Patrick Marleau and the Sharks have lost a lot of games as heavy favourites. (Photo credit: The Bay Area Bias / Foter / CC BY-ND)
The San Jose Sharks have been one of the bigger disappointments so far this season in NHL betting, and their bench boss is starting to feel the heat.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan told the San Jose Mercury News that if things don’t improve, he knows he could be gone. And that was BEFORE a 2-0 home loss to the Flames on Wednesday night.
“I feel confident with myself and the coaching staff, but I’m also a realist,” McLellan said. “I know that the team hasn’t performed to the level that any of us are happy with — not just ownership and management, but also coaches and players aren’t happy with the results.
“I understand the business, but I can tell you that we show up for work every day and that we put our work boots on and we try to make this group better. And we will over time. We just have to keep at it and see where it goes from there.”
If McLellan is already looking over his shoulder, we wonder how tight his players are feeling.
Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and company are already failing to put the puck in the net as regularly as they’re accustomed to. The Sharks have shown us in past playoffs that they’re not usually at their best when the pressure gets high.
San Jose ranks 24th in NHL betting against the puckline with a 9-15 record. If you wagered $100 on the Sharks every game this season on the puckline, you’d be down $486.
Wednesday’s loss to Calgary dropped the Sharks’ record at home to 2-4-2. They were 46-9-10 at “The Shark Tank” the previous two seasons.
Yet, they’re still being priced by oddsmakers as heavy favourites. They were whopping -359 favourites Oct. 25, when they lost 4-1 at home to the Sabres, and have been defeated six other times this season as favourites of -150 or higher.
We recommend betting against the Sharks, especially at these fat odds, until they show they’ve turned things around. Or, at the very least, avoid betting on San Jose for the time being.