This NHL division parlay would multiply profits
We are at the top of the stretch for the 2022-23 NHL regular season. The trade deadline is just over a week away, teams are climbing in and falling out of the playoff picture seemingly every day and there are a couple of divisional races that are percolating.
So why not get a little creative and build a fun, long-shot parlay to take us through the end of the regular season?
We’ll start in the Western Conference, where the races are much more tantalizing and the prices are tempting.
As it stands right now, the Golden Knights are in first place in the Pacific Division with 73 points from 57 games. Vegas is also the betting favorite to finish atop the table at +175 at FanDuel Sportsbook. But the standings and the oddsboard tell us it’s going to be neck and neck between Vegas, Seattle, Edmonton and Los Angeles.
The Kings are the biggest price of the bunch at +480, but they’re just two points behind the Knights, though Vegas has a game in hand. Seattle and Edmonton are both three points adrift, with the Oilers having played one more game than both the Knights and Kraken.
But the reason I think the Kings represent the best value is because Los Angeles has perhaps the most upside of any team at the trade deadline. The Kings have played consistent, strong hockey all season, but their goaltending situation is murky at best. Pheonix Copley has been a nice story, but the Kings will want to upgrade in goal at the deadline. If they can land a solid option such as Thatcher Demko or Semyon Varlamov, Los Angeles would become a real threat to win this race. And heck, the Kings are right in the middle of it despite owning the second-worst save percentage in the entire league. Imagine if they just get average goaltending.
The next leg of the parlay is the Jets at +380. The Central Division could get tight with the Avalanche looming, but the Jets are in too good of a position to be sitting at this price. Winnipeg entered Wednesday trailing Dallas by just one point in the standings and has plenty of wiggle room to upgrade at the trade deadline. (The Jets visited the Islanders while the Stars were home against the Blackhawks.) Winnipeg has been linked to Timo Meier and James van Riemsdyk, who would both bolster an already strong top-six.
With Connor Hellebuyck in goal, the Jets don’t need to post crooked numbers to win hockey games, getting Meier would be a huge boost to this team and even a smaller move like for van Riemsdyk could go a long way to helping them nab the division title.
If you want to stop there, you can. Parlaying the Jets and Kings is already a decent payout at just about +2700 (27/1). But there’s also the option of throwing in one of the two prohibitive divisional favorites in the Eastern Conference.
If you chucked the Hurricanes, who have a five-point lead in the Metropolitan Division with a game in hand on the Devils and a seven-point edge on the Rangers, into the mix at -550, the payout jumps to +3190.