The NHL season is here! And with it, the betting season as well. It’s that time of the year when the books come out and the odds change; it’s also when you can start making some serious money from your sports betting hobby. Let’s dive into which are the good NHL betting strategies and how you can use them to maximize your profits.
Which Teams To Back?
It’s always a good idea to look into the over/under totals for each team as well as the betting lines to get a sense of what’s going on in the marketplace. In the case of the 2019-20 NHL season, for instance, there aren’t many clear-cut favorites; the Golden Knights are probably the best team in the league, but they’ve only been around for a season so there’s still a lot of betting action against them. The same goes for the expansion team in the Seattle area, which barely has any players and doesn’t seem to possess any cohesion at all. There’s also a team in the South Florida area that plays some seriously dangerous hockey and might surprise you with how well they actually perform this season. The important thing to keep in mind when picking your NHL team is that there are no sure things, especially at this point in the season. It’s all about having the right research team and being able to make the right picks. Below, we’ll go over some guidelines to help you separate the good from the bad and prepare you to make some profitable hockey bets this season.
Look Into The Past
One of the best ideas that can help you increase your winning percentage is looking into the past. You should always try to take a longer view when it comes to betting on sports, especially in the NHL where games can be quite boring. As we’ve established, there are no certainties in the NHL and you should never make hunch decisions based on the outcome of one game or even one series. Looking into the past can help you avoid this kind of pitfall and get a clearer picture of the games that matter most to you.
Avoid Over/Under Theaters
Another common mistake that newbies make is putting too much faith in the over/under stats for each team. When you’re new to betting, this is almost certainly going to be your first mistake, but it’s a very important one to avoid. There are many cases where a favorite team had an incredibly bad weekend of under performances and ended up losing money. One of the best examples of this is the 2017-18 season when the Dallas Stars endured a 13-game losing streak during which they scored only eight goals and allowed 41. This kind of carnage can sometimes wipe out an entire season’s profit in an instant, which is why looking into over/under stats alone isn’t a reliable strategy; you need to learn how to filter these numbers through the lens of common sense as well.
Under-Actual Is Your Best Friend
The spread between the actual scores and the over/under stats for each game is sometimes referred to as the point spread. This part of the odds is essentially the difference in the amount of money that you will win or lose on the bet. In the case of the above-mentioned Dallas Stars, the point spread is +7, which means if you put $100 on the game and the scores end up being 10-3, you win $107. We mentioned earlier that there are no certainties in the NHL, which means that one side or the other could win by more than seven goals. In that situation, you would only win $107 because the over/under stat for the game is 7. In other words, you under-performed the spread by seven goals. In line with this under-performance theory, sometimes you can bet on a game and get even money, but more often than not you’ll end up losing because the team you’re backing scored more goals than the over/under number would’ve predicted. You can use this to your advantage by backing the underdog and getting even money on this type of wager or by placing a slightly higher wager and hoping for the best.
Don’t Put Too Much Stock In Standings
Last but not least, let’s discuss one of the most frustrating things for hockey fans, which is seeing a favorite team lose after an incredible season. One of the reasons for this is that after a while, people start to believe that the team is bound to perform well because they’ve been to the mountaintop already and nothing bad has happened to them this year. While it’s true that historically most of the teams that win the Stanley Cup do so in their first year, this isn’t always the case. In fact, it’s quite common for teams to under-perform their expected win totals in their first few seasons before stepping up and having a great year. The key to staying confident while backing a favorite is by keeping in mind that no matter what, eventually the under-dog will pull ahead and end the season victorious.
Hopefully, these tips will help you separate the good bets from the bad ones and give you a good starting point to build your betting strategy around. Sometimes you’ll find that your favorite team will be the clear-cut favorite in a series and other times it might be the under-dog who takes the cake. With some careful study, strategic betting, and common sense, you might just pull off some pretty sweet deals this season and end up making a lot of money in the process. So don’t give up hockey, even if it’s not yet in the summer. The winter is a time for reflection, rest, and relaxation, but it’s also the time for hockey gambling, which can be a very profitable hobby.