World Junior Hockey 2017 Betting Preview

We all love to do world junior hockey betting during the holidays, but almost all of us don’t know very much about it.

Never fear, we’ve done our research into the 10-team field for this year’s IIHF Under-20 World Championship in Toronto and Montreal.

We’ve looked up world junior hockey coverage about each country and added a bit of our own opinions to come up with this world junior hockey betting preview.

All odds are from Sports Interaction’s world junior hockey Futures odds that were posted a week before the tournament began. Sports Interaction is one of our favourite sportsbooks to use for world junior hockey betting, since they offer a wide range of props and good live betting.

Props and live betting are just two of the other ways to bet on the world junior hockey championships, just in case you don’t feel like laying $5000 to win $100 on Canada beating Latvia.

Enjoy, and good luck!

Canada (+120)


Canada’s always the big favourite in the world junior hockey tournaments, but lately they haven’t been worth the heavy price tag. They’ve won the tournament just once in the last 7 years after claiming gold in 5 straight tournaments from 2005-09. And now they have to deal with the additional pressures of breaking that drought on home ice.

Part of Canada’s problem is that their juniors are too good. Tournament-eligible players like Connor McDavid and Mitch Marner are already up in the NHL and won’t be available for Canada this year. Unfortunately, neither is the likely No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, Nolan Patrick, who is injured.

Canada may lack superstar power this year, but the plus side is that they should be well balanced. Depth has always been one of Canada’s biggest advantages in international play at any level, and that will likely be the case once again. They’ve also got 5 returnees from last year’s tournament in Finland, and that experience could show in the medal round.

We don’t see a lot of value in betting on Canada at this price. Instead, we suggest trying a rolling parlay once the medal round begins (betting on Canada to win its first playoff game, then risking those winnings on the next one, etc.) That should pay better than +120.

 

Looking to bet the tourney this year? The following sportsbooks are the best for world junior hockey betting.

 

Top 3 World Junior Hockey Sportsbooks

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Sweden (+400)

Sweden’s hopes of winning world junior gold got a huge boost a few days before the tournament as the Sabres announced they will loan Alex Nylander to his homeland.

Nylander was the eighth overall pick in this year’s NHL draft and ranks in the top 20 in scoring in the American Hockey League. He’ll join fellow forward Elias Pettersson, who is a projected top 10 pick in next year’s draft.

The last time we saw Sweden at the junior championships, they got drubbed 8-3 by the U.S. in last year’s bronze medal game. With 8 returnees from that team on this year’s preliminary roster, you can bet the Swedes will be motivated to atone for that, as well as knock rival Finland off its perch.

Sweden is a slight favourite over Finland to win Group A, which would probably mean getting to avoid Canada until the final. At +400 odds or better, Sweden could be worth a shot.

United States (+450)

The Americans claimed bronze last year and have now won 4 medals in their last 7 tournaments, including a pair of golds.

They should be serious contenders again this year, mostly because of their talented forward corps. The U.S. is so deep up front that they even cut Alex DeBrincat, who has collected 30 goals and 60 points in 28 games with the OHL’s Erie Otters.

With all that offensive firepower, it looks like the Americans will want to play an up-tempo skill game at the world juniors.

The U.S. has earned a reputation for preferring a grind-it-out, physical style in recent international play, so there may be some value on the Over in games involving the U.S. early in the tournament.

Russia (+500)

You can never discuss world junior hockey championship contenders without mentioning Russia, the silver medallists in each of the last 2 years and podium finishers in 6 straight years and 11 of 12.

The Russians have an excellent goaltender in Ilya Samsonov, who got 2 games of experience in last year’s tournament and is one of the top netminders in the KHL. They’ve also got a very strong blueline corps that includes a pair of CHL prospects (Sergei Zborovsky and Mikhail Sergachev) as well as two strong KHL players.

Russia has a couple of elite forwards in Kirill Kaprizov and Yakov Trenin, but this is also a program that believes in spreading the ice time out across 4 lines so depth up front could become a serious issue for Russia. It appears they’ll have to capitalize on power play opportunities and play a sound defensive game in order to succeed.

If Russia begins the tournament slowly, you might want to place a bet on them to win gold at inflated odds. This is a team that always seems to be there in the end.

Finland (+600)

Finland is the defending champion, so it may be a bit surprising to see them ranked so low on the 2017 world junior betting odds. However, that 2016 title was won on home ice and with Patrik Laine, Sebastian Aho and Jesse Puljujarvi in the lineup, and not many are expecting the Finns to pull off the repeat.

They’ve got two potential top-10 draft picks in Eeli Tolvanen and Kristian Vesalainen, but Finland looked overmatched in a pre-tournament 5-0 loss to Canada.

Still, Finland looks rock solid in net and on the blue line. The question is whether they can generate enough offence from a young forward corps.

Finland may not win the tournament, but it’ll be tough to blow them out. The Finns look like an attractive underdog to back on the +1.5 puck line.

Czech Republic (+2600)

The Czechs haven’t won a medal at this tournament since 2005, and their chances don’t look very good again this year.

They do have a 3-year starter Daniel Vladar in net and a talented defence corps (5 of 7 defencemen play in the Canadian Hockey League), but goal scoring should be a pretty big issue for the Czechs.

This team may be a decent underdog and Under bet in the preliminary round, but it’s hard to see them advancing past the quarter-finals.

Switzerland (+12000)

Switzerland definitely isn’t one of the traditional hockey powers, but you can’t just dismiss the Swiss either. They took Canada into OT at last year’s tournament, and they feature one of the top players in the tournament in Nico Hischier, who played last year as a 16-year-old.

However, they’re also very young and needed a win over Denmark last year to avoid relegation. So it appears Switzerland is very much a wild card.

Look for Switzerland to pull off one shocking upset in this tournament, but don’t be surprised if they get rocked in a few games as well.

Slovakia (+20000)

Slovakia’s only hope for being competitive in this tournament is excellent goaltending, but they may have a candidate to provide that in Adam Huska. Huska plays in the NCAA and has lots of international experience.

The Slovaks will rely offensively on a trio of CHL players in Erik Cernak, Radovan Bondra and 17-year-old Adam Ruzicka. That may work against a lesser team, but the tournament heavyweights can focus on shutting down those forwards and daring other Slovakian players to beat them. We don’t see that happening.

Slovakia might pull off one victory at the world juniors, but we don’t see them advancing to the medal round.

Denmark (+50000)

The Danes return 11 players from last year’s team that advanced to the quarter-finals, the second straight tournament Denmark made it past pool play.

Denmark doesn’t have a lot of star power, but they play a team game and have become known for their refusal to give up. Their game plan will likely be to keep games as low-scoring as possible in the hopes of getting into overtime and possibly stealing one.

If Denmark falls behind in a game and has to come out of its defensive shell in order to generate more offence, they might be a good team to bet against in live betting.

Latvia (+50000)

Latvia is a bit of an unknown commodity in this tournament because they haven’t participated in the world juniors since 2013.

The majority of Latvia’s players compete in foreign leagues, including 15 in either the Canadian Hockey League or NCAA. Like other overmatched teams, their game plan will likely be to play a tight-checking style and rely on their goaltending.

According to a SB Nation article, the Latvians’ biggest goal in this tournament is to avoid being relegated once again. That could make them a good bet in the consolation round, particularly if they face an opponent that had a disappointing tournament and isn’t as hungry.