Before NHL scores for the playoffs start to gather attention, there are a few factors to consider as you’re picking a Stanley Cup champion, and age and experience is definitely something to look at before making your sportsbook selection.
In particular, you aren’t going to find a team with a lot of rookies or young players having much success in the playoffs and that is no good for their online sportsbook odds. Look at this season, only three of the 10 youngest teams in the league made it to the playoffs, although one is a top seed (the New York Rangers, who have arguably the best goaltender in the league and one that has plenty of experience), one is a darkhorse (Nashville, who has plenty of veterans) and one is a dangerous No.8 seed (the Los Angeles Kings, who also has a few vets).
You must have a few young players on your team as that is the best way to get some creativity into the lineup, especially up front, but you should be experienced at the back end and in goal to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. You can’t just trot out a group of youngsters and expect to win it all; you can only do that in college basketball. You have to get some experience under your belt and take some lumps before you can hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup, so take that into consideration before you lay a sports bet in the NHL playoffs.
The NHL standings are showing some tight races to get into the postseason and that means it’s time to start thinking about your playoff betting choices. There are a number of aspects that go into betting on the Stanley Cup playoffs, and here are just a few of them.
You have to go back and simply look, overall, who is the better team because those who are betting on MLB odds will tell you that over a seven-game series, eventually the better team will win out most of the time. Looking at the head-to-head history between two teams will also be something to check out, but for the most part, lean towards the better team.
You also have to worry about injuries, even though they’re all over the place at this time of year and every player is usually playing with some sort of knock. Pay close attention to the injury reports so you can figure out just how injured a player is; is he going to hurt his team by trying to play through the pain?
But experience may be the biggest factor when you’re trying to pick a team to win a playoff series in the NHL. Teams that have been to the postseason year after year after year will have an edge over a team that is in the playoffs for the first time in a couple years, so remember that as you’re heading to your sport betting online book.
2012 NBA trade deadline is almost here on Thursday, but the NHL had its deadline a few weeks ago and teams were making moves to try and give them a better chance in the postseason. As you prepare to bet on Stanley Cup futures, here are some tips.
Injuries
Injuries are always going to be a factor in a team’s postseason success; teams that have big injuries may not even make it to the playoffs (unless you’re Pittsburgh without Sidney Crosby), or injuries that deplete their depth. Keep a close eye on the injury report before you make your picks.
Playoff Experience
2012 March Madness betting players will look towards a coach’s pedigree when thinking about their picks, and you should do the same with hockey, although you should also look towards the players (in college, players cycle through every four years) who have been through the battles of the postseason, which can be grueling.
Goaltending
You’re not going to get anywhere in the Stanley Cup playoffs without a good goalie or even a hot goalie, and even though the rest of the team has to carry their share, the importance of goaltending is magnified during the postseason, so do a fair amount of research on the goalies, whether they’ve been to the playoffs before, how they fare behind the defense that is in front of them, or they may just play well against certain teams. If one goalie has another team’s number and they meet in the playoffs, the goalie is where you should lean in your sport betting book.
Some NHL trade deadline moves may been caused by injuries as teams look to fill spots as they head into the stretch run towards the playoffs. One of the major storylines over the past couple seasons has been concussions, which really came into the spotlight when Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crossby suffered one in January 2010, sat out until this season and then had to go back on the sidelines, where he remains heading into March.
Of course, those who wager on March Madness odds will tell you to check for injuries before making your picks, and you should do the same for the NHL, but concussions are a different story as they can be tough to diagnose, and there is really no set time for recovery. Basically, when doctors feel a player is symptom-free, they can return to the lineup.
But as with Crosby’s return, you can’t expect a player to affect a team’s chances of winning too much when he returns from a concussion as you don’t know how healthy they are; they don’t even know how healthy they are and they could shy away from contact until they can’t avoid it.
Another aspect to this is penalties to players and the league has definitely tried to take head shots out of the game. This means players are getting stiffer penalties when they hit someone to the head and even if it is a star player, the league has been coming down on them hard, so watch out for that as make your sports betting online picks for the NHL.
If you’re following an NHL blog, you’ll have an ear to the ground on which players will be moved ahead of the trade deadline on February 27th, and those players will likely be traded to improve a team’s chances for the postseason stretch run. These playoff races can affect how you wager on teams on a daily basis, and here are a couple tips to help you out.
Health Can Be An Issue
Players will push themselves to the limit to help their teams to get to the postseason; those that play March Madness odds will see the same thing in college hoops. You have to pay extra attention to injuries when it comes to the stretch run as players miss games all the time due to being banged up. You also have to watch out for the teams that are already in; much like the NFL, NHL teams will rest players ahead of the schedule.
Who Has The Momentum?
Following the stretch run can help you figure out which team(s) you’re going to wager on in regards to the Stanley Cup, from futures to day-to-day betting. You’ll get to see which teams are starting to come together and which are best equipped to handle the pressure of the playoffs, and who will wilt under the pressure. You can also see if a team has been able to take their foot off the gas heading into the playoffs; can they get back into a rhythm in time to make a run at the Stanley Cup? That will affect a team’s odds at online betting sites.
