First TD Bets — Wild Card Monday Slate
Alex Christenson
Tuesday’s NHL best bets will cover the night’s eight-game slate with a scheduled first puck drop at 7 p.m. ET.
With our FTN betting package, you’ll get picks from everyone at FTN, plus tools, projections and access to Discord, where I’ll discuss every slate.
Today’s Best NHL Bets
Anaheim Ducks ML
Anaheim Ducks -1.5 Alternate PL
(+300, BetMGM, 0.5 units to win 1.5 units)
The Ducks are a team that no one really gives much credit to, but they generally do play very hard and have surprisingly good defense carried by their goaltender duo of John Gibson and Lukas Dostal. While Dostal completely stole Anaheim’s last game against the Predators, it’s actually been Gibson who has been consistently reliable. In nine January starts, Gibson has put up a 0.921 SV% and 3.99 GSAA, good enough for ninth in the NHL. Conversely, with Joey Daccord starting Monday night in Edmonton, the Kraken will likely go with Phillip Grubauer, who has been one of the absolute worst goaltenders in the NHL this season. Grubauer’s -7.04 GSAA in January is the second worst in the entire league. While the Kraken were dealing with a headache in Connor McDavid last night, the Ducks are well-rested and have a realistic chance to take their second win against the Kraken this season. I like the moneyline a lot at +140, but you can also give the alternate puck line a shot at -1.5 on MGM.
Colorado Avalanche -1.5
(+180, Bet365/DraftKings Sportsbook/Caesars)
A lot of people are mind-blown that the Avalanche would dare pull the trigger and trade Mikko Rantanen, but most people don’t realize how good Martin Necas is. While Rantanen is a better overall player, Necas has made some huge strides this season with an increased workload thanks to the departure of Teuvo Teravainen. In my eyes, the move from Rantanen to Necas isn’t going to be much of a drop off and might even be an improvement. Necas is likely to play with Nathan MacKinnon the vast majority of the time, which contrasts what he has been subjected to in Carolina where he has played mostly with guys like Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jack Drury, and Jordan Staal.
Having gotten the opportunity to watch Necas and the Avalanche play against the Rangers Sunday really solidified my stance that this Rantanen to Necas move could be an upgrade. Worst case, with Necas still having another year in his contract, it’ll lock in another star winger to the lineup an extra year, which wasn’t guaranteed when it came to Rantanen. With that said, this isn’t going to be a cake walk against the Islanders, but I would imagine that it’s going to be difficult for the Islanders to sustain MacKinnon, Necas, and Cale Makar throughout the night. I like the value we are getting with the puck line.
Bonus Bets
Montreal Canadiens ML (+134, FanDuel)
NY Rangers ML (+120, DraftKings)
Washington/Calgary Under 5.5 (-105, Bet365)
Prop bets will be posted on Discord.
Goal Scorers
Martin Necas
Jonathan Drouin
Cale Caufield
Joel Armia
Nikita Kucherov
Sebastian Aho
Artemi Panarin
Mark Stone
Tomas Hertl
Jason Robertson
Leo Carlsson
Frank Vatrano
