Training camps open today in the NHL and we are now only a few weeks away from the start of the 2014-15 NHL season. I for one am getting excited and today I checked out Bovada (Bodog for Canadians) and saw that they are offering over/under betting odds for the total points that each NHL team will finish with this season. I personally think they are way off on some of these projections so I was willing to give up the -115 juice and lock in my cash for the season because I am very confident in the results.
I’ll take a look at a few of the bets I made in the post below, but you should visit http://www.Bovada.lv if you want to see the full list of odds. You can find the odds by clicking on ‘NHL Team Props’ under ‘Hockey’ at the Bovada website.
Bovada is one of my favourite sites for prop bets. If you are interested in learning more about Bovada from an outside source I suggest checking out the Betting Brain Bovada review. It’s a solid review and they give Bovada a 93% rating.
Ottawa Senators Over/Under 80.5
The Sens are not being given any respect this year and I’m ready to capitalize on that as a sports bettor. The only teams projected to get less points than the Sens this year are the Sabres, Flames and Panthers. Last season the Senators had a very poor season and still managed 88 points. Sure, they won their last 5 games to jump up to 88 points, but overall they had a bad year. I think people are looking too hard at Jason Spezza leaving as a reason this team will tank. That’s not the case in my head. In 2012-13 Spezza only played 5 games and the Sens made the playoffs. I for one think that this team will be better without him. He was a -26 last season and just looked disinterested on the defensive side of the puck at times.
A healthy and more mature Karlsson, two strong goaltenders in Anderson and Lehner, and a commitment to defense by a team that wants to prove the critics wrong should be enough to make the Sens a playoff contender this season. I have the Sens slotted in for 92 points this season, so this is an easy over.
Play: Senators Over 80.5 points.
San Jose Sharks Over/Under 102.5 points.
The Sharks kept the majority of their team together after last season. They didn’t keep Dan Boyle, but he is the only real notable absence. The Sharks are talking about having a rebuild, but they are still one of the strongest teams from top to bottom in the league. They always have a great regular season and I don’t see why this year will be any different. Last year they finished with 111 points and with Thornton, Marleau, Couture, Pavelski and company still with something to prove I expect a strong regular season from this group. The young guys sprinkled throughout the lineup should also give them a lot of energy to get through the season.
Play: Sharks Over 102.5 points.
Dallas Stars Over/Under 94.5 points
The Stars have a lot of hype coming into this season after adding Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky in the offseason to give themselves a solid second line that should help them in the Western Conference. The Stars had a solid season last year finishing with 91 points, but they were fortunate to get that many and I don’t think they should be expecting much of a jump. Spezza still has to prove himself to me as an effective two-way player. Perhaps playing behind Seguin will allow him to have weaker competition, but I’m not holding my breath.
The Stars allowed 228 goals against last season, which was the most of all the playoff teams in the West. With Spezza being added they might score more goals, but this number will also likely increase. The defense core is also not one of the best in the league. Goligoski can only do so much back there and I don’t think Gonchar will have a bounce back contract year this time around like he did in Ottawa. Expect Dallas to get around the 88-90 point total and be a bubble playoff team once again.
Play: Stars Under 94.5 points.
Tagged With : Dallas Stars • NHL Betting • NHL Points • Ottawa Senators • San Jose Sharks