Just what the Sens’ offshore sportsbook odds need — another soft, enigmatic forward!

Joining a long list that includes Marian Hossa, Alexei Yashin, Martin Havlat, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, Kovalev will fight riiiiiight in. He’ll razzle, dazzle and probably dash the Sens’ betting hopes in the playoffs. Actually, scratch that — the Sens won’t sniff the playoffs next season anyway.

At least he’ll sell tickets and I’m betting management in Ottawa knows that. While he should improve offensively — he’ll have his best linemates since his early Pittsburgh days — don’t expect him to influence the Sens’ sports predictions too significantly.

Plenty of MLB odds to keep an eye on this week, but we winter-sport guys are already looking ahead to the NHL draft. Today’s prospect to discuss: Victor Hedman.

If Tavares is the X-Factor type of player, Hedman is much more the physical specimen teams are salivating over in the draft. Since it’s been proven (more so in the NFL) that some teams like talent over polish, I wouldn’t necessarily bet at your offshore sportsbook that Hedman automatically slips to the No. 2 overall position.

The scouting report is pretty awesome — he’s 6’7″, giving him the size of Chara or Pronger, but he supposedly skates and positions himself like Lidstrom. So instead of Chara 10 years ago, he already has the scouting report of Chara in his prime, though I’m not convinced he has the mean streak/killer instinct of Chara. We’ll have to wait and see on that.

It wouldn’t be a huge stretch for the Isles to go with Hedman, as I’m betting management sees a hole at pretty much every position there (including “owner” and “general manager.”) If they do and Tavares slips, it’ll throw a crazy wrench in the draft. If I’m making my daily sports picks for the draft right this second, though, I still think Hedman slips to second or third.

If your’e a true online sports wagering playa, you probably have some bets going on the NHL Awards tonight. I know I do. it should be an interesting award show because, unlike Tiger’s US Open odds, there don’t seem to be too many locks. Here are my award picks.

HART TROPHY (Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk)

Who should win: Alexander Ovechkin

Who will win: Alexander Ovechkin. Don’t let Malkin’s playoff performance influence you — that’s not part of the Hart consideration. Ovechkin was the best player on Earth for the second straight year.

VEZINA TROPHY (Thomas, Mason, Backstrom)

Who should win: Tim Thomas

Who will win: Tim Thomas

Mason was the most valuable goalie in the league, but this award is for the BEST. Timmy was the man this year, leading the league in save percentage and GAA.

VEZINA TROPHY (Chara, Green, Lidstrom)

Who should win: Zdeno Chara

Who will win: Nicklas Lidstrom

Hopefully I’m wrong. it’s Chara’s year — Lidstrom is amazing but he wasn’t quite as good as always this season. Very tough one to predict — some special betting software would help.

CALDER TROPHY (Mason, Ryan, Versteeg)

Who should win: Steve Mason

Who will win: Steve Mason

Columbus was nothing without Mason. I still think he should win the Hart too, but the Calder will suffice for the upstart goalie.

SELKE TROPHY (Datsyuk, Richards, Kesler)

Who should win: Mike Richards

Who will win: Pavel Datsyuk

Datsyuk is the standard for defensive excellence and he’ll be rewarded, but I think Richards, the shorthanded dynamo, had a bigger impact in terms of his ability to seriously disrupt opposing offenses.

Hope you enjoyed these sports predictions! Enjoy the awards and watch out for Ron MacLean!

While some NFL odds action may top it before the end of 2009, I think I found the hit of the year…while there were some doozies in the NHL this year, I don’t think it comes from the ice…

It comes from — the Tony Awards??? Yessir. Check out what happened to poor, poor Brett Michaels:

WOOOO! I am a better person for having seen that. Aren’t you? I’m betting management of the stage production got a little paycut after that one. Can the hit be topped? There was a pretty sweet hit by the security guard at the U.S. Open when that guy rushed Federer — maybe it’ll be topped in the Wimbledon odds? You never know.

Of all the awesome hitters we imagined making waves in our sports predictions this season, who knew they’d all be topped by a giant stage prop?

Am I crazy? Betting US Open odds against Tiger kind of crazy? Maybe. Because I’m about to defend Marian Hossa.

As much as we love to drag athletes through the mud, condemn them for being selfish and spoiled and call them bad role models — and I’m part of this populus — it’s time to point a finger the other way and call the lot of us sports predictions pundits a bunch of hypocrites.

Everyone giggled with glee at the site of Hossa being on the wrong side of the Stanley Cup result yet again. Har har! He shunned Pittsburgh, switched sides and gets shafted again! Everyone loved to see Hossa lose because he was “selfish” and bolted for Detroit.

Let me ask you something though — what is it that usually makes us call a player selfish? it’s greed, right? Being a merc, signing with a crappy team for a big payday, right? So why are we suddenly chastizing Hossa for signing with the team he felt gave him the best chance to win? Isn’t that supposed to be a virtue — caring more about the sport, about winning, than the money?

Keep in mind that…

(a) Hossa owed nothing to Pittsburgh — he didn’t sign there, he was traded there at the deadline.

(b) Hossa signed a one-year deal with Detroit in hopes of winning a cup. He could’ve hit the jackpot with a seven-year deal somewhere else but he risked, say, losing it all to a career-ending injury and chose Detroit.

So I say we leave Hossa alone. I never liked him a lot as a player — I’ve always felt he wilted when the going got tough — but I have no problem with his motivation. It’s not like was Johnny Damon in baseball or even Brett Favre hinting at going to the Vikings to boost their NFL odds — Hossa didn’t jump to a bitter divisional rival. He just left a team he’d been a part of for a few months.

If he had special betting software that could’ve told him the Pens would win, I’m sure he would’ve stayed. You can’t blame a guy for just wanting to win.

NHL odds betting is a strange beast. In some years, when we desperately want to see certain storylines come to fruition, the hockey betting Gods laugh at us. Take 2007; the Leafs and Canadiens were both eliminated in the last 24 hours of the regular season and the New York Islanders made the big Dance.

We also saw the following TRASHY mid-2000s Stanley Cup odds sports wagering matchups:

New Jersey/Anaheim

Tampa Bay/Calgary

Edmonton/Carolina

Ottawa/Anaheim

Almost as bad as — gulp — Orlando/Denver possibly meeting in the NBA odds final! Well, finally, things have changed for the better. The Original Six teams are making a comeback — five of six made the bet online NHL playoffs and we’re getting to see the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds right now — and we even got to see the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup we so patiently awaited. Now, the Pens and Wings are each one win away from a rematch. If they win their next games, the Stanley Cup odds will start Saturday. Woo!

I know it’s getting warmer outside and it’s hard to watch hockey in late May, but try not to take this year’s great matchups for granted, NHL odds followers.

Like picking Bjorn Borg in the French Open odds, I’m a bit behind the times here, as the Hawks look finished, but I figure I should weigh in on the Kronwall/Havlat hit that rocked NHL betting Friday night.

Let’s start by watching the hit again:

My thoughts: the league and refs probably handled everything right, but I’m not even totally convinced Kronwall deserved a penalty there. Most people would bet at the sportsbook that Kronwall left his feet to deliver that kind of impact, but he was flat-footed. Also, the play wasn’t interference, as Havlat was handling (or attempting to handle) the puck. In theory, I guess you could say Kronwall committed an NHL betting faux-pas by “hitting someone in a vulnerable position,” but where do you draw the line? Most guys carrying the puck are in a vulnerable position.

It’s not the end of the world that Kronwall got the boot from the game, and I can understand why the refs had to react quickly to what they saw, but I’m glad the NHL didn’t discipline him any more than that. It would’ve been a major detriment to any sports wagering fans resting their hopes on Detroit’s Stanley Cup odds.

Danica Patrick’s Indy 500 odds looked better than Evgeni Malkin’s odds of scoring another playoff goal this season just a few weeks ago. Boy, has that ever changed.

After everyone wrote him off or called him out — including this blog — Geno has responded in a big way, to the tune of 13 friggin’ points in his last five hockey betting contests. Pretty damned impressive. Who knows what flicked the switch? Whatever the reason, he’s totally rediscovered his game. He’s using his great size to protect the puck, he’s hitting, he’s taking punishment — hell, he even dropped the gloves last night — and he’s handling the puck with confidence. The crescendo was last night’s hat trick, topped off by this gorgeous goal:

The Stanley Cup odds look better for the Penguins by the second, don’t they? Crosby hasn’t slowed down and Malkin’s back. It’ll be interesting to see if he can avoid another disappearing act in the Final should the Penguins get there.

Enjoy the Red Wings vs Blackhawks odds tonight! More Pens tomorrow plus the UFC 98 odds. Should be fun for sports wagering fans.

Mine that Bird may disappoint in the Preakness betting according to the hype, but it will be tough to top the egg Roberto Luongo laid last night in Game 6 against the Chicago Blackhawks, in which Vancouver was eliminated.

Hey, the blame can’t all be placed on Luongo — the Canucks crapped the bed as a team last night — but it’s hard to get around the fact that a guy who’s supposed to be the best goalie in hockey betting allowed four goals on nine shots in the third period of an elimination game, definitely not a Champions League Finals Betting Goalie.

Seeing an emotional Luongo storm off the ice, I started wondering about Luongo. Wondering what he’d won in his career.  As a Quebec Major Junior Leaguer, he won the league title but lost in the Memorial Cup. In the World Junior Championships, he lost in the Gold Medal game. He does have two gold medals in the World Hockey Championship and a gold in the World Cup of hockey.

As an NHLer, he’s played on just two playoff teams – both as a Canuck. And hasn’t made it past Round 2. Now, I DON’T want to jump to conclusions, as I really think he’s a supremely talented goalie, but I think if he repeats this year’s performance — in which he arguably didn’t steal a single playoff game — it may be time to label him the Joe Thornton of goaltending.

it happens in online sport betting — not just in hockey betting, but NBA odds too. Some guys are amazing physical specimens but just don’t have that extra “winner” gene in their makeup. Karl Malone comes to mind.

Too early to judge Luongo, but I’m just sayin’, it’s something to ponder.

Was I distracted by NBA odds, or the Penguins vs Capitals odds, or what? Whatever the reason, I was asleep at the switch last week, too wrapped up in my budding rap career to show you this GEM of a video:

Um…what the HELL is going on there? The scariest part, for starters, is that I’d bet at any sportsbook that the kid is not the guy’s son. Think about it — who sits behind his kid at a game? So the kid appears to be, er, pleasuring a stranger.

Is this a strange superstition to boost the Hurricanes’  Stanley Cup odds? If it is, it seems to be working, as that celebration came during the ‘Canes/Devils series. Who knows what these fans will try next (do we want to know?)?