NHL Nhl Gambling

Brian Burke was a busy man this offseason for the Toronto Maple Leafs, upgrading his defense with Mike Komisarek and Francois Beauchemin, finally acquiring Phil Kessel from the Boston Bruins -- a move that should surely improve an offense that was already in the top-10 in goals scored -- and snagging Swedish goaltending prospect Jonas Gustavsson.

Despite the wheeling and dealing, the oddsmakers in sin city -- specifically the Las Vegas Hilton -- are betting on a fifth consecutive non-playoff season for the boys in blue and white, according to Jeff Haney's article for the Las Vegas Sun, which has the over/under point totals for every team in the league.

We're in the fourth day of the NHL offseason, so what better time to start looking ahead to the odds for the 2010 Stanley Cup winners. Bodog.com recently came out with next season's odds, and the Detroit Red Wings are at the top of the list as the favorites at 5/1. The Penguins are currently second at 7/1. The New York Islanders are the longest shot at 100/1.

After the jump, the current odds for every team in the NHL:

Watch out college basketball, another sport is trying to corner the market on springtime office bracket pools. The idea been sitting in front of our faces for a while, but no one has really thought to put two and two together and create the dream. When you combine the NHL Playoffs and bracketology, what do you get? Tons of fun for NHL fans. And that's just what we have for you today.

Thanks to the boys at Pensblog, the world can now enjoy the NHL Playoffs in the bracketed style made famous by the NCAA Basketball Tournament. They've put together a unique website at Rinkotology.org, not to be confused with Bracketology or the President's version, Baracketology.

Seemingly lost in all the shock over the quick hook given to Barry Melrose by the management team of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been another story, and that's the completion of a long comeback by former NHL star Rick Tocchet.

With Melrose again banished from the NHL coaching ranks -- and I think we can say with confidence that he won't ever be returning -- owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie had little choice but to turn to assistant head coach Tocchet, and hand him the keys to the sputtering Lightning for the rest of the season.

Yes, this is the same Rick Tocchet that the league banished for 162 games after his role in an admittedly small-time New Jersey gambling ring was discovered by the New Jersey State Police. The price for Tocchet was terribly high -- a leave of a full two calendar years from the sport that he had made his life in combined with two years of probation.

Here at FanHouse, two of our former colleagues, Greg Wyshynski and Jes Golbez, had it out over Tocchet's future, with Greg voting for a season-long suspension, while Golbez wrote that it was time for us to put aside the moralizing and let Tocchet get back to earning a living the only way he knew how.

For those of you who might be looking to make the Flyers-Rangers game on Saturday night a little more interesting, the folks at Bodog are offering odds with a slightly different twist.

With Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin set to drop the ceremonial first puck before the game, the folks at Bodog are offering a couple of additional wagers to the regular menu.

The following come from our friend Jimmy Shapiro at Bodog:

Will Sarah Palin Fall while dropping the Puck at the Philadelphia Flyers Home Opener?

Yes 10/1

Will Sarah Palin get in a Donnybrook with the Flyers Captain at Center Ice?

Yes 1000/1

Will Sarah Palin get Booed more or Cheered more when introduced onto the Ice at the Flyers Home Opener?

Booed Even
Cheered -130

Will Sarah Palin wear a Philadelphia Flyers jersey at Center Ice?

Yes Even
No -140

Those are some interesting choices to say the least. I wonder what Janet Gretzky thinks?

Here we are once again with another edition of Caption This Photo! Last night, the Avalanche and Kings played a pre-season game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It's the annual game in Las Vegas and the Avs won the game 4-3 in a shootout. But the great part in about spending the weekend in Vegas is that there is much more to do than watch a hockey game. On Friday night, members of both teams participated in the Luc Robitaille/Shelter for Serenity Celebrity Poker Tournament. It's a great charity event and also game us some interesting pictures of NHLers in front of the poker tables. Take the one above picturing Robitaille, Tony Granato and PJ DeLuca, a member of the Avalanche staff.

Here's the original caption from Getty:

LAS VEGAS - SEPTEMBER 26: (L-R) Former NHL player Luc Robitaille, Colorado Avalanche head coach Tony Granato and PJ DeLuca talk while participating in the Luc Robitaille/Shelter for Serenity Celebrity Poker Tournament at the MGM Grand Hotel/Casino September 26, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Exciting stuff, right? No. Not at all. So let's see what you guys got!

I'll get us started and please leave your own captions in the comments!

Granato: Luc, you had a pair of twos! That was clearly a hand to go all-in on!

Robitaille: That is the LAST TIME that I ever take poker advice from you. Get away from me.

Granato: Now, see you've got 7-5 off-suit. You want to slow play this hand for sure.

DeLuca: Hey... Is that Jessica Biel by the craps table?

First, we were given a deadline of August 1st for Mats Sundin to make a decision ... nothing. Not that I mind that he takes his time to make up his mind on his playing future, but you wonder how long it takes him to choose a pair of socks in the morning.

Now? The Swedish troll won't even make up his mind until the start of the regular season, putting him behind the eight ball when and if he decides to sign.
While this puts the screws on the teams that hoped to sign him, it makes perfect sense for Sundin to keep waiting. Why not wait until it is clear which teams are contenders and which are pretenders? Why not keep healthy and mitigate the physical effects that a long season has on the human body? Then again, it appears that there is a far different reason for Sundin's dithering ... A new career as a Poker player (?).

Yes, it seems the gambling bug has bitten the Swedish Troll, and he's signed on to be the latest celebrity shill for PokerStars.

Playing online as "MatsSundin," the 37-year-old Olympic champion plans frequent appearances playing on PokerStars.net and at live tournaments on the PokerStars' global poker tour circuit. This includes the PokerStars European Poker Tour which starts its fifth season next week in Barcelona.

"MatsSundin"? Would you really think a guy called "MarioLemieux66" or "CarolAltsBoytoy" would be the real thing? How to tell the impostors from the real thing ... oh, my!

Yes, I know it's August.

And yes, I know we're still about a month out before training camp.

Still, if The Hockey News can put most of its hockey yearbook to bed complete with predictions in August, what's the harm in checking in with people who actually have some skin in the game if they get things wrong? In particular, I'm talking about the folks at Bodog who have just published odds for winning the conference championships and the Stanley Cup Finals for the 2008-09 NHL season.

Up top, there's not much of a surprise, as Bodog has installed the Red Wings (10-3) and the Penguins (5-2 6-1), as co-favorites in their respective conferences -- see those odds after the jump. Rounding out the top 10 are San Jose (9-1), Montreal (10-1), Anaheim and the Rangers (12-1), Washington (15-1), New Jersey (16-1), Ottawa (16-1), Chicago, Dallas and Philadelphia (18-1).

For those of you looking to lay your money on a long shot, Atlanta and Los Angeles are at the bottom of the board at 100-1, followed by Toronto (75-1) and Columbus (65-1). For a complete list of odds on the Stanley Cup as well as the winners of both the Eastern and Western Conference, look after the jump.

Though we don't often boast about it, FanHouse has sources everywhere, and a little bird just gave us a preview of how the odds makers in Sin City view this year's version of the Stanley Cup Finals.

As always, these numbers are passed along for recreational purposes only. And I mean that in the most sincere way possible.

In short, Detroit is the favorite to win the series. According to the people who talk to us, the early moneyline for the series should be somewhere around Detroit (-160) and Pittsburgh (+120).

For those of you who aren't used to betting the money line on the NHL or anywhere else, the odds are pretty simply to understand. In order to win $100 on the Red Wings, you'd need to lay $160. On the other hand, if you laid $100 down on Pittsburgh, that bet would pay off at $120.

As to how they derive these numbers, I'm at a loss to say, especially since the two teams haven't met in the regular season since the beginning of the 2006-07 NHL campaign, when Detroit won a 2-0 decision at Mellon Arena. Kris Draper and Johan Franzen scored for Detroit, while Marc-Andre Fleury had 23 saves for Pittsburgh.

Game One is Saturday night in Detroit.

Named in honor of noted gambling aficionado Rick Tocchet, The Tocchet Line is an occasional feature on NHL FanHouse in which we even out the odds for the likelihood of various hockey-related happenings.

As Eric McErlain noted today on FanHouse, Al Arbour's one-shot return to the New York Islanders' bench was a very big deal. Not only did the NHL legend coach his 1,500th game, but the Islanders managed to piss off hockey purists with nary a 15-year contract in sight. So successful was Arbour's cameo appearance, one can't help but wonder who else might be in line for a flimsy publicity stunt moment of honor and distinction. The Tocchet Line handicaps the field:

Barry Melrose (2:1) - The Mullet must return! If not because he's the key to landing sponsorship with Mario's House of Mafioso Pinstripes, then because he's looking so laid back these days on ESPNews that I'm pretty sure he could coach an entire NHL game with a copy of The Hockey News in one hand and a Tom Collins in the other.

Phil Goyette, Terry Simpson, Lorne Henning, Mike Milbury, Butch Goring, Peter Laviolette and Steve Stirling (6:1) - Did you see the attendance for the Islanders' win against the Penguins on Al Arbour Night? Incredible ... a sellout at the Nassau Coliseum, and the Rangers weren't even playing. Based on those numbers alone, they should bring everyone that ever coached the Islanders back for one night only. Can you imagine the nostalgic joy that is Steve Stirling Night?

Paul Newman (15:1) - Get the Hansons out of moth balls and grab the foil, because Reggie Dunlop's finally coaching an NHL team! Would you have him behind the bench in Philly, where the Flyers are currently perfecting their own brand of "old time hockey?" Nah ... gotta have him in Florida, where the Charlestown Chiefs were going to be relocated -- if the rumors were true, that is.