The Top Five NHL Team "Point Total" Plays

Hockey Betting Lines

10/07/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Every season brings surprises and disappointments. Who would have expected the Montreal Canadiens to improve off their 90-point campaign in 2006-07 and finish with the most points in the Eastern Conference? Even captain Saku Koivu stated last September that Montreal was not going to be a Stanley Cup contender.

The East was a conference in transition last season as the three teams that finished 10th, 14th and 15th two years ago not only made the playoffs, but two of them - Montreal and Washington - earned home ice advantage in the first round. The other club (Philadelphia) improved from the worst record in the league to make it all the way to the Conference Finals!

The same cannot be said for the West as seven of the eight teams that reached the second season in '06-'07 made the playoffs once again last year. Still, it's interesting to note that only three squads attained the 100-point plateau after seven pocketed over 100 the year before.

The Red Wings, the regular season point leader with 115, won their first Stanley Cup in six years after knocking off Pittsburgh in six games. They are the prohibitive 10-3 favorite to become the first back-to-back winner since Scotty Bowman's Wings proved victorious in the '97 and '98 campaigns.

The other 29 teams will be hard-pressed to stop Detroit, especially with the addition of prized free agent, Marian Hossa. Since the Red Wings appear to be the class of the league, the best way to attack the upcoming season, in terms of wagering, is to concentrate on team point totals.

THE TWO BEST BETS

There are five teams to focus on, but the two with the best chance for success are Vancouver, at OVER 85.5 points, and Anaheim, also OVER the number of 100.5.

The Canucks finished last year losing seven of their final eight games, and their 88 points were 17 less than the previous season when they won the Northwest Division.

Two factors were responsible for the major decline. Roberto Luongo's mind was on more important things as the season moved into the latter stages and the defense was decimated by injuries all year long.

After 69 games, the Canucks were 35-24-10, good for 80 points. If one would prorate that total to a full 82-game schedule, they would have finished the season with 95 points, almost 10 more than the 85.5 total set for this year.

Looking at Luongo's numbers over his final 13 starts, it's easy to see he wasn't focusing on the game as he had throughout his entire career. The all- world goalie was about to become a father for the first time and the big day came on March 27. The NHL was an afterthought for Luongo, who went 4-9 with a 3.36 GAA and a .896 save percentage from March 12 through the end of the season.

Injuries to the backline were the other major factor that precluded Vancouver from making the playoffs. The defense was hit with the worst set of circumstances one could imagine, as only one of the original top six defensemen played more than 63 games, and the unit as a whole lost 174 man games to injury.

The Canucks return eight of their top 10 scorers from a year ago and Pavol Demitra and Steve Bernier should come close to, if not surpass, the 34-goal total that Markus Nasland and Brendan Morrison accounted for in 2007-08. Along with a healthier defense and a goalie free of off-the-ice concerns, look for the Canucks to finish first or second in the division en route to at least 95 points.

The other best bet is the Anaheim Ducks. There were a lot of reasons why the 2007 Stanley Cup champions corralled just 102 points last season, but the biggest problem - goal scoring - was rectified in early February when Teemu Selanne returned to the NHL. Anaheim was struggling along at 27-22-7 on February 3rd when the "Finnish Flash" came on board with 12 goals in the final 26 games propelling the Ducks to a 20-5-1 record to end the regular season.

Not only will Selanne be in town for the entire year, Scott Niedermayer is in tow from day one as well. And don't forget the Ducks had to venture out to Europe to begin last season coming off a short summer after winning the Cup. Look for Anaheim to easily surpass the 100-point total.

THE OTHER THREE

With the scheduling change in place for this season, look for most of the Western Conference teams to improve their point totals, as each club will play eight more games against the lowly Eastern Conference. Two other teams besides Vancouver and Anaheim who will benefit from the change are Phoenix and Edmonton.

In the past, the Coyotes had to square off 24 times against the Ducks, Sharks and Stars. That number drifts down to 18 this year as division rivals will meet just six times instead of eight. Those moves translate to six games (Carolina twice) against the dreadful Southeast Division as opposed to six against Anaheim, San Jose and Dallas. Quite a difference!

Those aren't the only reasons to be excited about Wayne Gretzky's club this season. Ilya Bryzgalov will be between the pipes all year long and the team netted 69 points in the final 65 games after obtaining Anaheim's backup goaltender, which prorates to an 87-point season.

It would be difficult to believe this club won't be able to manage a few more points since the offense will also be boosted with the additions of Olli Jokinen and rookies Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker.

The Coyotes ended the 2007-08 campaign with 83 points and even if they fail to improve, they'll still finish on the right side of the ledger since the OVER/UNDER number is set at 82.5.

The Oilers finished tied with the Canucks and Blackhawks for ninth place in the West with 88 points. If Mathieu Garon had been named the number one goalie earlier in the season, that number would have been in the 90s and good enough for the playoffs. However, Dwayne Roloson received the bulk of the action in the early going and ended the year with the worst goals against average (3.05) of all goalies with at least 33 starts.

The acquisitions of Erik Cole and Lubomir Visnovsky were two of the better moves any team had made over the summer. Cole will provide much needed toughness, along with speed, to the left side of Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky, sending Dustin Penner to his rightful spot on the third line. The defense has also been revamped with the addition of Visnovsky, and don't forget, Sheldon Souray missed 56 games last year.

The number is a little high at 93.5 points but even the smallest of improvement, say six points, will send the Oilers to a total of 94 and the OVER.

The Montreal Canadiens are the lone Eastern Conference team to make the top five and the only one that leans to the UNDER. The number is set at 99.5, which is extremely high considering they have to play 18 games against the West after going just 3-5-2 in the 10 contests last year. Not to mention the fact that only two teams from the East reached the century mark in 2007-08 and that was with just 10 games versus teams outside the conference!

There are many other factors that could cause a major decline. The first of which could be the most important and that's pressure. Last season, no one expected Montreal to make the playoffs, let alone finish atop the East with 104 points.

In addition, only one of the eight 2006-07 Eastern Conference playoff teams ended last year with a higher point total than the year before, and with the changes in the schedule, that could very well be the case again this season.

Speaking of pressure, one has to wonder how Carey Price will handle himself in his first year as the number one goaltender. Cristobal Huet and his 21 wins are off to Chicago so this is now his team. Remember, the 21-year-old only played half the games in his first regular season and imploded in the playoffs. How will he hold up for the entire campaign?

Offensively, the Canadiens received stellar play from the likes of Alexei Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec, who finished one-two on the team in scoring. Will Kovalev score 35 goals again? Will Plekanec continue to improve or was his career-best 69 points a by-product of playing alongside a motivated Kovalev?

Montreal led the league in power play percentage two years ago at 22.8%. Most experts felt the team would struggle on the man advantage last season after the departure of Sheldon Souray, but Mark Streit picked up the pieces with 34 PP points and the Canadiens scored a league best 90 power play goals. Now those same folks are predicting them to once again lead the NHL in PP production. Unfortunately, Streit is now a member of the Islanders and there is no one around to replace him.

The Canadiens will drop at least 10 points in the standings this year as their 100th anniversary season will be a huge disappointment.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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2007 College Football Betting Preview

My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."

The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.

To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.

However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.

Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.

Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.

Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.

2007 College Football Betting Preview

There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.

The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.

So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.

USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.

USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.

Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.

That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.

The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"

The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.

Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.

Las Vegas Sports Lines

The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.

It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."

The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.

The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.

Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.

After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.

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