Editor's Note: Judd Hall finished No. 2 in the money for his first season as an NHL handicapper on VegasInsider.com. Are you ready to reach No. 1 with him in 2009? Click to win!
The last time we saw the Red Wings, they were quietly skating back to their locker room as the Penguins celebrated winning the Stanley Cup at Joe Louis Arena. A lot has happened since mid-June around the NHL…particularly in the Western Conference.
One thing we saw during the postseason is that there will be a passing of the torch from the old guard to the youth movement. Teams like Columbus and Chicago crashed the playoff party with rosters that were barely able to buy booze on their own, let alone make a run at Lord Stanley’s mug.
Despite the youth movement, Sportsbook.com is still putting its faith in the old guys by listing Detroit as the favorite to win the Clarence Campbell Bowl for a third straight season. Here are the odds for every club.
2009-10 Western Conference Odds
Team
Odds
Detroit Red Wings
5/2
San Jose Sharks
3/1
Chicago Blackhawks
7/2
Anaheim Ducks
9/1
Calgary Flames
9/1
Vancouver Canucks
9/1
Dallas Stars
18/1
Edmonton Oilers
20/1
Minnesota Wild
20/1
St. Louis Blues
20/1
Columbus Blue Jackets
30/1
Los Angeles Kings
30/1
Nashville Predators
30/1
Colorado Avalanche
50/1
Phoenix Coyotes
50/1
Our stable of experts have taken a shine to the Wings this season. VegasInsider.com expert handicapper Tom Freese is on their side. “Once again, Detroit is the cream of the crop out west. They have three very good lines and solid goaltending. They play the best defense in the league making it very easy on their goaltenders every night.”
While Chris Osgood has shown that he can win in the playoffs, he’s not the most focused regular season netminder. Osgood had a 3.09 goals against average and .887 save percentage during the 2008-09 regular season, but those numbers weren’t paid attention to because of having Ty Conklin as his backup. Conklin had 25 wins and a 2.51 GAA last season. Now Detroit must make due with Jimmy Howard as the backup goaltender. Don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with Howard’s play; he’s only played in nine NHL games in three years.
The Red Wings were smart to lock up Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen for the long haul, but that caused them to lose some big offensive talent. VegasInsider.com’s Scott Rickenbach has taken notice of this as well. “Now, with an offense weakened by the departures of Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson, and Jiri Hudler, it won’t be so easy for the offense to overcome some of the short-comings on the other end of the ice.”
Hossa, Samuelsson and Hudler accounted for 82 goals and 86 assists for Detroit last year. Now you’re asking guys like Thomas Holmstrom, Jason Williams and Kirk Maltby to try and come up close to the same numbers. Talk about your pipe dreams.
The Blackhawks have been a popular pick to make the Stanley Cup Final after losing the West Final to Detroit last season. Chicago snared Hossa from Motown over the summer to compliment Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Yet our experts are looking towards other teams in the Central Division squad to make some noise this year.
“As for my sleeper, I’m going to go with the Blue Jackets,” says Keith Fredrick. “Ken Hitchcock is a bear of a coach to play for, as he works his teams as harder or harder than anyone (which might have something to do with why this team looked exhausted in the playoffs last year, but I digress), but he gets results, and the Jackets have improved every season he has been there. All in all, they have maybe the best scorer in the conference in Rick Nash matched with a Top 3 in the West goalie in Mason, and that is a nice formula for success. They can make a deep run into the playoffs if they can find a way to score more on the power play, and that stat is probably the key to the overall success of the season for Columbus.”
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Columbus did a lot to prove they are in for the long haul by signing Nash to a long term deal. And then they followed up by locking up Antoine Vermette for five years, giving themselves a solid offensive punch. What could prove problematic is the fact that the Jackets never picked up a top flight defenseman to run their power play, which was the worst in the NHL last year at 12.7 percent.
Another club to watch out for this year is St. Louis. Rickenbach makes mention of them in his Western Conference Preview. “Some will not be surprised if St Louis doesn’t even make the post-season but goalie Chris Mason is the No. 1 netminder now (without worrying about Manny Legace) and Mason finished the season on a 24-8-6 run. The Blues changed very little in terms of personnel from last season’s team and they were among the league leaders on the power play and on the penalty kill.”
The biggest move that the Blues made during the offseason was signing Conklin to fill the backup role to Mason. Conklin has played in the Stanley Cup Final three times since the lockout. And he offers a fantastic insurance policy for the club in the net. St. Louis will also be getting Paul Kariya, Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson back from injuries last season. Certainly makes the 10/1 odds to win the Central and 20/1 to take the West much more inviting.
If you’re looking for a team to stumble this season, then take a look at the Flames. Keith Fredrick explains, “The balance of power in this conference, once you get past Vancouver and San Jose, is squarely in the Central division. Mid Central teams against mid to low teams from other divisions should be good plays. And too many people are giving the Flames credit for another first round playoff exit.”
Calgary does have some talent to play with, most notably adding former Panther Jay Bouwmeester. However, 78 percent of the Flames’ salary cap is tied up in eight players. That means this team could be in for a very harsh time if injuries begin to crop up. They won’t have the cap space to bring players up from the farm, so Calgary had to play what they had on the bench. The current points total for the Flames is 96 ½. You’d be wise to play the ‘under’ on that number.
