Nashville and Minnesota from the Central should claim the final two wild-card spots. The Wild got a huge win in that regard on Saturday against Colorado; the Avs are now five points behind the Wild for that final wild-card spot and Minnesota holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 3/21/2016

We are witnessing something pretty unusual from an individual perspective in the NHL this season that you may not be aware of. Take a look at the NHL points leaders. You have Ottawa's Erik Karlsson tied for fourth in the league with 73 points while leading with 60 assists. And you have San Jose's Brent Burns 10th in points with 65. He has 26 goals. What's so unusual about that? Both are defensemen.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 3/14/2016

One could make the argument that home-ice advantage is more important in the NHL than in the NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball (they don't have ice, but you get the drift). That's because home NHL teams actually have a schematic advantage in that they get the last line change off a stoppage of play. Thus the coach can manipulate matchups if need be.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 3/7/2016

A lot of people thought last season's Tampa Bay Lightning resembled the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks. By that I mean, a young team with a few rising superstars -- Steve Stamkos, Victor Hedman particularly -- ready to be a perennial Stanley Cup contender. Of course, the Bolts lost last year's Finals in six games to those Hawks, but everyone assumed the Lightning would be back.
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NHL Handicapping: Teams Most Improved at Trade Deadline
by Trevor Whenham - 3/2/2016

There were a lot of deals dome at the NHL trade deadline and the days leading into this year. The problem, though, is that they weren't really the big deals that people love and were hoping for. A lot of the names that seemed to inevitably be heading elsewhere ended up staying with their teams. On the actual deadline day the problem seemed to be Calgary. The Flames got a very strong price for defenseman Kris Russell from Dallas in the morning, and that seemed to embolden sellers and scare off buyers to the point that the market wasn't there anymore.
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NHL Trade Deadline Major Moves and Updated Futures Odds
by Chris Vasile - 3/1/2016

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and nobody even batted an eyelash. What was once a very exciting day in the hockey world is now as watered down as three-dollar drinks in any local watering hole. For months, speculation and rumors have run rampant across major hockey markets (all of which are seemingly in Canada) in the hopes of turning plug-and-play roster players into future draft picks and with a high upside.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/29/2016

The NHL trade deadline is no different than those in Major League Baseball or the NBA: the rich get richer and the bad teams throw in the towel and accrue assets for the future. Can I tell you with certainty who will win the Stanley Cup after Monday's NHL trade deadline passed? I can't, but I can tell you which teams to bet against the rest of the season.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/15/2016

Here's hoping you didn't place a bet on the Montreal Canadiens to win the Stanley Cup early this season when the Habs looked unstoppable for a while and became the betting favorites to hoist the Cup.The season went downhill once star goalie Carey Price, the reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner, went down with an injury, and last week came news out of Canada that Price won't return this season.
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NHL Betting Outlook for Four Disappointing Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 2/9/2016

We're past the all-star break in the NHL and closing in on the trade deadline. As teams decide whether they are buying or selling leading up to the deadline, it can be a depressing time for the fans of some teams. Teams that came into the season with high hopes and are struggling by now probably need to accept that it isn't going to happen for them - that this is a lost season. Yet another lost season in many cases.
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NHL Handicapping: Betting Against Taking Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 2/9/2016

Last year the Buffalo Sabres made an art form of tanking. They traded away anyone with a pulse. If they had a goalie playing well they shipped him out and replaced him with someone less competent. They hung head coach Ted Nolan out to dry and then fired him after the season. It was a work of art, except for one thing - they still didn't wind up with the top pick thanks to bad lottery luck. Missing out on Connor McDavid stung, but Jack Eichel was a heck of a consolation prize.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 2/1/2016

After a very entertaining new format in the All-Star Game, the NHL is back in action on Tuesday night. The Washington Capitals enter the second half of the season with an NHL-best 74 points. They have a 15-point lead over the second-place New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division and an 11-point lead over Atlantic-leading Florida for the East's top seed in the playoffs. At Bovada, the Caps are +400 favorites to win the Stanley Cup and +175 for the East title. Tampa Bay is next in the East at +550.
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NHL All-Star Game Free Picks - Fatal Four-Way Edition
by Chris Vasile - 1/29/2016

The biggest story up until recently was the format change in which four teams will take part in a 3-on-3 tournament and will play a semi-final to see who plays for the championship. Each game will be a 20-minute period in which the winners will play for the right to claim the $1 million grand prize.
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NHL Handicapping and Betting: Blackhawks Providing a Boon for Bettors
by Trevor Whenham - 1/19/2016

The Chicago Blackhawks are the defending Stanley Cup champs, and they are serving notice that they have no intention of giving up their crown. They are ridiculously hot right now, having won 11 straight and 14 of their last 16. It's dominant, impressive hockey, and it makes it tough to believe that anyone in the West can match up to them. So, how are they doing it? And what does it mean for bettors? Here are seven factors to consider when pondering those two questions:
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2016 NHL Stanley Cup Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 1/19/2016

We are past the halfway point in the NHL season - a season that has been a gem so far. That means that it is a very good time for us to revisit our Stanley Cup predictions and to look for intriguing value amongst the top contenders to drink from Lord Stanley's mug. The odds suggest that things are shaping up as four elite teams driving the bus and the rest of the squads chasing them from well back. It's tough to argue too much with that perception, though the chasing squads offer some intriguing value. (all odds are from BetOnline):
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 1/18/2016

Count me among the many who expected the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks to take a step back this season. Sure, they'd still make the playoffs because that's not all that tough in the NHL, especially in the Western Conference where there are two fewer teams than in the East. But I certainly didn't expect the Hawks to be one of the league's best regular-season teams and a top Stanley Cup contender again after losing the likes of Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp, among others, off last year's team for salary-cap reasons.
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NHL Handicapping: Surprising Success for Florida Panthers
by Trevor Whenham - 1/15/2016

At the halfway point of the NHL season, the Florida Panthers are running away with their division. Mostly, anyway - they have a solid six-point lead over Detroit. It s hard to believe that that is possible, but it's true. The Panthers - eternal whipping boys in the league except for that one year they somehow made the finals and everyone threw rats - are legitimate. Contenders. All but certainly a playoff team. Amazing. Surprising.
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NHL Betting Advice: Trends and News Bettors Should be Aware of
by Trevor Whenham - 1/14/2016

When we bet on sports we can get in the habit of focusing on only the short term. We think about the next game - maybe the next week at best. Sometimes, though, an advantage can be gained from stepping back briefly from the day-to-day and considering some bigger issues and the impact they could have on the way that games turn out. Take the NHL, for example. We are about halfway through the season, so we have a pretty good sense of where teams are at and what they are.
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NHL Betting Advice: Teams to Watch in Second Half of Season
by Trevor Whenham - 1/7/2016

It's a new year, and in the NHL we are about to enter the second half of the season. It's a good time for bettors to look at what has happened so far and to look at what could happen going forward. Some teams have already shown what they are, and we can expect to see much the same thing from them in the second half.
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NHL Hockey Odds and Picks: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 1/5/2016

Unless you have lived in south Florida for a couple of decades, you probably only considered the Florida Panthers franchise relevant once in its history: the 1995-96 season when the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Finals. That team, led by goalie John Vanbiesbrouck and forwards Scott Mellanby and Rob Niedermayer, was swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the Finals, but hockey was a big deal in Miami then (not any longer).
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NHL Betting Advice: Hot and Cold Teams for Hockey Wagering
by Chris Vasile - 1/4/2016

We are approaching the halfway point in the NHL season - based on the number of games played. This has been the season of parity. Any team can win or lose on any given night. The Western Conference has Dallas setting the pace to a tune of 60 points in 41 games played. They are eight points up on second-place Los Angeles and 21 points up on eighth-place Anaheim.
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