Posted on: October 9, 2024, 03:55h.
Last updated on: October 9, 2024, 04:02h.
One fact that has stood out on the Canadian sports betting front since Ontario’s regulated market went live in April 2022 – betting on hockey north of the border hasn’t dominated to the level that some thought it would.
In a nation where hockey is the national sport, intrinsically tied to the country’s identity, NFL dominates the betting scene, followed by the NBA, then the NHL, according to most sportsbooks.
“The NFL is king,” said a PointsBet Canada trader.
Still, tonight is opening night for six of the seven NHL teams – the Toronto Maple Leafs are in Montreal to play the Canadiens (Leafs favorites at 1.50 on Moneyline at BetMGM), the Winnipeg Jets take on the Oilers in Edmonton (Oilers Moneyline favorites at 1.55), and the Calgary Flames are on the west coast to play the Vancouver Canucks (Canucks Moneyline favorites at 1.48).
“Hockey continues to flourish and we at DraftKings love the sport,” Johnny Avello, DraftKings’ Director of Race & Sportsbook Operations, told Casino.org. “It’s certainly not as big as football and basketball as far as betting volume but it’s super popular. So far, bettors like the Leafs in tonight’s matchup.”
According to FanDuel, bettors have their eyes on the Oilers this year to take home the Stanley Cup, followed by the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers. The Leafs are fourth overall for most bet team to win.
Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid, are already heavily favoured winners for the Hart Trophy (MVP), accumulating over 50% of all bets between the two of them.
Added a FanDuel trader: “For Ontario bettors, hockey is one of the top three most bet on sports on FanDuel Canada sportsbook.”
FanDuel, with the popularity of parlay betting, is looking to build on the number of NHL betting they see by expanding with even more markets, like “Goalie Saves”, this season. Bettors can follow their prop bets in real time through the sportsbook’s new player prop tracking.
DraftKings says Matthews Anytime Goalscorer (-130), McDavid Alternate Assists 1+ (-280), Leafs’ Mathew Knies Alternate Points 1+ (-105), and the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin Alternate Shots on Goal 4+ (+100) are the most bet player props as of this afternoon.
Same deal at PointsBet, according to their desk – Matthews Anytime Goalscorer is the most bet prop (-150). At BetMGM, Mitch Marner Over 0.5 Assists (-125), John Tavares to Score Anytime Goal (+220) and Cole Caulfield to Score Anytime Goal (+185) are the most bet player props.
The Leafs-Canadiens is the most popular betting game at Proline – 66% of players are backing the Leafs to come out with a win, with 74% of players betting on the Leafs to cover (-1.5).
News out of Leaf camp today is that goalie Joseph Woll won’t play tonight because of lower back tightness, so that’s not a good start for the Leafs, an organization with a tortured fan base. The Leafs have a starting lineup with four players making north of $46.6 million per year, and are overall just a few thousand dollars south of the team salary cap of $88 million. The Leafs haven’t won a championship in 57 years.
Still, according to NHL futures at sportbooks like DraftKings, this new season has several Canadian teams in the upper echelon when it comes to betting odds to win the Stanley Cup. If that happens that would be the first time a Canadian team wins the championship since Montreal accomplished it in 1993.
DraftKings, like several sportsbooks, has the Oilers with the shortest odds – +800 – followed by the defending champion Florida Panthers (+1000), Dallas Stars (+1100), New Jersey Devils (+1200), then the Leafs (+1300), Rangers (+1300), Colorado Avalanche (+1300), Carolina Hurricanes (+1300), Vegas Golden Knights (+1800), then the Canucks (+1800).
