Hockey

I have been very vocal about my thoughts on Bovada in the past, but I won’t get into that today. We need to focus on the massive troll-job that they pulled on the poor tortured people of Buffalo.

One of the few things that I commend Bovada (and Bodog) for are putting their NHL season point totals up fairly early (and in the case of American bettors, putting them up at all). Due to the fact that they are one of the few betting sites which actively e-mail their odds to every beat writer in the world, whom which blindly tweet it out without any regards for anything, sent Buffalo’s corner of Twitter into a frenzy when the seemingly-improved Sabres were set to have a 5.5 point improvement on last year’s last-place effort of 54.

The additions of a now-healthy Evander Kane, as well as free-agent Cody Hodgson, goaltender Robin Lehner, as well as the not-first overall draft pick of Connor McDavid made most fans believe the team was in for a larger improvement. We will get to whether or not this is a warranted reaction in a moment, but the best part of all this is that the tortured fanbase were in for a surprise when they went to sign-up to place their bets:

Bovada are one of the US betting sites that do not allow customers from New York or New Jersey. So any Sabres fans who have not escaped the, er… nice… city of Buffalo have yet another thing to be disappointed about.

But is this the worst case circumstances? All Sabres fans who followed any hockey beat reporter saw the odds, and were sent into a frenzy. But is this team better than the one we saw last year? I would say it would be hard to be worse, but I hardly find this line an insult. It is important to remember that the odds that are set are not direct representations of how many points a team is get in the season.  While they may get a bit more scoring this year with Kane and O’Reilly (who will also improve poor Matt Moulson who has been rotting away), their defense still has a ton of questions. Cody Hodgson has holes in him, and he is going to be their most reliable option? Under the offense-first system that we will expect from new head coach Dan Bylsma, I think it is safe to assume they will be leaking goals are a similar rate.

Through some early projections, I believe the Sabres point total is right where it should be, leading to no significant edge betting on either side. Does the fact that Bovada knows it will not receive a large fraction of homer action on the line influence where they set it? I would imagine it does, but no more than one point.

Earlier this week, we came to learn that Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane was being investigated for alleged rape accusations. While some may have the initial thought that this is a shakedown, recent information may suggest that this will not go away as easy as the majority of us would have thought. Should we factor in the investigation when determining which NHL futures we are going to buy before the season begins?

The Facts

Its tough to call this “the facts” when as of now we need to tag everything with the word “allegedly” if we do not want to get sued for libel. From the reports that have been released, Kane and an unnamed woman were allegedly out at a bar early in the morning. They eventually allegedly went back to Kane’s place in Buffalo where he allegedly attacked her. She allegedly has bite marks and bruises on her body. Finally, he allegedly texted his lawyer after the incident saying that he might be in a bit of trouble.

I am not someone who jumps on rumors that float around. I hate it because more times than not they are incorrect, and then I end up looking like an idiot. So lets take this with a grain of salt, or whatever that stupid saying is. I hate sayings, and I also hate grain (but I don’t mind salt). I also want to make sure that everyone understands that I am not trying to take away from the situation. There is a possibility that what happened actually happened, and I am sure we will get all of the facts in the coming month. This is in no way meant to draw importance away from rape and domestic abuse. But we are a site that focuses on the world of sports from a sportsbetting perspective, and we will analyze this situation from that standpoint.

The 2015-16 Chicago Blackhawks

The defending Stanley Cup champions are currently +800 to repeat in 2016. They are tied as co-favorites with the Anaheim Ducks to do so over at Bet365. We are using their lines as they are a sportsbook that takes a significant amount of ice hockey action, making their prices a good depiction of the current market.

If anything were to cause Patrick Kane to miss time this season, that would severely impact Chicago’s chances of having an average season. They lost a lot of during the off-season. From the trade of Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp, to the departure of Johnny Oduya, I would not be surprised to see the defending champions falter with or without Kane in the line-up. Even if he was guaranteed to play 82 games and the entire post-season, I do not think +800 is a justifiable price.

Adding in the potential of missing time, and the Blackhawks could be one of the worst futures bets of this upcoming season. But then again, they are the Blackhawks, and I am sure they want nothing more than to retweet this article in 9 months laughing at my terrible prediction. Just kidding, this website is irrelevant.

The Likely Outcome

I am not a lawyer, but I like to play one on Twitter. The most likely outcome of this situation is a settlement. Patrick Kane has not been charged with anything, and he has not been arrested. Even if it ended up being a shakedown, its more than likely that he plays the entire 2015-16 season. As I said earlier, I do not think the Blackhawks will be a factor in this upcoming season. This will be the first time in a while that they do not look like the team that always seems to find a way to win. And there is nothing wrong with that really, when pundits are debating whether or not to call you a dynasty, it means you have made it.

However, if you are in the boat that still believes in the Blackhawks, and you want to bet on one of their futures, its recommended that you lock it in before this case gets settled. When the public has confirmation that Patrick Kane will be playing the entire 2015-16 season, which seems to be the likely case, they will likely pull ahead of the Anaheim Ducks by a small margin. I see it settling at around +750 when all things are said and done. This of course goes both ways; if you were planning to bet on an upper-tier team (say in the +800 to +1500 range), wait until this situation passes over. You will get a few extra cents to add to a year-long sweat.