If you're not betting on the Red Wings, you might be losing money. The sports books are losing money by betting against them.
"I’m not a gambler, but if you just go to the NHL’s schedule before your game, they have the odds -- and Vegas hates us," Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said Wednesday with a smile. "So I hope they’ve lost a lot of money off us."
In fact, Lalonde said that someone gave him the following stat: "We’ve won more games as a Vegas underdog than anyone in the league this year, by a large margin. So keep the secret."
The secret's out. The Red Wings are 33-22 this season against the puck line (hockey's version of the point spread), via Vegas Insider, which is third best in the NHL. (Only the Canucks and Canadiens have been better.) They won back-to-back games as road dogs to close out their recent West Coast swing, 5-0 against the Flames and then 4-3 in overtime against the Kraken. The Red Wings were +110 on the money line in both cases.
"Maybe it motivates our guys," said Lalonde. "We were road underdogs, big dogs, both in Calgary and Seattle, and that’s fine. I think it says something about the group. There’s a quiet confidence in that room, but it only comes from doing it right. We’ve gotta continue to do it right."
Lalonde said that while he doesn't seek out the odds before each game, he checks the NHL.com schedule to confirm the Red Wings' start times "and Vegas always slaps me right in the face. It reminds me (we're underdogs)."
Lalonde wound up on the betting topic Wednesday by citing the Red Wings' playoff odds, which vary widely with about two months left in the season. The Wings are currently four points clear of the Devils and Islanders for the final wild card spot in the East and on track for about 95 points, but "there are still projections out there that people send me where we’re still a low 20 percent" chance to make it, said Lalonde.
"And some of the teams chasing us are a 60, 70 percent projection of making it," he said. "I get all that stuff. Today’s projections and AI, whatever, I get it. But that’s why you just shut those things out. Live in the moment. If we are going to stay in this battle and be fortunate enough to be there at the end, it’s going to be about what we do."
Most projections give the Wings at least a 50 percent chance to make the playoffs, which would end a seven-year drought. MoneyPuck has them at 52.3 percent, but it also gives the Flyers, who slightly trail the Red Wings in points percentage, a 72.4 percent chance. Hockey-Reference gives the Wings a 79.3 percent chance. The Athletic has the Wings' chances at 46 percent.
"You shut the noise off," said Lalonde. "Obviously I am not in the media, I don’t do social media for a reason: clear my own head. I hope our players do the same. But I’m sure after the two straight losses (last week), it was over for some fans -- that’s why they’re fans. And then with the two straight wins, it’s already a lock, buy the playoff tickets. We obviously can’t operate like that."
The Red Wings will continue their push to the playoffs Thursday night against the Avalanche, playoff locks wherever you look.