With each passing day it looks less and less likely that we will be having an NHL season this year. As mentioned in my alternatives for NHL bettors article I decided to mostly follow the AHL this season while the NHL isn’t in action because at least then I can follow the NHL’s farm teams and watch games in prime time.
SportsInteraction.com, one of our top rated online sportsbooks (tops for Canadians) has AHL Calder Cup odds up for this season. Of course the NHL lockout will play a big part in each teams chances of lifting the trophy at the end of the season because certain teams have a number of NHL ready players on the team at the moment, but with it look more and more likely those players will be in the AHL for the entire season you can start to place wagers based on the current rosters. That being said you need to keep in mind that the rosters could change at any moment.
Anyways, let’s take a look at the current odds for each team (I’ll include some key NHL players currently on the roster):
AHL Calder Cup Odds 2012-13
- Norfolk Admirals +275 (2012 Calder Cup Champions – Although the entire roster switched for the Syracuse Crunch roster when the Lightning and Ducks traded affiliate teams)
- Oklahoma City Barons +600 (Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, Justin Schultz)
- Toronto Marlies +800 (Nazem Kadri, Carter Ashton, Joe Colborne, Jake Gardiner, Ben Scrivens)
- Abbotsford Heat +1000 (Baertschi)
- Manchester Monarchs +1000 (Dwight King)
- Charlotte Checkers +1200 (Zach Boychuk, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Justin Faulk, Dan Ellis)
- Chicago Wolves +1800 (Zack Kassian)
- Connecticut Whale +2000 (Chris Kreider, Matt Gilroy)
- Rochester Americans +2000 (Cody Hodgson, Marcus Foligno, Luke Adam)
- Springfield Falcons +2000 (Ryan Johansen, Cam Atkinson, Tim Erixon)
- Binghamton Senators +2500 (Mika Zibanejad, Mark Stone, Jakob Silfverberg, Jared Cowan, Ben Bishop)
- Hershey Bears +2500
- Houston Aeros +2500 (Mikael Granlund, Marco Scandella, Matt Hackett)
- Lake Erie Monsters +2500
- Syracuse Crunch +2500 (The Real 2012 Calder Cup Champions** – Because the entire roster is basically the 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals)
One very interesting thing to keep in mind is that the Norfolk Admirals are basically the Syracuse Crunch from last year, while the Crunch have almost the same roster as the Calder Cup Champion Admirals, who went 43-3 to end the season and finished off the year regular season with the longest winning streak in professional sports history. It’s true that the current Admirals have 10 points in just 6 games to start the season and that roster (2011 Crunch) finished 7th in the East, but at +275 odds the oddsmaker must be looking at the Admirals as the same team that dominated last season.
Prediction
For the reason listed above I would stay away from the Admirals at +275. And for that same reason you have to like the Syracuse Crunch at +2500. The Crunch are (4-1-1) to start the season which shows they do have some ability left over from last season. The dominance that this roster showed last year cannot be overlooked and there is some great value in the Crunch at +2500 in my opinion.
Play: Syracuse Crunch +2500
As for the Barons, you have to factor in Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Hall and Schultz. These four players simply put should be the top 4 players in the AHL this season. That being said NHL superstars don’t win AHL titles. The Barons are (4-3-0) to start the season, which isn’t great considering that last year they had the second best record in the league after Norfolk. Still though these additions to an already solid AHL team should give them a very good chance at the Championship this season if they happen to stay on the team. And even if they don’t Oklahoma showed last season that they are a good team without these NHLers and they will still have a chance to succeed if the NHL lockout ends.
Play: Oklahoma Barons +600
These are the only two plays I like at the moment. Visit SportsInteraction.com to place your bets now! And check out our dedicated AHL betting page.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: AHL betting • Calder Cup betting