Personally, I love hockey, but it simply is not one of the biggest sports in North Amercia. Hockey often finds itself taking a backseat to basketball and football and that’s just the way it is.
This Sunday, the NHL is holding their Allstar Game which will showcase the best hockey players in the world, well, sort of. Both Evgeni Malkin and arguably without question the best player on the planet, Sidney “The Kid” Crosby, will not be lacing up the skates for the NHL’s feature game this Sunday. It puts a bit of a damper on the event as Crosby is the man the most people paid money to see. Crosby is still recovering from a concussion injury and will only be visible on the sidelines.
This year’s allstar game is actually worth talking about and reporting on, because this year, the NHL changed the format of the game. It won’t be East vs West, rather the league has chosen to have captains (Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal) and a fantasy draft.
The importance of these changes to our industry is that these new perks to the NHL Allstar weekend allows for sportsbooks to offer more betting options. Bodog is all over the new format. Here’s a look at some of the odds Bodog is offering for the NHL Allstar Weekend.
Personally, I love hockey, but it simply is not one of the biggest sports in North Amercia. Hockey often finds itself taking a backseat to basketball and football and that’s just the way it is.
This Sunday, the NHL is holding their Allstar Game which will showcase the best hockey players in the world, well, sort of. Both Evgeni Malkin and arguably without question the best player on the planet, Sidney “The Kid” Crosby, will not be lacing up the skates for the NHL’s feature game this Sunday. It puts a bit of a damper on the event as Crosby is the man the most people paid money to see. Crosby is still recovering from a concussion injury and will only be visible on the sidelines.
This year’s allstar game is actually worth talking about and reporting on, because this year, the NHL changed the format of the game. It won’t be East vs West, rather the league has chosen to have captains (Nicklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal) and a fantasy draft, it’s all very exciting stuff.
But the importance of these changes to our industry is that these new perks to the NHL Allstar weekend allows for sportsbooks to offer more betting options. Bodog is all over the new format. Here’s a look at some of the odds Bodog is offering for the NHL Allstar Weekend.
Who will win the 2011 NHL All Star Game? Team Lidstrom -110 Team Staal -110
Sportsbooks were always going to offer betting options on who would win the game, it’s the next betting option that wouldn’t normally be available under the old format.
Who will be the first Player drafted in the 2011 All Star Fantasy Draft?
Alex Ovechkin 7/2 Anze Kopitar 30/1 Brad Richards 35/1 Steven Stamkos 6/1
It may even be of value on Saturday to offer live betting odds on the NHL skills competition.
