FREE NHL PICKS

BY PROFESSOR MJ

Hi guys, I hope you had a nice weekend! Today I’m back with a couple of NHL picks for you.

PICK #1: Nashville Predators -135 (decimal 1.74) against the Philadelphia Flyers

After finishing last year as Stanley Cup finalists, the Preds have lost their first two games (4-3 in Boston and 4-0 at Pittsburgh). They will be raising the Western Conference championship banner tonight in their home opener and will not lack motivation following such a difficult start to the 2017-2018 campaign.

Meanwhile, the Flyers are playing the final game of a 4-game road trip, and may feel already satisfied with their two wins out of three matches. Philly was not projected to finish in the top half of the standings, but who knows where Brian Elliott can take them.

Everybody knows how great Nashville’s defense is, but do they have enough firepower to make another run this year? Star defenseman Ryan Ellis is out until late 2017 or early 2018, while Roman Josi will be a game-time decision tonight. Exciting rookie D-man Samuel Girard is likely to make his NHL debut. He is very skilled with the puck, and his size was the only reason he wasn’t picked in the first round of the 2016 draft. Girard and Subban will be very exciting to watch!

Nashville lost James Neal (Vegas) and Mike Fisher (retirement) during the offseason, but added Nick Bonino and Scott Hartnell. The Flyers lost their third-best scorer in Brayden Schenn, but drafted Nolan Patrick #2 overall in the 2017 draft.

Sharp money seems to be on Philadelphia since most bets have gone on Nashville thus far, and yet the line on the Flyers has seen a drop. I usually follow sharp action, but not this time.

PICK #2: Ottawa Senators -105 (decimal 1.95) in Vancouver

The Sens have made few offseason moves so the team is pretty much intact, except for Methot being taken in the expansion draft (only to be traded to Dallas later on). The Sens’ best player, Erik Karlsson, is still out with a foot injury, while Oduya missed Ottawa’s last game. His status is unclear at the time of this writing, just like Mike Hoffman’s. Thomas Chabot was recalled from Belleville to step in.

Vancouver is expected to be among the worst teams in the league this year, with the Sedin twins not getting any younger (age 37). Bo Horvat will need to be great for this team to contend.

I do like the fact that Alexandre Burrows will be returning to Vancouver for the first time since being traded by the Canucks at the trade deadline after playing 822 regular season games with them. He will be pumped for this game and his teammates will certainly want to follow him. Ottawa has lost its first two games of the season, both in extra time, while Vancouver came up with an upset of the Edmonton Oilers. I expect some kind of a letdown from them.

Over the past 7 meetings, the Sens are 5-1-1 against Vancouver.

 

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Have a nice day and good luck on your plays!

Professor MJ

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