The NHL (National Hockey League) regular season starts on Wednesday 3rd of October 2018 and runs until April 2019 with the playoffs continuing the season until the final in June. This year sees some great markets available for anti-post betting online with on-going season bets also available in the same markets.
The betting markets range from the outright Stanley cup winner, conference winner and division winner through to individual performance betting such as Top goal scorer and Top points scorer markets. Please see below for information about the markets available, odds (prices) and recommended bets.
Outright – To win the Stanley Cup
The markets opened with Tampa Bay Lightning as outright favorites @ 9.00 with Toronto Maple Leafs second favorites @ 9.50 followed by the Boston Bruins @ 10.00.
Tampa Bay Lightning have won the Stanley Cup once (2003-04), the Eastern Conference twice (2003-04, 2014-15) and the Atlantic division three times (2002-03, 2003-04 and 2017-18). Last season they lost the Eastern Conference Championship series to eventual Stanley Cup Winners Washington Capitals.
Toronto Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup 13 times but their last Stanley Cup was in the 1966-67 season (when there were only six teams) so basically they haven’t won outright for over 50 years. Considering this, the price @ 9.50 is an extremely poor one. They have never won a conference which means they have never made it to a Stanley Cup final since 1967 either. They have managed to win the Atlantic division though – once since 1937-38, they won it in 1999-2000. Last season they were knocked out of the first round playoff by Boston Bruins by 4-3. We recommend staying away from this bet.
*Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup six times, their last win was in the 2010-11 season. They have two President Trophies (this is given to the team that finishes first in the combined league at the end of the regular 82 game season) in 1989-90 and 2012-13. They have won the Eastern Conference four times with the last one in 2012-13 when they lost the final to Chicago Blackhawks. They have won the Atlantic division twenty-five times, their last was in 2013-14. Last season they were knocked out of the 2nd round play-offs by Tampa Bay Lightning by 4-1.
The odds then run from Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets @ 11.00 through to Ottawa Senators @ 201.00.
Last year’s winners Washington Capitals are @ 13.00 and we recommend avoiding this bet. Their coach from last season quit and their star player Ovechkin is quite unlikely to be the most motivated player in the NHL next season now that he has won it.
Last season’s finalists *Las Vegas Golden Knights are @ 15.00.
*Pittsburgh Penguins, won the Stanley Cup back to back in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and have arguably the best player in the world (Sidney Crosby), are @ 13.00
Outright Conference winner
The NHL has two conferences – the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference.
The joint favorites for the Eastern Conference are Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs @ 5.00 followed by the *Boston Bruins @ 5.50 and then the *Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals @ 7.00. Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators are both @ 101.00
For the Western Conference the *Nashville Predators are favorites @ 5.50 followed by Winnipeg jets @ 5.50 and then San Jose Sharks @ 7.00. We like last year’s Stanley Cup finalists Las Vegas Golden Knights @ 8.00. Arizona Coyotes round off the market @ 51.00.
*Doubles (Parlays) are also available and recommended, for example:
A Pittsburgh Penguins @ 7.00 and a Las Vegas Golden Knights @ 8.00 double is @ 56.00
A Winnipeg Jets @ 5.50 and Boston Bruins @ 5.50 double is @ 30.25
Division Winners
Each conference is split into two divisions. Each division contains eight teams except for the Central division which has seven teams.
The favorites for the Atlantic division are:Tampa Bay Lightning @ 2.62, Toronto Maple Leafs @ 2.75 and *Boston Bruins @3.00
The favorites for the Metropolitan Division are:*Pittsburgh Penguins @ 3.00 and Washington Capitals @3.20
The favorites for the Pacific Division are:San Jose Sharks @ 3.50, *Vegas Golden Knights @ 4.33 and Los Angeles Kings @ 5.50
The favorites for the Central Division are:Nashville Predators @ 2.50 and *Winnipeg Jets @ 2.62
Doubles, Trebles and 4-folds are generally available in this market:
*A 4-fold accumulator of our recommended Division winners is @ 102.10
* 4 Trebles of 4.00 (1.00 x 4 bets) wins 130.62
* 6 Doubles of 6.00 (1.00 x 6 bets) wins 62.04
A Yankee of 11.00 (1.00 x 11 bets) wins 294.76
A Lucky 15 of 15.00 (1.00 x 15 bets) wins 307.71
Winning Conference and Winning Division
This is where you simply choose which Conference and Division the outright winner will come from:Western Conference 1.91 and *Eastern Conference 1.91
Atlantic Division @ 3.30 Central Division and the Pacific Division are @ 3.40 and Metropolitan Division @ 4.00
The Regular Season Top Goal Scorer and Regular Season Top Points Scorer markets
To be clear about the difference between the two markets, the Top Points Scorer means that players get points for both goals and assists while the Top Goal Scorer market is only for the number of goals scored.
Also worth noting is that the Top Goal Scorer and the Top Points Scorer are almost never the same player.
In the Top Goal Scorer market you will find (like the Champions League in soccer) the same Top Goal Scorer year after year. So Alexender Ovechkin is outright favorite @ 5.50 as he has won it seven times since 2007-08 and won it last year.
*Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) is @ 7.50 and Patrick Laine (Winnipeg Jets) @ 7.50 have never won it.
If you fancy a Russian other than the favorite then *Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) @ 10.00 looks good.
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) is @ 11.00 and has won it twice – in 2009-10 and in 2016-17
In the Top Points Scorer market Connor McDavid is clear favorite @ 3.00 followed by *Sidney Crosby @10.00. We also feel an interesting value bet is Patrick Laine @ 51.00 but when we attempted to bet on it the bookmaker limited our stake to just $40.
Final Word
Other markets are available for example a Canadian Stanley Cup winner “No” is @ 1.18, and To Make the Play-offs and Not to Make the Play-offs markets but the odds are so bad Tampa Bay Lightning @ 1.03 to make the playoffs for example, although Toronto Maple Leafs not to make the play-offs @ 7.50 is tempting.
As the season progresses these odds will fluctuate and change so it is a good idea to monitor teams and their odds throughout the season as then you can find some good value. Some teams are also heavily dependent on one or two players (Toronto – Matthews) and Washington (Ovechkin) so if they get injured it can affect the team dramatically.
Also look out for goaltender form as it is the most important position, for example in the first 30 games of last season Boston Bruin’s Rask was appalling before he turned it around to become amazing.
Good luck with whatever selections you make!
