NHL Betting: Svechnikov Favored To Be Red Wings Player Selected By Kraken

All NHL teams must submit their protected lists for the NHL expansion draft by Saturday. At that point, the clock will start ticking down to the July 21, when the Seattle Kraken will get to stock their roster by selecting one player from 30 of the 31 other NHL teams. The Vegas Golden Knights are exempt from the expansion draft.

Submission of protected lists aren’t taking place until Satuday. Nonetheless, NHL bettors can already get action on which member of the Detroit Red Wings will be the selection made by the Kraken. The favorite might catch people by surprise.

The consensus seems to be that defenseman Troy Stecher would be the Detroit player lost to the Kraken. Surprisngly, the betting sites aren’t offering odds on Stecher’s departure. Instead, it’s forward Evgeny Svechhnikov is the player oddsmakers have identified as the player most likely to be packing his bags and heading to Seattle.

Svechnikov was Detroit’s first-round pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft. He’s at a betting line of +120 to be selected by the Kraken.

Let’s look at the odds on the four players listed in this betting market.

Evgeny Svechnikov (+120)

It’s easy to see why Svechnikov would be appealing to the Kraken. He was a first-round draft pick, after all. Then again, he’s also scored just five goals in 41 NHL games and missed almost an entire season following knee surgery.

Evgeny Svechnikov nets two goals over the weekend in his first two games of the season for our @GreatClips "Clip" of the week! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/p9EIlWknSq

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 1, 2021

Some Red Wings fans will be unhappy if Svechnikov is the player lost. There’s a sentiment that he’s not been given a fair shake in Detroit. Perhaps then, a fresh start in Seattle might be the best case scenario for Svechnikov.

Vladislav Namestnikov (+140)

Namestnikov would be the safest pick for the Kraken. They’d know exactly what they are getting.

The journeyman center, 28, was a 22-goal scorer as recently as 2017-18. Namestnikov potted 17 goals during the 2019-20 season.

Danny DeKeyser (+200)

This pick might be a best-case scenario from a Red Wings point of view. There is belief that the team is weighing whether to buy out the last year of DeKeyser’s $5 million per season contract.

Were Seattle to take the 31-year-old defenseman, the Kraken would be solving Detroit’s problem.

Dennis Cholowski (+400)

Cholowski would be a risky proposition in terms of a wager. Sure, the 23-year-old might be providing a significant upside. The thing is, the Wings are likely weighing between Cholowski and Stecher for the final place on their protected list.

BAR. DOWN.

Shot of the Night honors go to Dennis Cholowski!

NHL x @JagermeisterUSA pic.twitter.com/jNsmoNYfVJ

— NHL (@NHL) April 25, 2021

In Cholowski’s case, the team must decide whether there’s enough uptapped potential there in order to keep him on the blueline over veteran Stecher, 27. The latter was impressive in a top-pairing role as Canada won the gold medal at the IIHF world championship.