The National Hockey League doesn’t nearly get the type of attention from the betting public that the NFL does, but there is one time of year when everybody seems to want to jump on the bandwagon.
Right before Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There is nothing quite like the first two weeks of the NHL postseason, and to get punters up to speed, we spoke with former NHL player Paul Bissonnette, a DraftKings partner who serves as a league analyst for TNT and co-hosts the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast, to talk about the shape of the betting market ahead of Round 1, which begin April 19.
DraftKings Sportsbook has a whopping 10 teams between +800 and 11/1 odds, which makes this year’s tournament have the same feel as a Kentucky Derby.
But Bissonnette is in agreement with the Post that one team should stand out as the favorite before the show gets underway this weekend.
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“I would say the smart money would be on Vegas,” Bissonnette told The Post. “They won the Pacific division, they’re drawing Minnesota in Round 1 and I like their path after that.
“The Knights are healthy, they’ve got great goaltending behind an unbelievable back-end, but ultimately it comes down to how well they control the middle of the ice with Jack Eichel, Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson.”
The one team he thinks doesn’t belong is Edmonton (+900).
“I’m actually surprised that the Oilers are still at the top of the board,” Bissonnette said. “Perhaps people think they’re playing possum or something.”
There are also a couple of sleepers that Bissonnette has his eye on in Round 1.
“I really like Jordan Binnington and what he brings to the playoffs for the St. Louis Blues,” the former NHLer said. “We all talk about (Connor) Hellebuyck, who is one of the greatest regular-season goaltenders of all-time, but if you look at his playoff numbers, I don’t want to say he melts down, but the numbers are the numbers.
“In the East, how about Montreal? They’ve got this young group, and maybe the mojo has gotten too high, too quickly for Washington during Alex Ovechkin’s record chase, so sprinkle a little bit on Montreal because of the odds you’re going to be getting.”
DraftKings has St. Louis as a +160 underdog against the Jets and the Canadiens sitting at +260 against the Capitals.
For those bettors out there who love themselves a long shot with serious legs, there’s no better market than the race for the Conn Smythe at this time of year.
Hellebuyck and Nathan MacKinnon are the favorites to be named MVP of the playoffs at +1400 odds, but there’s always some serious value further down the board.
Connor McDavid won the Conn Smythe as the favorite last year, but the spring before that it was Jonathan Marchessault, who was a hefty long shot before the tournament started.
“You want to look for someone who is going to lug the mail,” Bissonnette explained. “So, if Florida is going to make another run, I like (Aleksander) Barkov to get the Conn Smythe. He plays so many minutes, in so many situations, and is so good at dishing the puck to Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk on a lethal power play.”
Barkov is currently 21/1 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
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