BetWWTS.com Offers Odds on NHL 2005-06 Season

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua – (PRESS RELEASE) -- With Commissioner Gary Bettman announcing the cancellation of the 2004-05 NHL season earlier today, questions now arise whether the league and player's union will reach an agreement to save next season. Just minutes after the announcement was made, oddsmakers at BetWWTS.com calculated the odds on what would happen to the 2005-06 NHL season. The only company to offer betting options on the labor dispute in hockey this season, BetWWTS.com has created odds on the NHL having a full, partial or no season for the 2005-06 campaign.

Now that the season has been called off, BetWWTS.com feels that neither side will rush back to the bargaining table anytime soon, listing the odds on the NHL playing only a partial season next year as the favorite at 5/8 odds (i.e., win $5 for every $8 bet). Although it is likely that negotiations will result in only a shortened season in 2005-06, there is still a chance that both sides will come to an agreement in time to hold a full season, which is listed at 3/2 odds to occur. Whether the NHL and player's association come to an agreement or not, BetWWTS.com lists the odds of there being no hockey season again next year as a 4/1 long shot realizing that the owners will at least bring in replacement players to salvage their league.

"With the owners and players coming to within a few million dollars on a salary cap and still being unable to reach a resolution uo save the NHL season, there is no reason to think negotiations will resume anytime soon," said Michael Perry, senior oddsmaker at BetWWTS.com. "Now that hockey has become the first major North American sport to ever cancel a season, there is little reason to believe this will be a quick fix. Rumors of an impasse and potential replacement players for next year make us believe that, at best, the NHL will have a shortened season in 2005-06."