Odds Favor Red Wings Trading Gustav Nyquist & Jimmy Howard By Feb 25
- The rebuilding Detroit Red Wings sit second-last in the entire NHL
- With the NHL Trade Deadline two weeks away, they’re sure to be sellers
- Will Jimmy Howard and Gustav Nyquist be a part of that sell off?
The Detroit Red Wings are in a prime position with the NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching (February 25th): they’re one of the few teams that are definitively out of the playoff race.
While a lot of teams in the log-jammed Western Conference may not want to admit it’s time to sell, the Wings have known they were going to be bad basically since day one.
So who do online sports betting sites think will be on their way out in Detroit?
Odds Gustav Nyquist is Traded
| Will the Detroit Red Wings trade Gustav Nyquist by deadline? (Feb. 25) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | -180 |
| No | +140 |
*All odds taken 2/12
As long as the phone lines in GM Ken Holland’s office don’t completely fail the next few weeks, there’s no way he shouldn’t be able to get a good return for the Swedish winger who’s a pending UFA.
Forward Tomas Tatar was having a terrible season last year and he still got flipped to Vegas for a good return that included a first-round pick.
TRADE | Vegas goes all in on Tomas Tatar, sending 3 picks to Detroit https://t.co/bYES7ZZjHn pic.twitter.com/qY84nt3LAV
— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) February 26, 2018
Nyquist is playing much better than Tatar was (averaging 0.84 points per game to Tatars 0.45) at 29 years of age. Keeping him around and trying to re-sign him in the offseason doesn’t make sense for either side.
He’s a shoo-in to get moved this deadline and -180 is good value for what I’d call a sure thing.
Odds Jimmy Howard is Traded
| Will the Detroit Red Wings trade Jimmy Howard by deadline? (Feb. 25) | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | -150 |
| No | +110 |
Though Jimmy Howard is also a pending UFA, his situation is a little harder to gauge. Howard has spent his entire 13-year career in Motown, and at 34 years old, he may be a little less willing to move on to a new location.
It sounds like Detroit is looking at bringing him back.
https://twitter.com/eq_nhl/status/1094942475360309248
Along with that, the deadline typically is not a big time for goalie movement. Teams at the top of the standings aren’t exactly in the hunt for help between the pipes.
At most, they’re looking to get a capable backup in case their starter goes down, but that rarely nets a strong return. The last starting caliber goalie to get traded near the deadline didn’t fetch much.
Full Ben Bishop trade. Very interesting play by Kings. pic.twitter.com/HBJZazGfWP
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) February 26, 2017
If the Red Wings are really considering re-signing Howard after this season, trading him away for a bag of hammers won’t really help those negotiations.
At this point, based on the trade deadline history, I’m a little more skeptical that Detroit will find a dance partner for Howard, barring a major injury to a starting goalie. The “No” is worth a look here.
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Eric Thompson has been with SBD since 2015, serving as a sports betting expert in NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB. If you want someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes sports news and betting, Eric is your man. Having studied economics at university, he understands what value is and how to spot it.
