How to bet on the Canucks: Moneylines, puck lines and totals
If you're looking to add some intrigue to an upcoming Vancouver Canucks game, putting a little money down on the team may do the trick.
There are many different ways to bet on the Canucks every time they take the ice. You can bet on them to win or lose, wager on your favourite player prop or put a ticket together that has them included in a parlay.
The options are plentiful, which we’ll break down below.
How to bet on the Canucks
You'll be presented with a number of different options when you go to place a bet on Vancouver. In addition to all of the offerings, you should be mindful of several factors including the opponent, location, trends, injuries and the odds.
We'll take a look at all of that, explain what the main betting markets are and offer tips for how you can make smarter wagers on the Canucks.
Moneyline
If you think the Canucks will win their next game, then you may want to consider making a moneyline (ML) wager.
A moneyline bet involves backing the team you believe will win the contest. You will win your bet if you correctly pick the winner.
The margin of victory, or whether it's decided in regulation, overtime or a shootout, doesn't matter. You will see one team in the matchup labelled as a favourite and the other as an underdog.
The favourite will be marked with a minus (-) symbol in front of its odds and the underdog will have a plus (+) symbol.
Vancouver's status for any given game will largely depend on the opponent and location.
The Canucks, for example, would be a favourite in a home game against the San Jose Sharks. But Vancouver would be an underdog if it hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It would also be an underdog on the road against the Calgary Flames.
Moneyline odds
Here's an example of how the odds could look for those hypothetical matchups:
Sharks (+185) vs. Canucks (-225)
Maple Leafs (-275) vs. Canucks (+225)
Canucks (+195) vs. Flames (-225)
In these three instances, the payout structure for a bet on the Canucks would look like this:
Which moneyline bet makes the most sense? That would be the Flames contest and it largely has to do with the value.
There's little value to be found in the Kraken matchup despite the high implied win probability. You'd have to wager $225 to win $100 and since upsets happen all the time, the risk isn't worth the reward.
The Toronto matchup would generate a strong return but the Canucks' perceived chances of winning are rightfully low. The Maple Leafs are a significantly better team and you shouldn't simply chase a big payout. But context is important.
That brings us to the Flames game.
This matchup presents a nice combination of payout and win probability. A $100 stake nets $160 and has a respectable 38.46% implied win probability. Vancouver would be far from a long shot under this scenario.
While betting on the moneyline against Toronto and Seattle may not be the best option, these could present better opportunities to bet on the puck line.
Puck line
In addition to wagering on a moneyline, you'll also have an opportunity to bet on the puck line. Unlike a moneyline bet, placing a wager on a puck line involves betting against a point spread.
Puck lines are typically set at 1.5 goals, but some come in at 2.5 goals or higher. There are odds listed with each puck line that reflect the probability of the event occurring and the potential earnings that could be made.
Here are some puck line examples, using the same matchups from above:
Sharks +1.5 (-130) vs. Canucks -1.5 (+110)
Maple Leafs -1.5 (-110) vs. Canucks +1.5 (-110)
Canucks +1.5 (-180) vs. Flames -1.5 (+160)
In the Sharks example, the -1.5 next to the Canucks indicates that the oddsmakers are subtracting 1.5 goals from Vancouver's final score. Therefore, in order to cover the spread, the Canucks would have to defeat Seattle by two goals or more.
The Canucks, on the other hand, would be awarded 1.5 goals by the oddsmakers for both the Flames and Leafs games. That means Vancouver could lose either game by a goal or win outright to cover the spread.
Puck line wagers
Here's what each payout structure would look like for those puck line bets:
Backing the Canucks in the San Jose and Toronto games makes the most sense for us here.
Unlike the moneyline wagers above, these games now have both a reasonable ROI and implied win probability. The puck line is a good bet if you think the Canucks will defeat the Sharks by two goals or more.
When comparing the moneyline to the puck line in the Oilers example, it's more of a question of risk tolerance. If you prefer a lower wager and a higher payout, the moneyline makes more sense.
But if you'd rather have a higher implied win probability and were fine with a smaller payout, then a larger wager on the puck line could work.
How to bet on Canucks totals
If you're looking for an option to wager on the Canucks that doesn't involve betting on the final result, wagering on the totals market is an attractive choice.
Game totals refer to the number of goals scored in a contest. The totals are usually set at 5.5 or 6.5 goals. You'd have the option to wager on whether or not the two teams combine for more or fewer goals than that number.
You'd bet the over if you were confident in the Canucks and their opponent eclipsing the number — which we'll say is 5.5 here. If you weren't optimistic about them scoring more than five goals, you'd bet the under.
The totals market is also commonly labelled as the over/under and O/U. All of these terms mean the same thing.
You'll also have the option to wager on team totals. Team totals refer to the number of goals an individual team will score in a game. This number is set lower than game totals.
Team totals are often 2.5 or 3.5 goals. If Vancouver's team total for its upcoming game is 2.5 goals, a successful bet to the over requires the squad to score three-plus goals. A successful bet to the under involves the Canucks potting two goals or fewer.
How to bet on Canucks props
Prop bets are another betting option that doesn't require wagering on the final score of a game. Props can range from wagering on the time of the first goal to betting on the score of the game after the first period.
Player performances are another section that prop bets cover and we'll focus on those here.
Player props can include wagering on the number of shots a player will take in a game, or if a player will record a goal, assist or power-play point.
For example, you could wager on Quinn Hughes recording an assist in an upcoming Canucks game.
Here's an example of those odds:
Hughes 0.5 assists: Over (-120), Under (-105).
A successful $100 bet on Hughes going over 0.5 assists would generate a profit of $83.33. A successful $100 bet on Hughes going under 0.5 assists, on the other hand, would generate a profit of $95.24.
Parlays and more
You can wager on multiple events on a single ticket, which is known as a parlay. Although parlays can feature much larger payouts, they are also accompanied by a smaller win probability than single bets.
In other words, the odds of these bets being successful are much lower.
Every leg (another word for event) added to a parlay decreases the ticket's chances of winning. The entire ticket is lost if one leg of the parlay is lost.
You can find pre-built parlays (sometimes known as specials) available for certain games, which would give you the option to place one wager on something like Vancouver's moneyline, the game total and a player prop. You can also build your own same-game parlay.
Parlay odds
This is how the odds could look for a same-game parlay bet.
Canucks moneyline, Canucks/Flames over 6.5, Hughes over 0.5 assists (+740).
The potential return for that SGP would be much higher than if you were to bet each event separately. Here's an example of what those single-event odds would look like:
Canucks moneyline (+160)
Canucks/Flames over 6.5 goals (-110)
Hughes over 0.5 assists (-120)
The odds for a parlay will always be larger than individual events due to the heightened risk associated with the wager. That's why sportsbooks compensate for the risk increase with inflated plus-money odds.
There are additional ways to get in on Canucks action with live betting and the futures market, where you can pick Vancouver to win the division or Hughes to win the Norris Trophy.
You can read more on those in our NHL betting guide.
