Hockey Betting

With hockey season just around the corner, it is surely time to visit the hockey betting market to bet on the conference winners and Stanley Cup Champions. The nice thing about the hockey betting futures market is that you can often find hockey teams to select that present significant value. With parity in terms of the strength of hockey teams in the NHL becoming more and more apparent, there is opportunity to hop on some sure bet picks in the futures market before the teams surprise fans and bettors alike to the upside.

Here are some of the teams who present value in the 2009-2010 NHL Season’s futures market:

Paying $600 on a $100 futures bet, the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins return an elite squad led by the likes of scoring threats Sydney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, as well as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Fresh off their Stanley Cup victory, the Pens look to defend their championship. The path to returning Stanley Cup glory, however, is full of potential roadblocks from within the Penguin’s own division, as the division champion New Jersey Devils, as well as the Philadelphia Flyers do not plan on simply laying down to the champs.

Speaking of the Devils and Flyers, despite finishing with the best record in the Atlantic Division, the New Jersey Devils pay an amazing $2000 per $100 bet should they capture Lord Stanley’s cup. By comparison, the Philadelphia Flyers equaled the regular season record of the Penguins in terms of total points and pay $1500 on each $100 bet towards their winning of the Stanley Cup. Rounding out last year’s elite teams from the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins return $1000 on a $100 hockey bet for Stanley Cup champions in the upcoming NHL Season, as do the Southeast Division champion Washington Capitals.

Heading over to the Western Conference, the San Jose Sharks sported the best record in the 2008-2009 NHL Regular Season. The Sharks have a Hockey Odds return of $800 on $100 bets for San Jose to become Stanley Cup champions this year. The defending Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings, who put on an amazing post-season run, only to fall short of the Pens reward $100 bets with a return of $450. The Wings are the chalk of the upcoming NHL season.

With that in mind, the Penguins at six to one present significant value among the most logical contenders. In fairness, none of these teams are unfairly valued to the bettor, especially when considering the potential payday among the NHL’s elite teams.

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MLB: Games for Tuesday, Sept. 8

OK, do we know who’s playing on what team now? In the confusion of all these last-minute moves, one might think the Jim Thome trade is what will put Los Angeles over the hump, but the real pickup for the Dodgers was the underrated Jon Garland. Also, where the hell is Thome going to regularly play? If you think first base, good luck with that. So a pinch-hitter and a DH on the road if they make it to the series. Hope that’s not how Thome ends his career. Anyway…

In an interesting twist, the Dodgers travel to Arizona, where Garland will throw for his new team, against his old one. I’m sure there are no hard feelings, and Arizona isn’t much more than a spoiler at this point, but you gotta believe Garland will have the classic online sports betting 1,2 punch of showing up his old team and trying to get a W for his new one as strong motivating factors here. Garland’s record is not indicative of his talent (8-11), but his ERA just might be 4.2. He’s been just about around 4 his entire career, but he’s a workhorse who’s nearly unhittable when he’s hot. Consistency has always been his problem, but I still think the Angels are wishing they’d have held onto him. The D-Backs currently have Bill Buckner listed to start, and you’ll have to take my word when I tell you his numbers are atrocious. Still only 5 up in their own division, the Dodgers also are in a three-way race for home field advantage throughout the NL playoffs, so every win counts. Even as the road team, their hitting (and maybe even Thome!) should tee off against the weak pitching offering from Arizona. Dodgers -160, Arizona +140. I’d also bet the over if it’s at 13 or fewer runs.

Speaking of players moving around, the Rays unceremoniously dumped Scott Kazmir, which was a surprise. Looks like the White Sox aren’t the only ones throwing in the towel on 2009 (nice Peavy pickup guys, really, great job). I think I can officially call my “fluke” stance a successful prediction for these pretenders. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong next year, but likely not. Welcome back to mediocrity Tampa Bay. David Price pitches for them against a ridiculous Yankees squad (only a matter of time before they hit 100 wins). Price has a winning record, but only by a game, and his other numbers are just as blah as his team’s performance this year. The Yankees, at home, throw Gaudin, who’s 5-10 record really must be indicative of his performance this year, because it seems like the Yanks win every other game he doesn’t start. Probably doesn’t matter, though. The Rays know their done, and they’ll fade closer to .500 in the last month of the season. The Yanks should tear this one up. Yanks have baseball odds of -175, and the Rays +160. The risk/return isn’t really worth betting the Yanks unless you’re comfortable putting up some big bucks, but they shouldn’t have any problems winning this one.

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