Morning Coffee: Chiefs, Ravens will kick off the 2024 NFL Season

The 2024 NFL schedule will be released on Wednesday.

While we’ll need to wait a couple more days for the full slate, we learned this morning that the regular season will kick off with a rematch of the AFC Championship.

The defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will host the Baltimore Ravens on Opening Night.

Both teams are once again among the top three choices to win the Super Bowl at FanDuel.

Believe it or not, the Chiefs are not the Super Bowl favourite.

The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers are at the top of that market at +550.

Despite winning back-to-back Super Bowls, Kansas City is the second choice in the Super Bowl winner market this morning at +600 odds.

Baltimore is the third choice at +950.

The Chiefs opened -2.5 for the season opener at FanDuel.

The total opened 46.5.

We can expect some more games to be announced between now and the full NFL schedule release on Wednesday.

While we patiently wait for more details for the NFL season, the focus remains on the NHL and NBA playoffs with double-headers in both sports tonight.

The New York Rangers will get another opportunity to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals when they host the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 tonight.

New York is -111 to win Game 5 and -670 to win the series.

While the Rangers are the heavy favourite, the NBA gave us another reminder of how quickly momentum can shift in the playoffs over the weekend.

On Friday morning, the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets were on the ropes down 2-0 in their second round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves after dropping each of the first two games on their home floor.

After back-to-back wins in Minnesota, the Nuggets are now the favourite to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals once again.

Denver to win the Western Conference went from +850 to +135 at FanDuel.

The Nuggets went from +1700 to +370 to win the NBA Championship.

They're a 4.5-point favourite for Tuesday’s Game 5 in Denver in a series that has been reduced to a best-of-three.

I’ll admit it.

I saw the Nuggets at 17-to-1 odds to win the title, I considered it, and I didn’t pull the trigger.

Man, I wish I did now.

I’m always looking for value when it comes to teams with the opportunity to turn things around in the playoffs.

If there’s a future that you love, just hit me up on X and let me know @Domenic_Padula.

In the meantime, it’s back to work with another FanDuel Best Bet in this column.

We’ve been running hot to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hopefully, we can keep it going with another winner this morning.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday, May 13th, 2024.

A FanDuel Best Bet For Monday’s NHL Double-Header

After going a perfect 8-0 with my series winner predictions in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the pressure was on to build off a hot start in the second round.

If you’re a regular reader of this column, then you know I am heavily invested in the Florida Panthers to beat the Boston Bruins in their second round series.

As you can imagine, I was happy to see last night’s result play out.

Trailing 2-0 early, the Panthers responded with three unanswered goals to beat Boston 3-2 and take a 3-1 series lead.

Florida is -205 to win Game 5 on Tuesday night and -3000 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals at FanDuel.

Hopefully, they can close it out on home ice and avoid going back to Boston.

In the meantime, the Rangers get another opportunity to close out the Hurricanes in a match-up that is considered much tighter on paper.

New York is only -111 to end the series with a win in Game 5 on home ice tonight.

The Rangers are -670 to advance up 3-1 in the series, compared to the Panthers at -3000 to advance up 3-1.

If the Hurricanes can find a way to avoid elimination with a win on the road tonight, it would make things very interesting with Game 6 in Carolina.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche are looking to avoid a 3-1 series deficit as a -134 favourite against the Dallas Stars in Game 4 on home ice tonight. 

After storming back to beat Dallas in the series opener, Colorado has been outscored 9-4 in back-to-back losses, including a 4-1 loss in Game 3 on Saturday night.

Perhaps I’m reaching a little bit due to my own personal bias, but I’m expecting the best game of that series so far tonight as the Avalanche try to avoid losing back-to-back games on home ice.

As for my FanDuel Best Bet, I’m keeping it simple with the same strategy that has worked so well for me to this point in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Two players.

2+ shots on goal each.

I’ll begin with Jake Guentzel in a must-win against the Rangers.

Guentzel has at least two shots on goal in all four games so far in the series.

He’s registered at least five shots on goal in three of the four games, scoring three goals.

After recording six shots on goal in Game 4, I’m expecting another strong performance from him in Game 5.

Guentzel 3+ shots on goal is -148 at FanDuel.

I’ll take Guentzel 2+ shots on goal at -460 as my first leg.

In the late game, Tyer Seguin is a player I circled to watch at the start of the series.

After being held off the scoreboard in Game 1, Seguin has three goals in the last two games.

The Stars won both of those games.

More importantly for the purposes of this bet, Seguin has registered at least three shots on goal in all three games in the series.

He’s averaged 4.0 shots on goal through three games.

Seguin 3+ shots on goal in Game 4 tonight is +116.

While I place that bet for the fourth game in a row at plus-money, I’ll take Seguin 2+ shots on goal at -270 as the second leg of my parlay.

My FanDuel Best Bet is a two-leg parlay with Guentzel 2+ shots on goal and Seguin 2+ shots on goal at -150 odds.

Enjoy tonight’s NHL double-header, everyone!