Odds for Canucks Point Totals, Individual Awards, and Team Success

For most people, simply sitting down on the couch, watching the game, and cheering their team on isn’t enough. There’s an appeal towards having something – other than, you know, your blood, sweat, and tears – invested in what you’re spending all those hours throughout the season watching. 

To achieve this some play fantasy sports, while others gamble. I’ve never invested any sort of meaningful money in what’s ultimately a guess of how a sporting event that you have no personal control over will turn out (unless you were associated with the 1919 Black Sox), but I’d be lying if I said that I’d never sprinkled some loose change in the search of the gratification that comes along with being able to say "A-ha, I knew it!". As long as you’re in control, it’s all good fun.

I was checking out our friends over at Oilers Nation this morning, and noticed that they had posted some odds and Over/Unders for individual Oilers. I figured I’d do the same for the Canucks, so read on past the jump for the goods.

For the record, all of the following odds and totals are from Bovada. They’re of course hardly the only source, though. Our friends over at PlayNow do a good job, as well as many others. 

They had point total Over/Unders up for 5 Canucks:

For what it’s worth, there appear to be only 10 players listed with totals over 80 points (Ryan Getzlaf, Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, John Tavares, Martin St.Louis, Steve Stamkos, Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Henrik). These Sportsbooks are smart, man. The totals for the Sedins are pretty much exactly where I’d set them at if I wanted to entice people to bet it. Henrik finished with 81 points in 2011-12, and 45 points in 48 games last season. If I had to project his production for this season, I’d put it hovering around a point-a-game, but I’m not sure I feel confident enough about it to bet it. Same goes for Daniel. I will say that if you believe that the power play will be rejuvenated this season, then you’ll probably be much more inclined to go with the Over here.

I actually like the Over for Kesler, Burrows, and Edler, though. Obviously projecting Kesler to exceed 60 points is dicy because you’re basically hoping that he stays healthy, but at the same time, that uncertainty is what’s driving his total down. I would take the under on 30 goals for him this season for sure, but I think he’ll wind up in the low 60’s in points. Obviously the people that set the line for Burrows are assuming that Zack Kassian will stick with the Sedins for the entirety of the season, which I think is hardly a lock. And even if Burrows spends the majority of his time with Kesler on the 2nd line, he should be able to approach the 50 point mark. 

Remember that Alex Edler was on a 53 points pace in 2010-11 before his back injury, and that he managed 49 points the following season. Last year was a disappointing one for him, no doubt about it, but I think there’s reason to believe that he could be poised for a big year if Tortorella utilizes him correctly.

Some other interesting individual odds:

There are some team bets up, as well. For example:

Finally, how much do you love your country? Team Canada to win the Gold Medal at Sochi is listed at 9-to-4. Russia is considered the favourite, by the way.