It's an ice thing to think about
Betting starts slow, but bookmakers give NHL credit for having plan
LAS VEGAS — It will be about two months before a puck drops in another meaningful hockey game, if all goes according to plan. At the least, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has a plan that gives him a head start on two other major pro leagues.
Hockey is not yet back. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, there are no guarantees. But last week, when Bettman announced the end of the 2019-20 regular season and a framework for the Stanley Cup playoffs, hockey was put on track to be back by late July or early August.
When most Las Vegas casinos reopen the doors and sportsbooks welcome back walk-in business on Thursday, NHL postseason odds will be featured on a slim betting menu.
“It was good to see Bettman do it, and it gives us the ability to put up something definitive that you can bet,” Westgate SuperBook oddsmaker Jeff Sherman said. “I think hockey will figure it out.”
Bettman has proven to be a betting man. He was the first commissioner to gamble on Las Vegas as a viable city for a major league franchise, and he’s leading the way along with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in terms of pushing his sport forward through a season of uncertainty.
The Westgate and William Hill books are offering NFL and NHL futures along with weekly events for UFC, NASCAR and the PGA Tour, which restarts next week. NBA playoff odds could be posted by the end of the week.
After Bettman’s announcement, which left some ambiguity about division winners and player props, William Hill paid off wagers for the NHL’s division leaders — Boston, Washington, St. Louis and Vegas — and refunded wagers on teams that were in second place in the division standings. Bets on Alex Ovechkin (Capitals) and David Pastrnak (Bruins) as leading regular-season goal scorers were graded as winners.
“We reached out to the NHL and it wasn’t real clear,” William Hill book director Nick Bogdanovich said. “I thought it was the fair thing to do.”
When the NHL returns to the ice, the top 24 teams — 12 in each conference — will report to one of two hub cities. The top four teams in each conference receive automatic berths to the first round and will face each other in round-robin play to determine seeding. The other eight teams will play best-of-five series for the right to advance to the first round.
William Hill’s series lines on the play-in round for the Eastern Conference show Carolina -135 over the Rangers, who swept four games from the Hurricanes in the regular season. The Islanders are -120 versus Florida — the teams have not met since early December, but the Islanders won all three meetings this season.
William Hill lists Vegas (5/1) as the Stanley Cup favorite, followed by Boston (11/2) and Tampa Bay (13/2). Betting action has been basically nonexistent, but there’s still plenty of time.
“It’s nothing so far,” Bogdanovich said. “It’s just too far away, and nobody wants to tie up their money. There’s so much uncertainty.”