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2012-13 Odds and Ends
by Anthony Lancione
Unlike the 04-05’ lockout which featured earth-shaking changes to the hockey landscape, with
monumental financial and structural differences at center stage of labor unrest, this time around you’ll
notice the apocalypse feel really isn’t there. In 2012, Its more about tweaking and fine tuning the
incumbent cap world NHL to essentially help prop up the bottom feeders, while mutually adjusting the
existing formulae to ensure the revenue sharing pot gets re-distributed to serve the greater good of
both the owners as a whole & the NHLPA relative to the first trial run (2004-2012).
Projecting league-wide totals for the parity-rich NHL is normally both a tricky proposition and an inexact
science, proving to be a daunting task for even the finest feathered odds makers in the bowels of Vegas’
top sports books. Take for instance, Yahoo Sports’ (and most of our) 2011-12 projection of a 30th place
finish for the Ottawa Senators last season, set at a 74.5 over-under point total, despite Murray’s Men
ultimately rolling out a valiant 92 point playoff campaign!
So with an impending lockout verdict all but formally announced, I venture to take a bit of different spin
on setting the stage for the 2012-13 season from a gaming perspective. There is simply no sense in
rambling off projections based on a full 82-game calendar at this point given the uncertainty of a season
length. Moreover, I’ll be classifying those clubs with any realistic shot at the big trophy into 3 valuebased
categories signifying their likelihood to succeed coupled with their likelihood to indicate where
you can unearth some good value futures.
In the Cap world NHL, it’s becoming an increasingly standard practice to hedge your risk, spreading your
eggs over a few baskets, given the number of realistic contenders in this day and age, while still allowing
you to collect some coin so long as 1 of yours hit. So I will embolden a couple franchises in each
classification for you to consider.
‘Been To The Dance’ Heavy Hitters
(This group is reserved for your cream of the crop of the NHL, the past 4 cup winners & runner-ups.)
Pittsburgh Penguins 8/1
Vancouver Canucks 10/1
Los Angeles Kings 12/1
Philadelphia Flyers 13/1
Chicago Blackhawks 14/1
Detroit Red Wings 15/1
Boston Bruins 16/1
New Jersey Devils 28/1
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