NHL hockey in London? Really?
The NHL season got off to a premature and slightly ridiculous start in London, England when the Los Angeles Kings beat the defending Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Mighty Ducks 4-1. Before you file this under ‘Who really cares?’, you might as well pay a bit of attention because hockey can present a large number of betting opportunities if you pay a little attention.
A couple of things of note came out of this game. First, hockey takes a while to get interesting. The play was sloppy and uneven, the defending champs even looked disinterested at times, and it was barely more than a preseason game that counts in the standings. Like most sports, it makes sense to let things settle out a bit before you start throwing your bankroll towards hockey.
One player really caught the eye, though. L.A. has had horrible goaltending problems since, well, Kelly Hrudey left. It’s way too early to say that that has changed, but 19 year old rookie goalie Jonathan Bernier was extremely impressive in his first start. This is worth looking at for a number of reasons as a bettor. If he wins a couple more games early on then the Kings’ prices will be inflated because of the hype (or at least as much hype as their is in the NHL). If the Kings continue to use him a lot, though, then we could see him start to burn out later in the year like Rick DiPietro and Marc-Andre Fleury did. That’s all moot if Bernier doesn’t stay with the big team, but if he does then he could present opportunities.
Comments Off