NHL Crypto Betting Explained
It’s been a while since a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup. The Montreal Canadiens were the last to do it in 1993 – and they almost did it again two years ago. Instead, the Habs fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the sixth time since ‘93 that a team north of the border has lost the Stanley Cup Final. We’ll look into who is next to stop the rot, with our NHL crypto betting explainer.
That losing streak has to end sometime, and maybe this will be the year. As we go to press, there are three Canadian clubs among the top seven title favourites on Bodog Sportsbook’s NHL betting board with at least one more team on the periphery of Cup contention.
You can bet on any (or all) of these teams right now at Bodog. To get the most value out of our hockey odds, we recommend you use cryptocurrency to place your wagers – so let’s take a quick look at what makes crypto betting so great, then we’ll assess Canada’s chances of bringing the Cup back home, where it belongs.
Benefits of Crypto Betting
If you’ve tried to use a credit card recently to move money in or out of your Bodog Sportsbook account, you already know how much of a pain it can be. More than ever, banks and credit card companies are prepared to shut down any gambling-related transactions, even when they’re perfectly legal.
You don’t have to worry about that when you use cryptocurrency – that’s why NHL crypto betting is the way to go. Not only will your deposits and withdrawals go through quickly and securely without any interference, you’ll also pay far lower fees than you would using credit cards or other methods – and you can make bigger withdrawals, too, without having to break them down into multiple transactions.
We’re not just talking about Bitcoin betting when it comes to crypto; the list of digital coins we accept at Bodog has grown to include Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether. More coins will be added as they establish themselves in the crypto marketplace, so stay tuned. In the meantime, our Bitcoin video tutorials and informative articles will show you how you can use any of these coins to make your deposits and withdrawals, no fuss, no muss.
Can a Canadian Team Win the Stanley Cup?
Before expansion, it would have been unfathomable to wait 30 years or more for a Canadian team to win the Cup. The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs had access to the best players during the Original Six era, and the Canadiens had specific dibs on the best Quebecois players.
On top of that, the Norris family controlled three of the four American teams at the time: the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks (as they were spelled back then), and the New York Rangers. The Norrises essentially ran Chicago and New York as if they were farm teams for Detroit, making it even easier for the Habs and Leafs to claim the Cup.
It’s a lot harder now. Even with the arrival of the Vancouver Canucks (1970), Edmonton Oilers (1979) and Calgary Flames (1980), and the rebirth of the Ottawa Senators (1992) and Winnipeg Jets (2011), Canadian teams now make up less than one-fourth of the NHL’s total membership.
The rights to players aren’t distributed regionally anymore, either. And things got really difficult when the NHL brought in the salary cap, following the lockout that ended the 2004-05 season before a Cup winner could be declared. No matter how important hockey is to Canadians, we no longer have the power or the purse strings to build the kind of Cup dynasties we used to in the good ol’ days.
NHL Betting: Canadian Odds
That doesn’t mean we can’t win it all this year. The Maple Leafs have famously come up dry since 1967, but this isn’t Harold Ballard’s team anymore. The Leafs have built a legitimate Stanley Cup contender around centre Auston Matthews, the reigning Hart Trophy winner and two-time Rocket Richard winner as the league’s top scorer. Toronto’s +750 Stanley Cup odds are second only to the current champions, the Colorado Avalanche (+375).
Long-suffering Flames fans are also eager to taste that victory champagne for the first time since 1989. They made it to the second round of the playoffs last year, after finishing below .500 during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign. Scooping up centre Nazem Kadri from the Avalanche in free agency might be enough to get Calgary over the hump as +1500 Cup contenders.
Tied with the Flames at +1500 are their provincial rivals from Edmonton. With all of the early first-round picks they’ve had over the years – including centre Connor McDavid, arguably the best player in hockey today – it’s only a matter of time before the Oilers break through.
Things are looking up for the Vancouver Canucks (+3500) as well. They’ve been through some lean times since they came up short to the Boston Bruins at the 2011 Cup Final, but the new regime of GM Patrik Allvin and head coach Bruce Boudreau is a major improvement over what they had previously. The big question for 2022-23: Is goaltender Thatcher Demko (.915 save percentage) ready to take the leap?
There’s even hope for the three Canadian teams near the bottom of the Stanley Cup odds board. The Senators (+5000) will have a different look this year with forward Claude Giroux joining the club, the Jets (+6000) have a new head coach in Rick Bowness who led the Dallas Stars to the 2020 Cup Final, and the Canadiens (+15000)… well, they’re the Canadiens. Maybe this year’s No. 1 overall pick, LW Juraj Slafkovsky, will pay instant dividends for the Habs.
Put those seven teams together, and at these odds, there’s about a 31.3% chance that a Canadian club will finally win the Cup this year. That’s pretty good considering we only make up 22.6% of league membership. So which team will it be? Bet on your favourites right now at Bodog Sportsbook, and make sure NHL crypto betting is your choice to get the best experience (and the biggest bonuses) when you do.