Canucks: 3 value bets for the 2021-22 season

The Vancouver Canucks are finally playing hockey again.

The team is already seven games deep into the 2021-22 regular season, having started off the new hockey campaign with a six-game road trip before returning to Rogers Arena on Tuesday night, and currently sit fourth in the Pacific Division behind Edmonton, Calgary and San Jose.

It hasn’t been the prettiest start for Vancouver, who hold a record of 3-3-1, but that doesn’t mean fans can’t predict and forecast what the remainder of the season has in store for the team as they pursue their first Stanley Cup capture in franchise history.

With the increasing presence and popularity of the sports betting market in North America, particularly from an NHL perspective, we’re going to take at look at the three best value bets on the Canucks for the upcoming year, and why we think they’ll make you richer come the end of the season.

Without further ado, let’s make some money!

*Note – all of these odds are collected via WynnBet, the official betting partner of FanSided, as of October 15th, 2021*

Bet #1: Vasily Podkolzin to win the Calder Trophy (+1300)

8 of the last 10 Calder Trophy recipients have been forwards, with half of those winners slotting in as a winger. As a result, we shouldn’t count out rookie Vasily Podkolzin to continue that trend. Podkolzin is a high-octane player that is more than capable of reaching 20+ goals and 50+ points in his debut season, and could very well follow in the footsteps of fellow Russian winger Kirill Kaprizov, who took home the Calder Trophy last season.

At +1300, Podkolzin offers great value for a young, dynamic goalscorer who could play a big role for Vancouver.

Don’t be worried too much if Podkolzin continues to develop further down the lineup to start off his inaugural NHL season, or even spends some time in the press box. By the time we hit the quarter-season mark, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we see him find his stride and earn minutes in the top-six and powerplay rotations, especially if injuries start to inevitably pile up throughout the year.

Podkolzin has a great chance of outright winning the Calder but, at the very least, +1300 odds are too good to pass up on as a value bet.

Bet #2: Canucks over 88.5 points (-110)

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Pacific Division is universally regarded as the weakest division in the NHL. There are a handful of favourable matchups, and lots of points to be won in this division, making the 88.5 points total an intriguing bet for Canucks fans.

At -110 odds, bettors are given great value to take advantage of a few different factors that favour that Canucks.

Despite only finishing on a 73-point-pace over a full 82-game season during last year’s shortened campaign, it’s important to remember that the Canucks had to deal with a myriad of issues, including injury trouble for Elias Pettersson, an extremely compact schedule and a more difficult all-Canadian division. Not to mention, the team was also victim to the league’s largest COVID-19 outbreak, which halted their season for weeks and further added to their busy schedule upon return.

It’s also important to look at the positives.

Prior to the NHL suspending the 2019-20 season due to the pandemic, the Canucks were on pace to hit 93 points in 82 games, and could easily hit that mark again given their active roster re-tooling this past offseason.

In other words, last season could be looked at as an outlier in terms of points total for Vancouver, so don’t be surprised if this much-improved Canucks team can rally back and be very competitive in the Western Conference.

And at -110 odds for over 88.5 points, that’s definitely great value to be had for the Canucks.