It’s Marchy’s year to shine. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The world’s greatest sportsbook, and the only sportsbook in the history of the NHL to strike a deal with a franchise, William Hill, has released a bunch of props on the Vegas Golden Knights. Not only do they have the standard “futures” which allow fans to bet on the Golden Knights to win the Western Conference or Stanley Cup, but they’ve now posted individual player props for Vegas players as well.

But rather than just post them, I decided to have a little fun today and actually make picks on them. Plus, at the end of each pick, a confidence level of how certain I am that my pick will be correct. Here we go!

William Karlsson: Goals
Over/Under 32.5

Pick: Over
This number is pretty spot on to where I expect Karlsson to land this year so it’s actually one of the toughest ones of the group. When we wrote the “Karlsson regression” article the number it spit out was 34.3 goals, so for that alone, I’ll go with the over. I fully expect the Golden Knights top line to once again dominate games on both ends of the rink, and I expect Karlsson to be a major factor in that. However, I think Marchessault is ready to take the step into being the 40+ goal guy while Karlsson will pick up his assist total instead.
Confidence: 2 out of 5

Max Pacioretty: Goals
Over/Under – 31.5

Pick: Under
The Golden Knights had just one 30 goal scorer a year ago. That number may rise to two or three, but I can’t say I’m positive Pacioretty will be one of them. That’s not to say I don’t expect Max to have a great year with the Golden Knights, it’s just that 32 goals is a lot to ask, especially when he doesn’t have a clear line to play with out of the gate. He’ll certainly be paired with Paul Stastny, but it might be a revolving door as the third man on that line which will stunt production a bit. Also, Pacioretty and Stastny were brought to Vegas to sure up the defense on the 2nd line. That’ll be as much a focus as scoring, and no one on the 2nd line scored 30 a year ago.
Confidence: 3 out of 5

Jonathan Marchessault: Goals
Over/Under – 29.5

Pick: Over
This is the easiest of all of them for me. Marchessault should soar past 30 playing an entire season with Karlsson, Smith, and as a focal point on the power play. As mentioned in the Karlsson pick, I expect a lot of the goals from the first line to shift from Karlsson to Marchessault. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Marchessault ends up closer to 50 than he does 29.5.
Confidence: 5 out of 5

Reilly Smith: Points
Over/Under – 65.5

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If this happens again you can be rich! Just not nearly as rich as when it happened the first time. (Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas)  

It wasn’t long ago that the thought of betting the Golden Knights to win anything more than the next game was considered a sucker bet. 50:1 to win the division, 100:1 to win the conference, and at a time the Golden Knights went off at as high as 500:1 to win the Stanley Cup. They cashed a bunch (wish it was all) of those tickets and this year Vegas sportsbooks have wised up.

William Hill has had futures listed for the Final (VGK +900) and for both conferences (VGK +450) for a while, but now they’ve recently released the odds for each team to win their respective divisions, and to no one’s surprise, the Golden Knights aren’t longshots this time around.

Pacific Division

Golden Knights +260
Sharks +300
Ducks +400
Kings +400
Oilers +600
Flames +600
Coyotes +5000
Canucks +7500

Oddly enough, the Golden Knights do not have the highest season point total in the division. Instead, they come in third behind the Sharks and Ducks and tied with the Kings.

Ducks – 97.5
Sharks – 97.5
Golden Knights – 95.5
Kings – 95.5
Flames – 93.5
Oilers – 90.5
Coyotes – 79.5
Canucks – 76.5

Remember, a lot of these numbers have to do with betting action rather than the actual belief of a bookmaker. However, it’s surprising to see such disparities between the season point totals and the division futures.

On one hand, the Golden Knights are the favorites to win the division. On the other, they are projected to be right at the playoff points cut line with 95.5 points.

Every good gambler knows, when you see numbers like that, something is amiss. Unfortunately, I’m not a good gambler, so I’m not sure what it is.

Here are the rest of the divisions and their respective season point totals. All wagers are available now at William Hill sportsbooks in the state of Nevada and on the William Hill Mobile Sports App.

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T-Mobile Arena is going to feel a bit different for opening night puck drop this year. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

A year ago the Golden Knights were slated to be the worst team in the NHL. Sportsbooks all over town listed them as high as 500:1 to win the Cup before the season and William Hill had the season point total in 2017-18 set at a measly 69 points.

Then the Golden Knights went out and racked up 109 regular season points, won the Pacific Division, and won 13 playoff games en route to a Western Conference Championship.

Needless to say, expectations have changed a bit heading into 2018-19. Recently, William Hill listed the season point total prop for the Golden Knights at a whopping 94.5 points. Plus, they’ve listed a few other betting options.

Flyers @ Golden Knights – October 4th
Flyers +155
Golden Knights -175

Flyers +1.5 (puckline) -200
Golden Knights -1.5 (puckline) +175

Over 6 goals +100
Under 6 goals -130

Golden Knights to win Western Conference
Yes +400
No -500

Golden Knights to win Stanley Cup
Yes +850
No -1450

And they say hockey is in the offseason. Not at the betting window, and never at SinBin.vegas.