NHL Season: 1-0 (+1.4 units)
For Thursday, I believe I have dug up a couple of dogs that have good shots at winning. I will wait to play these in hopes of getting a higher price, but I will go ahead and list the lines I have for right now.
1) Chicago (+175) over Vancouver
Vancouver has some bright spots on both offense and defense, but they are by no means a very deep squad. I am amazed that an NHL team would enter the season with Dan Cloutier in net. Granted he has been with Tampa Bay and the NY Rangers for the past four years, but this guy has a 3.10 GAA and an .894 save percentage in 126 games. Chicago, on the other hand, is fairly talented on the offensive end while lacking in defensive depth. New head coach Brian Sutter is a no BS kind of guy that can show this team that they can win and elicit a solid effort out of his guys night in and night out. Jocelyn Thibault got close to no support from his defensemen last year and his numbers suffered as a result of it. If their defense can show some semblance of determination, they should be able to pull this one out.
2) Anaheim (+190) over Boston
Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned out to be one of the better goaltenders in the NHL at the end of last season. Anaheim has added Jason York and Keith Carney to their thin defense corps, giving them two more solid players to use in the rotation. This will mitigate some of the pressure on Oleg Tverdovsky and Ruslan Salei. Boston's Dafoe is about as good as they come when on his game, but he is often left out to dry by his defensemen. The additions of Sean O'Donnell and Richard Jackman will help, but will not do much to shore up a shoddy group on D. With Allison still holding out, Thornton moves up to #1 centerman with hardly anyone behind him to center the remaining three lines. I'll take a shot and bet that Anaheim can keep this one close and get a low scoring victory. It's too early in the season for me to bet totals, but Anaheim looks like they fit the "UNDERdog" theory of betting, for those of you that bet that way.
GL and be smart out there!
[This message has been edited by TexasBC6 (edited 10-04-2001).]
For Thursday, I believe I have dug up a couple of dogs that have good shots at winning. I will wait to play these in hopes of getting a higher price, but I will go ahead and list the lines I have for right now.
1) Chicago (+175) over Vancouver
Vancouver has some bright spots on both offense and defense, but they are by no means a very deep squad. I am amazed that an NHL team would enter the season with Dan Cloutier in net. Granted he has been with Tampa Bay and the NY Rangers for the past four years, but this guy has a 3.10 GAA and an .894 save percentage in 126 games. Chicago, on the other hand, is fairly talented on the offensive end while lacking in defensive depth. New head coach Brian Sutter is a no BS kind of guy that can show this team that they can win and elicit a solid effort out of his guys night in and night out. Jocelyn Thibault got close to no support from his defensemen last year and his numbers suffered as a result of it. If their defense can show some semblance of determination, they should be able to pull this one out.
2) Anaheim (+190) over Boston
Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned out to be one of the better goaltenders in the NHL at the end of last season. Anaheim has added Jason York and Keith Carney to their thin defense corps, giving them two more solid players to use in the rotation. This will mitigate some of the pressure on Oleg Tverdovsky and Ruslan Salei. Boston's Dafoe is about as good as they come when on his game, but he is often left out to dry by his defensemen. The additions of Sean O'Donnell and Richard Jackman will help, but will not do much to shore up a shoddy group on D. With Allison still holding out, Thornton moves up to #1 centerman with hardly anyone behind him to center the remaining three lines. I'll take a shot and bet that Anaheim can keep this one close and get a low scoring victory. It's too early in the season for me to bet totals, but Anaheim looks like they fit the "UNDERdog" theory of betting, for those of you that bet that way.
GL and be smart out there!
[This message has been edited by TexasBC6 (edited 10-04-2001).]