Calgary Flames among Stanley Cup value picks
Calgary Flames among Stanley Cup value picks
There's a big gap on the NHL futures list between the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins at the top of the chart and the rest of the league trailing them, and that has Chance shopping for some 'middle shots.' The New Jersey Devils at 10/1 look nice, as do the Calgary Flames at 15/1, and let's not forget about last year's champs from the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anything can happen once you get into the playoffs. That’s the mantra for all the NHL stragglers trying to get into the postseason, where they will most likely end up as fodder for one of the three teams playing at an elite level this year: the Boston Bruins, the San Jose Sharks, and the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings.
The gap between this threesome and the other 27 league members can be seen on the Cup futures market. The Wings and Sharks are co-favorites at 3-1; the upstart Bruins are a relative value at 11-2 despite having the best record in the league at 40-10-8 (39-19 ATS, plus-35.74 units). But we want more of a bang for our buck if we’re going to make a futures bet that won’t pay out until June. So here are my three “middle shots” to hoist the silver chalice.
New Jersey Devils (10-1)
The Devils have held their ground at the top of the Atlantic Division at 37-18-3, which will earn them at least a No. 3 seed come playoff time. And they’ve done it almost entirely without their best player, goaltender Martin Brodeur. Coach Brent Sutter told the New York Post on Sunday that Brodeur was “a couple of weeks” from returning from a torn biceps tendon; Scott Clemmensen and Kevin Weekes each have a stellar .920 save percentage in his absence.
Calgary Flames (15-1)
The Flames have also gotten a .920 percentage out of Miikka Kiprusoff – since the All-Star break, that is. The veteran Finnish netminder was awful during the first two months of the season, but is back in fine form for a Calgary team that has put a stranglehold on the Northwest Division at 33-18-6. They’ll get a boost when double-tough forwards Wayne Primeau (foot) and Brandon Prust (jaw) return to action this month.
Pittsburgh Penguins (15-1)
Last year’s Eastern Conference champions aren’t even in a playoff position right now at 27-25-6. They’ve fired Michel Therrien and replaced him with Dan Bylsma, who was coaching their AHL affiliate. But a coach is only as good as the players at his disposal, and the Pens have only just welcomed back top defenseman Sergei Gonchar and skilled forward Ruslan Fedotenko to the lineup. They’re a mere six points out of fifth place in a conference with a very soft middle class. Pittsburgh will get in and contend.
N.Y Islanders at N.Y. Rangers (-215, 5½)
Wednesday, Feb 18, 7:00 p.m. (ET)
And one of the teams that the Penguins will leapfrog is the Rangers. They’re 30-22-6, tied with the Buffalo Sabres for seventh place in the East, except Buffalo has a goal differential of plus-12 compared to minus-18 for the Blueshirts. Pittsburgh is at minus-5. The Rangers are regressing to the mean at 1-6-2 in their last nine, dropping to 24-34 (minus-9.48 units) against the puckline.
That’s still miles ahead of their Long Island rivals. Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the 17-33-6 Islanders. They lost No. 1 goaltender Rick DiPietro for the season after just five games because of complications with his surgically repaired left knee, leaving them with a combination of AHL veteran Joey MacDonald (.903 SV%) and Montreal castoff Yann Danis. The Isles are also without top forward Doug Weight (35 points in 44 games) for the next month or so with a sprained MCL.
And yet the Islanders find a way to win money at 36-30 ATS (plus-7.15 units). If you can swallow the idea of putting your cash on the worst team in the league, 12 of their 33 losses in regulation time have been by one goal, enough to make them profitable against the puckline version of the betting odds. That includes their last two defeats at the hands of the Rangers. Otherwise, the Islanders are +200 underdogs Wednesday night against the moneyline with a total of 5.5 goals.
There's a big gap on the NHL futures list between the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins at the top of the chart and the rest of the league trailing them, and that has Chance shopping for some 'middle shots.' The New Jersey Devils at 10/1 look nice, as do the Calgary Flames at 15/1, and let's not forget about last year's champs from the East, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Anything can happen once you get into the playoffs. That’s the mantra for all the NHL stragglers trying to get into the postseason, where they will most likely end up as fodder for one of the three teams playing at an elite level this year: the Boston Bruins, the San Jose Sharks, and the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Detroit Red Wings.
The gap between this threesome and the other 27 league members can be seen on the Cup futures market. The Wings and Sharks are co-favorites at 3-1; the upstart Bruins are a relative value at 11-2 despite having the best record in the league at 40-10-8 (39-19 ATS, plus-35.74 units). But we want more of a bang for our buck if we’re going to make a futures bet that won’t pay out until June. So here are my three “middle shots” to hoist the silver chalice.
New Jersey Devils (10-1)
The Devils have held their ground at the top of the Atlantic Division at 37-18-3, which will earn them at least a No. 3 seed come playoff time. And they’ve done it almost entirely without their best player, goaltender Martin Brodeur. Coach Brent Sutter told the New York Post on Sunday that Brodeur was “a couple of weeks” from returning from a torn biceps tendon; Scott Clemmensen and Kevin Weekes each have a stellar .920 save percentage in his absence.
Calgary Flames (15-1)
The Flames have also gotten a .920 percentage out of Miikka Kiprusoff – since the All-Star break, that is. The veteran Finnish netminder was awful during the first two months of the season, but is back in fine form for a Calgary team that has put a stranglehold on the Northwest Division at 33-18-6. They’ll get a boost when double-tough forwards Wayne Primeau (foot) and Brandon Prust (jaw) return to action this month.
Pittsburgh Penguins (15-1)
Last year’s Eastern Conference champions aren’t even in a playoff position right now at 27-25-6. They’ve fired Michel Therrien and replaced him with Dan Bylsma, who was coaching their AHL affiliate. But a coach is only as good as the players at his disposal, and the Pens have only just welcomed back top defenseman Sergei Gonchar and skilled forward Ruslan Fedotenko to the lineup. They’re a mere six points out of fifth place in a conference with a very soft middle class. Pittsburgh will get in and contend.
N.Y Islanders at N.Y. Rangers (-215, 5½)
Wednesday, Feb 18, 7:00 p.m. (ET)
And one of the teams that the Penguins will leapfrog is the Rangers. They’re 30-22-6, tied with the Buffalo Sabres for seventh place in the East, except Buffalo has a goal differential of plus-12 compared to minus-18 for the Blueshirts. Pittsburgh is at minus-5. The Rangers are regressing to the mean at 1-6-2 in their last nine, dropping to 24-34 (minus-9.48 units) against the puckline.
That’s still miles ahead of their Long Island rivals. Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the 17-33-6 Islanders. They lost No. 1 goaltender Rick DiPietro for the season after just five games because of complications with his surgically repaired left knee, leaving them with a combination of AHL veteran Joey MacDonald (.903 SV%) and Montreal castoff Yann Danis. The Isles are also without top forward Doug Weight (35 points in 44 games) for the next month or so with a sprained MCL.
And yet the Islanders find a way to win money at 36-30 ATS (plus-7.15 units). If you can swallow the idea of putting your cash on the worst team in the league, 12 of their 33 losses in regulation time have been by one goal, enough to make them profitable against the puckline version of the betting odds. That includes their last two defeats at the hands of the Rangers. Otherwise, the Islanders are +200 underdogs Wednesday night against the moneyline with a total of 5.5 goals.