Last week’s betting article was a guide to hockey betting as well as a brief look at the team odds the Edmonton Oilers are facing and which bets looked good. Since nobody really wants to spend all day looking at all the bets being offered to weed out the good from the bad from the ugly, I have done the job for you, purely out of the goodness of my heart.
Here are some good looking individual bets concerning the Oilers.
Individual awards
Art Ross and Hart Trophy
One of the futures you can bet on is individual awards. Connor McDavid is currently the favourite to win the Art Ross Trophy at -180 and Leon Draisaitl is at +1000. If you read the article I wrote last week on betting, you know I like the underdog. You bet a little, if you’re right, you win a lot; if you’re wrong, you lose a little. For this reason Draisaitl at +1000 looks pretty good to me. He has won the Art Ross once before, and he’s most likely playing on a revitalized second line and on the power play as well as in certain situations with McDavid. It’s not hard to imagine Draisaitl putting up a career year.
Next up is the Hart Trophy. McDavid is the favourite to win, but at favourable odds of +150. This is probably worth putting some money on. In a tumultuous sea of poor odds given to McDavid for individual bets, this is a lifeline thrown to those of us McDavid fans who would like to place even more responsibility on his heavily-laden but capable back in the form of a bet—a way to share in his greatness by being so darn smart you saw this coming. Just as smart as he is good at hockey.
Draisaitl is also worth betting on to win the Hart Trophy. At +2000 odds, you really can’t afford not to. As mentioned above, he is capable of winning the Art Ross Trophy and the Art Ross winner has been the Hart winner seven of the last 10 years. I wouldn’t consider it likely, but I do like the given odds.
Not an Oiler, but Matt Rempe is also +50,000 to win the Hart, you just never know.
Vezina Trophy
A very interesting bet could be Stuart Skinner to win the Vezina Trophy. He is currently a heavy underdog at +5000, 18th on the list. While I wouldn’t consider this likely, I definitely think these are favourable odds.
Skinner ranked 14th last year in save percentage with .905, 13th in GAA at 2.62, and fifth in wins with 36, all among goalies with over 50 games played. While these are nowhere near Vezina numbers, a goalie’s stats can be heavily helped out by the team they are playing on. If the Oilers have a great season and can play well enough defensively then Skinner may surprise people.
Skinner is still young, 25-years-old, and going into only his third full year as the Oilers’ starter. To me, the odds do not match the actual likelihood of Skinner winning the Vezina, this is worth putting some money on.
Rocket Richard Trophy
Zach Hyman is currently +2000 to win the Rocket Richard Trophy, McDavid +1000, and Draisaitl +700. All these are worth putting some money on in my opinion. Just choose one, or all three if you simply can’t decide.
Hyman is probably the best bet here though, +2000 odds, seventh on the list. This is not consistent with the fact that Hyman was third in goals last year with 54, behind only Auston Matthews with a whopping 69 and Sam Reinhart with 57. Reinhart is good, but I can’t see him scoring that many again. Matthews is the heavy favourite at -110 odds but what if he gets hurt? 54 goals for Hyman seems repeatable,since the Oilers are probably even hungrier this year. Hyman winning the Rocket Richard, while crazy two years ago, does not seem so crazy now.
Norris Trophy
Evan Bouchard at +750 to win the Norris Trophy. The NHL has been beset upon by incredible, offensively talented and offensively oriented defenceman and last year Bouchard added himself to those ranks. Bouchard will have a very tough time beating out the likes of Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Roman Josi, and Adam Fox—all talented defenceman on offensive powerhouses.
Bouchard’s skating does leave something to be desired when compared to the others, but his booming shot could bring him to the promised land through goals. This was a huge argument for Makar’s Norris winning season, where he was second to Josi in points but put up 28 goals, astounding for a defenceman.
The Norris has not been dominated by any one player in recent years, going to a first time winner eight of the last 10 years and to a young gun in three of the last four years. Why not Bouchard next year?
Miscellaneous individual bets
Just for interest sake, BET365 offers odds on certain players to score over a certain number of points in 10 point intervals from 50+ points all the way up to 140+ points. So, for example, you can bet on Nazem Kadri to score 50+ points this regular season at -900, or the exciting young Russian Matvei Michkov to score 60+ points at +300.
Interestingly enough, BET365 is not even offering odds on McDavid till the 110+ section, currently set at -550, which is a joke. This continues till the 140+ section where McDavid has ludicrous +280 odds. +280!!?! To score 140+ points!!? McDavid has only scored over 140 points once in his career. It’s been done five times in the last 30 years, three times in the last 28 years. Sometimes the odds makers are just not very nice. Needless to say I don’t think this bet is worth it, though it’s a feather in McDavid’s cap.
McDavid is +170 to score the most regular season power play points, while these aren’t spectacular odds, and McDavid didn’t score the most last year, he did lead the category the previous three seasons, and the year before that only missed out to Draisaitl by one point. Edmonton’s power play is nearly unstoppable and McDavid is the best payer on it so this is a good bet.
The over/under on Bouchard’s total regular season goals is 17.5, both the over and the under are set at -110 so not a great return. However, Bouchard scored 18 last year in his first full season quarterbacking the power play so I’d call the over a safe bet.
Zach Hyman’s is set at 43.5 which is basically the half-way point between last year’s total and the year before, but I don’t see much changing for Hyman, betting the over is another solid bet.
Although I hate to do it to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, his over/under on total regular season points is set at 81.5 both the over and under at -110. I love Nugent-Hopkins, but he has only scored over that many points once in his 13-year career, so the under seems likely.
Lastly, Skinner’s total wins over/under is set at 34.5, which is high considering he has only been over this total once. The Oilers are likely going to win a lot of games next year and he is going to be starting a lot of those. I like the over on this partially because Skinner is a solid tendy, but also because it doesn’t rest solely on his shoulders, the Oilers will win a lot of games that he doesn’t play well.
All said and done, the Oilers could be a veritable well of betting success, lining your pocket with cash and your heart with pride, what else in life can do that for you?
betting odds from BET365 and stats from NHL.com
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
