A rookie in the NHL is someone who has not played 25 games per year in the previous two NHL seasons and is under the age of 26. Many hockey fans that bet on sports could name several players with rookie status that will could make an impact in the 2011-2012 season. But a look at the potential impact players from the 2011 draft shows some young kids that have promise already.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers have a horrible history of bringing young rookies up way too soon and destroying player development. But Ryan Nugent-Hopkins should be a different story. This kid was ready for the NHL the day he was drafted. Nugent-Hopkins will spend some time in the minors, but it will not be very long before is in Edmonton playing for the big team.

Adam Larsson – New Jersey Devils

Online casino hockey fans are curious to see of the big, young defenseman from Sweden will decide to play in the NHL for the 2011-2012 season. The Devils need skaters on defense, and Larsson fits that bill perfectly. If he decides to give the NHL a go, he should be an impact starter right away.

Mika Zibanejad – Ottawa Senators

Ottawa is in such disarray that any good player will be welcomed by the team with open arms. Zibanejad is a decent-sized center that can skate and has a great presence on the ice. He also has to decide if he wants to make the jump from Sweden to the NHL. If he does, he could be an important part in the rebuilding of the Senators.

The NHL free agency period that started on July 1 was one of the more exciting ones in recent memory. The New York Rangers won the services of center Brad Richards, but it is difficult to call the Rangers a Stanley Cup contender just yet. But sports betting fans love to talk about the championship underdogs, so here are some of the Stanley Cup underdogs to watch for 2011-2012.

Buffalo Sabres (Stanley Cup Odds: 25 to 1)

The Sabres made some significant pickups on defense in the free agency period when they signed Robyn Regher and Christian Ehrhoff. But observers are wondering what kind of performance the Sabres will get out of goaltender Ryan Miller. Last year was an off year for the all-star goaltender, but an improved defense may make the Sabres a Stanley Cup contender.

New Jersey Devils (Stanley Cup Odds: 30 to 1)

Online casino hockey fans only remember the start that the Devils had to the 2010-2011 season. By the time the Devils brought back Jacques Lemaire as head coach in December 2010, the playoffs were way out of reach. But the Devils were one of the best teams in the NHL after December, and the right coach could take this underdog to the Stanley Cup finals.

Los Angeles Kings (Stanley Cup Odds: 16 to 1)

The addition of former Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards to an already potent Los Angeles Kings offense brought the Kings a few more points in the Stanley Cup odds. But the Kings are still underdogs that are ready to give the rest of the league a few surprises when the 2011-2012 season gets into the playoffs.

The sports betting world does not get much of a rest from the NHL. The Stanley Cup is awarded in June, and then the online casino NHL preseason starts up again in September. That means that we do not have a lot of time to talk about the 2011-2012 Stanley Cup predictions; so let’s get started.

Boston Bruins

So long as Tim Thomas is the goalie in Boston, and Zdeno Chara monitors the blue line, you have to consider the Bruins contenders. Will Boston be able to defend its Stanley Cup title in 2011-2012? It all depends on how much offense the team picks up in free agency and prior to the trade deadline.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Mario Lemieux made the wise move of not bringing Jaromir Jagr back to Pittsburgh. Jagr would have upset a chemistry that has taken years to create. With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin coming back for the 2011-2012 season, the Penguins have to be considered the top contender for the Stanley Cup.

Los Angeles Kings

Did adding Mike Richards to the Kings’ roster make Los Angeles a Cup contender? The Western Conference is wide open in 2011-2012 with no clear-cut favorite. The Kings get Anze Kopitar back from injury and could be a team to deal with when it comes around to playoff time.

San Jose Sharks

The Vancouver Canucks look like it is sticking with the same formula that brought it regular season success but playoff failure. That means that the Sharks can make some changes that will vault them past Vancouver and into the Western Conference driver’s seat. San Jose will spend a while looking at its goaltending situation as it was the poor play of Antti Niemi that contributed to the Sharks playoff failures last year. San Jose is only one or two players away from being a legitimate Cup contender.

The sports betting world loves the free agency signing period in just about any sport, but it seems to have taken on a holiday-like atmosphere with the NHL. While some sports fans were MLB baseball betting, others were watching NHL free agency signings very closely. Here is a list of the teams that seemed to have gained the most.

Buffalo Sabres

New Sabres’ owner Terry Pegula promised moves to make the team a contender, and he is trying to deliver. The Sabres went from one of the worst defensive units in the league to one of the best with the signings of Robyn Regher and Christian Ehrhoff. The more curious signing was giving $4.7 million a year to former Flyers forward Ville Leino. If the move pays off, the Sabres could be starting on the road to Stanley Cup contention.

New York Rangers

The Rangers made the biggest splash in signing forward Brad Richards, but the Richards signing overshadowed a series of good moves made by the Rangers. Forward Ruslan Fedotenko, forward Mike Rupp, defensman Michael Sauer and center Artem Anisimov could make for a very interesting Rangers team in 2011-2012.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues keep plugging away at their team, and they have made two free agent signings that went unnoticed, but could help St. Louis contend this season. Forwards Jason Arnott from Washington and Jamie Langenbrunner from the Dallas Stars are now St. Louis Blues. That will definitely help the Blues’ offense generate more points. St. Louis fans hope it will be enough to push St. Louis into a playoff spot in 2011-2012.

On Wednesday June 22, 2011 from Las Vegas, Nevada the 2011 NHL betting awards show took place. The annual awards ceremony congratulates several players for their outstanding contributions to the game during the past regular season. That is to say, all of your mistakes in the sports betting NHL playoffs are forgotten for one night as you can receive praise for your play before the games mattered. Here is a recap of the show.

Wednesday’s awards show was dominated by the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks, as the two teams to battle it out for this year’s Stanley Cup, were honored for their strong play. Goalies Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins, as well as Roberto Luongo and Corey Schneider of the Vancouver Canucks took home several awards on the night. Thomas was awarded the Vezina Trophy for the second time in the last three seasons, while Luongo and Schneider took home the award as the best goalie tag team during the regular season.

In the biggest shock of the night, Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks was able to capture the Hart Memorial Trophy, as the NHL’s best player. Despite scoring 99 points, Perry received the award, as the NHL’s writing association, recognized that had Perry not stepped up his play for the final 25 games of the regular season, his team the Ducks, may not have made it to the playoffs. Coincidentally, Daniel Sedin, whom was nominated for the award with 104 points, was not recognized as the league’s top player. Sedin along with brother Henrik Sedin, both went from dominating teams in the regular season to forgetting the playoffs were even on during these last two months.

Another huge shock was the rookie of the year trophy. 18 year old sensation Jeff Skinner won the award after scoring 64 points in his rookie campaign. Many people, we included, felt that Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks should have received the award, as he not only played a huge role on the Sharks this season, but also in the playoffs.

With only three games left in the Belmont betting Stanley Cup finals for the 2010 – 11 seasons, fans from across the world are wondering which team will have the momentum after game five tonight. From a series that started with literally no emotion whatsoever, to two teams that literally despise each other; hockey fans have seen it all in the Stanley Cup Finals, between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins. Game five shifts back over to Vancouver tonight, and many sports betting enthusiasts, we included believe the winner of tonight’s game, should go on to win the Stanley Cup in either game six on Monday or game seven next Wednesday.

In need of a momentum shift after dropping the first two games in Vancouver, the Nathan Horton blindside injury, was certainly not what the Bruins expected would wake them up and get them back in the series. For those new to the situation, Nathan Horton was absolutely destroyed by a fierce open ice body check by Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome during the first period of game three. As a result of the hit, Horton will miss the rest of the series due to injury, and Rome due to suspension.

Also stemming from the hit, is a resurgent Boston Bruins team that proceeded to use the hit as motivation en route to lighting up the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 12 to one over games three and four in Boston. What’s more, the media has shifted its attention from bashing the Boston Bruins for a lack of intensity and urgency in games one and two in Vancouver, to criticizing Vancouver for showing little to no fight in games three and four in Boston.

On paper, game five becomes the biggest of the series, because the home team has won every game in this series. If Boston can win on the road, they will literally have all of the momentum, going into game six in Boston on Monday.

Belmont betting enthusiasts also wagering on the NHL, will be glued to their TV’s tonight, as they find out who will represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game seven goes tonight in Boston, as the Boston Bruins take on the reinvigorated Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning haven’t been this good since the 2003 – 2004 Stanley Cup winning team. Here is a preview of the upcoming Stanley Cup sports betting finals.

The 2010 – 11 seasons Stanley Cup finals will feature the Tampa Bay Lightning taking on the Vancouver Canucks, in the fourth meeting between Southern States and Canadian teams. So far, the Southern States have been victorious in the first three matchups, as the Lightning beat the Flames in 2003 – 2004, Carolina Hurricanes defeated Edmonton Oilers in 2005 – 2006 and Anaheim Ducks won against the Ottawa Senators in 2006 – 2007.

For all intents and purposes, that shouldn’t happen this year, as the Vancouver Canucks were the best team in the NHL all season. During the regular season, the Canucks led by the Sedin twins, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows on offense, Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, and Sami Salo on defense and Roberto Luongo in net had an NHL best 117 points. Throughout the playoffs, the Canucks appeared reminiscent of their old choke artist teams. Yet as the playoffs progressed, it became evident that the Canucks were built to win the Stanley Cup.

Conversely, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been an okay team to watch this year. On the one hand, it wasn’t clear if the team was for real or just a middle of the pack team overachieving. However, over the past couple of months, the Lightning have shocked the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and perhaps the Boston Bruins, as they move into the Stanley Cup Finals.

With only four teams remaining in the NHL playoffs for the 2010 -11 seasons, Preakness betting enthusiasts don’t have a lot of options to choose a Stanley Cup winner from. To say that this season’s betting online NHL playoffs have been incredible would be putting it lightly. We’d actually like to go on record stating, that the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks, are all the most deserving teams of making it to the Conference finals. Here is an updated version of the Stanley Cup Odds for 2010 – 11 seasons.

And then there were four, this year’s final four entrants in NHL Conference Finals, can all be considered as scary teams. In the Western Conference, the top ranked Vancouver Canucks, whom also won the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s best regular season team, remain the odds on cup favorites at – 150.  Made up of a core including the Sedin twins, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Hamhuis and Roberto Luongo, the 2010 -11 Vancouver Canucks may be the deepest in the team’s 40 year history.

Meeting the Canucks in the Western Conference finals is the San Jose Sharks. With odds of  anywhere between – 300 and – 800 depending on which sportsbook you use, the Sharks similar to the Canucks look to be the best edition of themselves in their team’s history. Let’s face it, when Joe Pavelski and Danny Heatley are on your third line, you just know your team is ridiculously stacked. This series has all the makings of being an amazing one, and fans should expect the Stanley Cup winner to come from the West again this season.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins will be taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite San Jose having a better record than both Boston and Tampa during the regular season, both the Bruins and Lightning boast better Stanley Cup odds. The Boston Bruins are a – 250 favorite to win the cup, while the Tampa Bay Lightning are exactly – 300. For the latter of the two teams, the odds completely contradict Lightning Head Coach Guy Boucher, who claims his team is an underdog at best to win the Stanley Cup.

Kentucky Derby betting enthusiasts looking for a distraction from handicapping the ponies, should look no further than the NHL, as the second round of the playoffs gets underway over the next few days. After an incredible first NHL sports betting round, fans wagering on their favorite teams, have plenty of trends to look at heading into round two. Here are a few trends surrounding the San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings series.

Looking at the spread for this series, and fans will see that when Detroit plays as the road team, against a team with a winning record over the last two seasons the Wings have been average at best. In general Detroit is 29 – 22 against the spread when facing a team with a winning record in each of the last two playoff seasons while on the road. Last season, Wings 25 – 18 before, they played San Jose in round two and were swept in four games.  Will the Wings continue to struggle as a road team against good teams this year or will they get the monkey off their back?

Moving on to head to head between Detroit and San Jose, and fans will see several interesting trends between the two clubs. Firstly, San Jose is 10 and seven against the spread against Detroit in the last three years, and also 10 and seven straight up during that time. What’s more, of those 17 games played between these two Western powers, 11 of the games have gone over the total. Furthermore, taking Detroit as the road team, where the total is five and half goals, has allowed fans to make a winning record of 26 and 15 in that time frame. Given how shaky Anti Niemi looked in round one, fans should expect a lot of goals in Detroit’s favor.

The 2010 – 11 Stanley Cup sports betting playoffs got underway earlier this week. With 16 teams remaining in the betting online playoffs, it is that time of year again to look at the underdogs. Today we look at several matchups in which we believe the underdog will prevail.

Phoenix Coyotes v Detroit Red Wings – To say that the Phoenix Coyotes are an underdog not only in this particular series but in the NHL as a whole would be putting it lightly. Despite putting together the sixth best record in the Western Conference for 97 points, the Coyotes are a +220 dog in the series. However, we feel this year, could be the year that they can beat the Detroit Red Wings. Consider that last season the Coyotes took the Red Wings to seven games, and then went two wins, no losses and two overtime losses during the regular season this year, and we feel the Coyotes could make a run. Phoenix is that type of team that plays good defensive hockey and has a nice mix of young and veteran players. With Ilya Bryzgalov putting in another strong campaign, look for the Coyotes to win this series in six. And perhaps make a run to the Western Conference finals.

Buffalo Sabres v Philadelphia Flyers – If any team can go on a run in these playoffs, we feel comfortable taking the Buffalo Sabres. To start the season, the Sabres found themselves in the basement of the NHL before playing out of their minds from the middle of November on wards. Last night, Sabres goalie Ryan Miller proved why he won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie last season, as he stifled the Philadelphia Flyers. Given that the Sabres have been in playoff mode since mid November and the Flyers goaltending woes, it seems like a no brainer as to pick the Sabres for this series. What’s more, the Sabres are only an underdog, because they are ranked seventh in the Eastern Conference. However, similar to the Flyers from a year ago as the seventh seed, look for Buffalo to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.