I just received an email with some interesting NHL prop bets that are available this week from Bodog.eu and Bovada.lv. Seeing as the NHL is locked out these prop bets served to give me at least some kind of NHL betting lines to think about and analyze. There are currently 8 NHL prop bets available at each of those sites and I will go through each of them below and outline what play I would make:
NHL Lockout Props
Will the NHL cancel the Winter Classic?
Yes +100
No -175
I’m going to say No. The NHL has too much on the line to lose another season to a lockout only 7 short years since the last lockout made the NHL the only one of the big four professional sports leagues in North America to lose an entire season to a labour dispute. This might be optimism, but I think they will get a deal done in time to play the Winter Classic.
Will Pat LaFontaine be part of a group that buys the New York Islanders before the 2013-14 season?
Yes +300
No -500
No. I find the media blows these kind of stories up too much. The safe bet is usually no with these kinds of things.
Will the Edmonton Oilers and the city of Edmonton come to an agreement for a new arena in 2012?
Yes +150
No -200
No. Once again the safe bet is no. The lockout may also slow down the urgency to get this deal done.
Will a player who played in the NHL last season lead the KHL in scoring?
Yes +150
No -200
No. And I really like this bet. The KHL regular season ends on February 17th and there is a good chance that the NHL lockout will be over by then which will make it much more difficult for an NHLer to win the KHL scoring title. Combine this with the fact that NHLers started the KHL season late and at the time of writing this the highest scoring NHLer in the KHL isn’t even in the top 30 at the moment (Ovechkin has 6 points compared to the league leaders 16) and you see that even if the NHL is locked out for the whole season an NHLer still might now win the scoring title. And for those of you worried about Radulov being considered an NHL player from last year, he only played 9 games and the condition on the bet is that the player must have played at least 10 regular season games in the NHL last season.
Will a player who played in the NHL last season lead the AHL in scoring?
Yes +200
No -300
Here I would still say no based on the fact that I think the NHL lockout will end and the high end players in the AHL will go back to the NHL so they won’t play enough AHL games to win the scoring title. That said I think there is a much better chance of an NHLer winning the AHL scoring title than an NHLer winning the KHL scoring title so these odds are very strange to me. If the NHL is locked out for the year you have to think that an Eberle, Henrique, Skinner or Nugent-Hopkins has the best chance at the scoring title. Spezza won it the last time the NHL locked out.
Will NHL players play at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia?
Yes -300
No +200
Yes. Ovechkin already said he will play in the tournament regardless of whether the NHL takes a break in 2014. That said I’m not completely convinced the NHL will allow players to go because the benefits to the NHL aren’t as great with the tournament in Russia.
Will the NHL Cancel the 2012 NHL Thanksgiving Showdown on NBC?
Yes -300
No +200
Yes. I don’t think the NHL will be back that soon, but I am hoping by before Christmas.
There you go, some interesting NHL prop bets for you to think about while there is no NHL to watch. Visit Bodog.eu to bet on any of these props (Bovada.lv if you are from the United States).
Good luck and let’s keep our fingers crossed for NHL hockey soon.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: NHL Lockout • prop bets