The 4 Nations Face-Off kicks off this Wednesday with a matchup between Canada, the tournament favorites, and Sweden.
From there, the four teams involved (Canada, Sweden, USA, and Finland) will play a round-robin format with the top two teams meeting in the championship on Thursday, Feb. 20 at TD Garden in Boston.
Four Nations Face-Off Props – Longshot Bets
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As noted above, Canada is the favorite to win the tournament, but the bookies are having a tough time separating the Canadians and the Americans at the top of the board.
DraftKings is treating the two North American sides as +160 co-favorites, while FanDuel has Canada slightly shorter at +145 and the Yanks at +155.
FanDuel has Sweden as the third choice at +420, while Finland is sitting all the way out at +1000 after a rash of injuries bamboozled their blueline.
This tournament is the first of its kind and is coming in the middle of the NHL season, so nobody really knows what to expect. It’s also a short format, with each team only guaranteed three games and the two finalists playing a fourth.
All of this adds up to chaos, which is good news for punters who fancy themselves a longshot bet in these kinds of situations.
Here are a couple to consider:
Most goals in the tournament – Filip Forsberg, Sweden
You’ll notice that the top of the board in this market is dominated by Canadians and Americans.
That seems logical since those are the two favorites, but it is worth noting that those two rosters are absolutely loaded with starpower and that also means that they could end up spreading the wealth, which will keep everyone’s production somewhat in check.
So instead of playing one of the big dogs on Canada or Team USA at short prices, I’ll go down the board and play a prolific goalscorer from one of the underdogs.
Enter Filip Forsberg.
It’s been a trying season for the Nashville Predators, and Forsberg’s 32-goal pace is subpar for a player who lit the lamp 48 times last year, but a lot of that can be chalked up to a weird year for the Preds.
Forsberg should cut a revitalized figure playing meaningful hockey, and he will be a prominent player in Sweden’s top six and on their first power play unit.
Formats like this can often cause players to be more unselfish than usual because the rosters are filled with stars, but one thing we know about Forsberg is that he loves to fire the puck on net. The Swedish star ranks sixth in the NHL in shots on goal this season.
Where to play: +3200 at FanDuel
Team Finland top points scorer – Kaapo Kakko
Kaapo Kakko has looked like a completely different player since being traded from the New York Rangers to the Seattle Kraken.
Kakko has 17 points in 24 games and seems to finally be on the verge of breaking out. It’s been a long time coming for the former No. 2 overall pick.
Finland is the biggest longshot in this tournament, but there are still plenty of all-stars at the top of this roster.
Aleksander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, and Patrik Laine are all threats to put up crooked numbers, but I’d imagine those players will have to go up against the opposition’s top players in each game, which could limit their ceilings.
That should create some easier minutes for Kakko, who is set to play alongside a terrific facilitator in Roope Hintz.
Where to play: +1800 at BetMGM
