Sports Books bettors in NHL betting are beginning to take notice that General Manager Steve Yzerman proceeds to make moves that should strengthen the Lightning for next season.

On Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning acquired forward Simon Gagne from Philadelphia and his acquisition should give Tampa more scoring punch in hockey lines. The Tampa Bay Lightning is 40-1 to earn the Stanley Cup at the sports book.

Sportsbook odds on Tampa Bay had them as underdogs a great deal last season but that might change in 2010-2011. Yzerman has been taking some steps that should make Tampa a better squad. Gagne, the latest move, might be a solid one. The teams allowed defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth-round draft pick for Gagne. Gagne had 17 goals and 23 assists in 58 matches last season, as indicated by sports books figures. He has 259 goals and 265 assists and he has played 664 matches in his NHL career. He is 9th on the Flyers’ career list in goals and tenth in points and in matches played. Gagne was pretty excellent for the philadelphia flyers a year ago in the playoffs when he had 9 goals and 3 assists. He should manage to supplement Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis next year.

The flyers will be gaining Walker in return for giving up a popular player in Gagne. Sports book statistics indicated that he had two goals and 3 assists last year for the Tampa Bay Lightning. He has four goals, 26 assists and 444 penalty minutes in his career. General Manager Paul Holmgren has never been referred to as someone who might evaluate skill so giving up Gagne to get Walker isn’t a substantial surprise. Holmgren likes competitors who expend time in the penalty box and Walker surely fits that pattern.

The deal is completely one-sided for the Tampa Bay Lightning on paper. Gagne is a player who headed the philadelphia flyers in goals 3 times. He was the squad’s MVP two times and went to the All-Star competition two times. He was a pretty popular player in Philadelphia and will be missed on and off the ice. The flyers were a surprise squad last season vs the sports books odds when they made the NHL playoffs, getting all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, but they have made a step back with the loss of Gagne.


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The odds of the san jose sharks against the sports books NHL odds in NHL hockey betting improved on Thursday as they signed goalie Antero Niittymaki to a 2-year $4 million package.

The San Jose Sharks wasted no time in gaining one of the top free agent goalies on the market since they had already decided they were not going to re-sign longtime goalie Evgeni Nabokov. Nabokov got a lot of the blame when the sharks consistently underperformed against the sports books online odds in the playoffs.

The San Jose Sharks ended last season with the best record in the NHL but in the playoffs they bombed yet again. Acquiring Niittymaki is the first step for San Jose to correct some of their problems. He spent last season with a bad Tampa Bay squad but was still very good. The San Jose Sharks are learning that a high priced goalie is no better in the modern day NHL than a more cost effective one like Chicago’s Antti Niemi or Philadelphia’s Michael Leighton. The Sharks additionally have some young goalkeepers they like in Thomas Greiss and Alex Stalock but Niiittymaki goes into the season as the starter. Last season Niittymaki went 21-18-5 with a 2.87 goals-against average. He’s 83-79-28 in six NHL seasons, a lot of which were with average or below average squads.

Niittymaki started out his career in his native Finland. He then played for an AHL squad, the Philadelphia Phantoms, from 2002-2005 as well as for their NHL affiliate, the flyers. He aided to get the Calder Cup in 2005 and was granted the Butterfield Trophy for being the MVP in the process, making a name for himself in the league. The Philadelphia Flyers signed him as a backup goalie for the 2005-06 season. He competed with them until he was signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a backup goalie in July 2009. For the 2009-10 season, he lead the league in both saving percent and goal against average. Until July 1, when he became an unrestricted free agent, he competed quite effectively for the Lightning from that point on. He immediately agreed upon the 2-year deal with the Sharks.

Though they did lose free agent forward Manny Malhotra, San Jose already re-signed forwards Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski. After a lot of playoff failures, the sharks are attempting to remake their image. In that way, San Jose nonetheless has some work to do. Joe Thornton is a remarkable passer and one of the top scorers in the NHL but in the playoffs he is consistently a bust. Perhaps he might be put on the trade market this summer.

Just how good was San Jose in the regular season a year ago? They were 51-20-5-6. That was good for the top record in the league. But that record didn’t mean much as they lost in the playoffs again, sadly for the sharks. Thornton led them in points with 89 and overall the offense was 4th in the league, scoring 3.1 goals per competition. The defense granted just 2.5 goals per competition, placing them at a reliable 8th in the league. That defense might be improved next season with Niittymaki in net.


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