Looking At Team Total Bets For 2021-22
The NHL season is just days away and that is a good enough reason for me to take a look at some NHL team totals for the upcoming season! Our friends at PointsBet Canada have some very interesting lines posted and I’m here to break down my favorite over/under plays for the upcoming season.
Let’s get this going:
NEW JERSEY DEVILS – 90.5 POINTS
I’m taking the under on this one. I liked the moves that the Devils made during the offseason picking up Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, and Tomas Tatar. When you combine that with the fact that young players like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier could take steps forward this year, it’s easy to see the Devils being better than they were last season.
Still, they were only on pace for around 66 points last season. Did they improve enough to pick up 24 more points this season? I don’t think so. They’re also in a very difficult division with nearly every team except the Columbus Blue Jackets being legitimate playoff contenders.
I like the Devils to be around .500 and I think they’re a safe bet to get to the 80 point mark, but 90.5 is too high.
LA KINGS – 83.5 POINTS
Staying in the Pacific Division, the LA Kings had a terrific offseason. Phillip Danault and Viktor Arvidsson are both legitimate top-six forwards and will help them at both ends of the rink. They also signed Alex Edler, who is a solid veteran defenseman.
They’re coming off a miserable season. They finished 29th in 5v5 goals for last season and were 20th in power-play percentage. They went out and improved their forward group and that should help out their power play and will help them win more games than they did last season.
They’ll be right around the playoff cut line in the Pacific Division and should be right around teams like Vancouver, Calgary and Seattle. As long as they’re in the mix around those teams, they should be over 83.5 points. I think they’ll cover this number pretty easily honestly.
Like I said before, the Pacific Division is not great. I don’t have high hopes for teams like San Jose (more on them in a second) and Arizona. I also think some of their young talents like Quinton Byfield could be in a position to take a step forward (once he gets healthy obviously). Combine that with proven players like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty and I think that the LA Kings could definitely take a step forward. The over is my play here.
SAN JOSE SHARKS – 83.5 POINTS
The line is the same for the Kings and Sharks. That doesn’t make sense to me. It’s mind-boggling. The Kings clearly got better this offseason and the Sharks clearly did not. They made some depth adds up front, their blue line is largely the same, and I don’t love the combo of James Reimer and Adin Hill between the pipes. It’s decent, but not in the top half of their division.
They might also be without Evander Kane to start the season, who scored 22 goals in 56 games last season, as he continues to face more allegations in his personal life. They were a bottom-third offensive team last season and without Kane, they could finish even closer to the bottom of the league.
I am hammering the under here.
ST. LOUIS BLUES – 92.5 POINTS
The Blues had 63 points in 56 games last season, which works out to roughly a 92-point pace. They lost Vince Dunn in the expansion draft but they went out and beefed up their forward group by adding Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad, who are both reliable top-six wingers. They didn’t find a trade for Vlad Tarasenko, but that could end up being a positive. If he’s healthy, that’s almost like a big addition in itself considering he only played in 24 games last season.
They were a top ten team on the power play last season and while they struggled on the penalty kill, they got better as the year went on. The additions they made could make their powerplay even more lethal as well. I like their chances of winning around 44-45 games and with some loser points, they should pick up more than 92.5 points.
Got a play that really stands out to you? Let me know in the comments!