With a new head coach behind the bench, is the 2022-23 NHL Season the year the Detroit Red Wings finally make a playoff push once again?
According to the oddsmakers, don’t count on it.
While it was a positive offseason for the Wings, Detroit still is on the outside looking in for most NHL odds markets.
Can sports bettors in Michigan find any value in the 2022-23 Wings?
Red Wings 2022-23 Season Odds
Despite the changes to the coaching staff and roster, the Red Wings are still one of the longshots to win the Stanley Cup this season.
Detroit remains in the bottom third of NHL teams when it comes to longest odds to raise the Cup.
The same can be said for the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division, where the Red Wings are a longshot.
Will busy offseason buck the losing trend?
The Red Wings put up 74 points in 2021-22, which put them 12th in the Eastern Conference.
That wasn’t good enough for general manager Steve Yzerman, who fired coach Jeff Blashill. He replaced him with former Tampa Bay assistant Derek Lalonde.
Lalonde worked with Yzerman in Tampa, and was an assistant for the Lightning from 2018-22, helping them win a pair of Stanley Cups.
Yzerman was busy this offseason. On top of getting a new coach, he also signed C Andrew Copp, D Ben Chiarot, LW David Perron and LW Dominik Kubalik during free agency.
They get mixed in with 2022 Calder Trophy winner D Mortiz Seider, RW Lucas Raymond, C Dylan Larkin and LW Tyler Bertuzzi to give the Wings a lot of talent to work with.
The Wings haven’t made the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, which was also the last time they posted at least 80 points.
Detroit begins the 2022-23 regular season on Oct. 14 when it hosts Montreal.
Lalonde NHL Coach of the Year Odds
Many would consider Lalonde entering a positive head coaching situation.
Promising young talent combined with a GM that has had success elsewhere gives Lalonde a chance to make a name for himself.
Oddsmakers still expect his debut season to be a rocky one.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook MI, Lalonde is listed at +2500 to win Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s Coach of the Year.
Sheldon Keefe of the Maple Leafs, Jared Bednar of the Avalanche, Jay Woodcroft of the Oilers and Gerard Gallant of the Rangers are all co-favorites at +1200.
BetMGM Michigan, which lists Lalonde at +1600, reports that he is getting the most handle (29.8%) for the market.
Alex Nedeljkovic Vezina odds
Oddsmakers aren’t too excited about any member of the Red Wings pushing for MVP honors this season.
However, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic can be the dark horse for season honors. The goalie is in his second season with Detroit and sixth in the NHL.
Coming off a 2021-22 season where he had a 3.31 GAA and 20 wins, Nedeljkovic is listed at +15000 by BetMGM Michigan to win the Hart Trophy for NHL’s league MVP this season.
Nedeljkovic is also listed at +10000 to win the Vezina Trophy.
His 52 starts and 59 appearances in net were career highs for Nedeljkovic, as were his 20 wins.
Mo Seider Norris odds
Coming off his Rookie of the Year honor, Mo Seider is listed at +2000 to win the James Norris Trophy (top defenseman) by DraftKings. Seider collected 50 points in his first year with the Wings.
At BetMGM, Seider (+2000) is getting 29.5% of the tickets in the Norris market. However, that makes up for just 4.5% of the handle.
Captain Dylan Larkin led the Red Wings in both goals (31) and points (69) last season. Bertuzzi wasn’t far off in either, with 30 goals and 62 points.
The duo should be pushing for the team lead again, but are longshots to contend for the league scoring title.
Caesars Sportsbook MI has Bertuzzi at +12500 to lead the NHL in goals. BetMGM puts him at +15000 to score the most points.
DraftKings lists Larkin at a distant +100000 to score the most goals in the league this season. BetMGM has him at +50000 to be the NHL’s points leader.
One of the new additions, David Perron, is getting some attention from futures markets as well. He is listed at +25000 to win the NHL MVP by PointsBet Sportsbook MI. He’s also getting +40000 by PointsBet to be the league’s top goal scorer.
