Posted on: December 5, 2024, 01:41h.
Last updated on: December 5, 2024, 02:27h.
The big news on the NHL front this week was Wednesday’s announcement of the rosters for the teams taking part in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
The inaugural tournament, which replaces the NHL’s All-Star Weekend festivities, which few people cared about, will feature the sport’s elite led by names like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby playing for Canada, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, and the Tkachuk brother (Matthew and Brady) the US squad, Rasmus Dahlin and Elias Pettersson playing for Sweden, and Patrik Laine and Juuse Saros representing Finland.
NHL’s Best Talent Competing
On paper, the US team looks the strongest, according to many commentators.
Games will be played at the Bell Centre in Montreal and at TD Garden in Boston. The tournament kicks off February 12 in Montreal with Canada against Sweden. The feature game will be Saturday night, also in Montreal, when the US takes on Canada. Boston will host the tournament championship game on February 20.
We’re old enough to remember the hatred and intensity that these types of tournaments can generate. The Canada-US game of the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 was a round-robin match in Philadelphia with memorable fights between Matthew and Brady’s father, Keith, and Claude Lemieux of Canada, and current Team USA general Bill Guerin and Keith Primeau – 20 seconds into the game.
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The Canadian brand of hockey at the time meant running over people. The Americans were out to make a statement they were having none of it.
Will the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament feature that level of hatred between the two countries? Will Sam Bennett of Canada put his Florida Panthers teammates Matthew Tkachuk of Team USA through the boards if given the opportunity?
There will be a lot of energy, especially around that Saturday night game in Montreal, but will bettors care?
Hockey Well Down in Betting Rankings
Talking to traders, NHL betting consistently ranks fourth among all the major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB).
The NHL is the least bet of the major sports,” BetMGM’s John Ewing confirmed to Casino.org. “A lot of interest (in the 4 Nations tournament) will be driven by how well the USA performs.”
Said Glen Hyslop, a trader with BetVictor: “Looking at the numbers for the past two years and focusing on business on the NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB, the NHL has accounted for 15% of the business and is the least popular of the four US sports. [The] NBA is the most popular, then the NFL followed by MLB, and then the NHL.
Similar to World Baseball Classic?
“It’s hard to say if we will generate any interest in the 4 Nations Face-Off,” Hyslop said. “We will put markets up and see what we take. We are growing in Canada, and all these sports have seen an increase of [sic] business, so hockey could grow even more as the business grows in the area.”
PointsBet only does business in Canada and Australia after selling its US operation to Fanatics, so they have more on the line compared to those with businesses in the US, and with Canada being a hockey-mad nation.
According to the PointsBet trading desk:
Interestingly enough, [the] NHL comes in last of the big four professional sports at about half the turnover as baseball and football, 1/5 the turnover as basketball. This is likely because of the betting mechanics, not the sport’s overall popularity. [The] NHL is more popular than MLB in Canada, but it is not as good of a sport to bet on.
“In terms of the 4 Nations Face-Off, it’s hard to guess the interest right now with it being months away, but we think it could see similar betting interest to an event like the World Baseball Classic.”
888: Looking for 4 Times the Turnover
Lines are up already: BetMGM has Canada at +135 to win the tournament, followed by the US at +175, Sweden at +500, then Finland at +700.
“It’s still very early days, but I’d estimate a significant upgrade in interest compared to the usual All-Star Festivities,” said Ben Rhodes, US sports manager, trading, for Evoke (888, William Hill). “Overall the players seem to be up for it, so I’d expect fully competitive matches throughout. We’ll be hoping for upwards of 4x the turnover of a regular NHL game, with even more for the championship game.”
