2010 NHL Entry Draft Preview

Hockey Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National Hockey League will hold its annual Entry Draft this weekend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the Edmonton Oilers, holders of this year's No. 1 overall pick, will get the event started Friday evening.

The Oilers entered the draft lottery in April with the best chance at landing the top pick and for the third straight year the club with the worst record in the NHL wound up with the No. 1 overall selection. This marks the first time that Edmonton has held the top pick at the NHL draft.

It is widely believed that the first two picks in this year's draft will be used to select forwards from the OHL, as the most talked about prospects leading up to Friday's first round have clearly been Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin.

A winger, Hall poured in 57 goals in 76 games, including the playoffs, for Windsor last year and helped the Spitfires win their second straight Memorial Cup. Seguin, who has drawn comparisons to Hall of Fame centerman Steve Yzerman, led the OHL with 48 goals during last year's regular season.

Draft experts believe the Oilers will take Hall over Seguin in the top spot despite Seguin's standing as the top-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting. Hall is considered to have the bigger upside as an offensive player at the next level due to his blazing speed.

Whatever way the Oilers go, the Boston Bruins are just happy to be picking second this year. Boston was the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2009 and made it to the conference semifinals this past spring. The Bruins are picking this high due to their trade of Phil Kessel to Toronto prior to the start of the 2009-10 season.

Either Hall or Seguin will do nicely for the offensively-challenged Bruins, who certainly would like to add another scorer following this spring's playoff meltdown. Boston infamously blew a 3-0 series lead to Philadelphia in the postseason, becoming just the third team in NHL history to lose a series after holding a three-games-to-none edge.

But, after Hall and Seguin, the picture gets a bit cloudier. Erik Gudbranson and Cam Fowler, a pair of defensemen from the OHL, are considered to be the best blueliners available and could both go in the top-five.

The top European player to be selected could be Nino Niederreiter, but for scouting purposes the Swiss winger is listed among North American skaters because he plays for Portland in the WHL. Niederreiter's combination of size and playmaking ability caught the scouts attention at the 2010 World Junior Championships.

Finnish forward Mikael Granlund doesn't have the size of Niederreiter, but he is the top-rated European skater by Central Scouting. Granlund was named Rookie of the Year at the top level of Finnish professional hockey in 2009-10 and showed an innate ability to create scoring chances for his teammates. He has been described as a "Saku Koivu clone".

Once again there isn't a goaltender eligible for this year's draft that could be considered a can't-miss prospect, although Calvin Pickard, a prospect from the WHL, is considered to be the best of the bunch.

The most intriguing unknown heading into every draft is how actively teams will pursue or entertain trades. After all, the majority of the players selected this weekend won't be making any kind of impact for NHL teams over the next few years, but there is proven professional talent to be had via trades at the draft.

The first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft will begin Friday evening at 7 p.m. (et) and rounds 2-7 will start on Saturday morning at 1 p.m. (et). The entire first-round order is as follows:

1. Edmonton 2. Boston (from TOR) 3. Florida 4. Columbus 5. NY Islanders 6. Tampa Bay 7. Carolina 8. Atlanta 9. Minnesota 10. NY Rangers 11. Dallas 12. Anaheim 13. Phoenix (from CAL) 14. St. Louis 15. Boston 16. Ottawa 17. Colorado 18. Nashville 19. Los Angeles 20. Pittsburgh 21. Detroit 22. Phoenix 23. Buffalo 24. Atlanta (from NJD) 25. Vancouver 26. Washington 27. Montreal 28. San Jose 29. Anaheim (from PHI) 30. Chicago

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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