Today, I found a few player props that stand out and hold significant value.
For our Men's Hockey Olympic player props, we are targeting Roman Josi, Michal Kempny and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Continue below for our Men's Hockey Olympic player props for Sunday.
Men's Hockey Olympic Player Props for February 15
- Roman Josi Over 3.5 Shots on Goal +150 (Bet365, Play to +140), Anytime Goalscorer +500 (Bet365, Play to +475)
- Michal Kempny +1800 to Score, (DraftKings, Play to +1600)
- Nikolaj Ehlers Over 3.5 Shots on Goal +100 (Bet365, Play to -110)
Saturday Olympic Player Props
Roman Josi 3.5 Shots on Goal (+150)
For a variety of reasons, Kevin Fiala's season-ending injury is extremely unfortunate. At his best he's one of the more exciting players to watch in hockey, and has been fantastic while playing for his country, including an MVP performance in the 2024 World Championship.
Though Switzerland lost to Canada, it created a lot more high-quality scoring chances than Czechia did in the same matchup. Based on recent international play, it's fairly easy to argue that Switzerland's program is generally underrated. By no means should we expect Switzerland to roll over and die in this tournament without Fiala, though his loss is massive.
The Swiss will need some of their remaining stars to really elevate their game moving forward, and their solid structural play should help ensure skaters such as Josi still get to play on the front foot much of the time.
The Swiss captain entered this tournament in excellent form, having quietly helped the Nashville Predators sneak back into playoff contention with eight goals and 23 points over the last 20 games at the NHL level. In that span, he's averaged 3.1 shots on goal per game and 6.4 shot attempts per game.
Considering the strength of competition, Josi showed quite well versus Canada, generating three shots on goal and two shot attempts from the inner slot. Josi played 26:44 in Switzerland's matchup versus Canada, after receiving a lighter workload of just 20:43 versus France, due to both the game script and quality of competition.
Sunday's important matchup versus Czechia will likely mean Josi takes on a workload closer to what we saw versus Canada, and potentially even more minutes if the scoreline is close throughout the game.
Though it did come from a total of just 12 shots, Czechia did allow three goals versus France, which is not an overly positive indicator, before allowing 36 shots and five goals versus Canada. Though it does have some elite talents up front, the blue line is unconvincing.
Switzerland's offensive game looked much stronger than the final score suggested versus Canada, as they generated 12 slot shots, nine inner-slot shots, and some great looks off the rush. Josi looked solid offensively in the game, which is no surprise considering his recent form with the Predators and that he is a massive piece of the puzzle for the Swiss.
I'm expecting the Swiss captain to lead by example in this matchup and help offer a response to the heavily deflating loss of Fiala. I'm not sure Czechia will prove to be overly dominant defensively in this tournament, and Josi has been in great form offensively in the NHL of late.
At +150, there looks to be solid value in backing Josi to record over 3.5 shots on goal in this matchup, and I also see value in staking a smaller bet on him to score at +500.
Pick: Roman Josi Over 3.5 Shots on Goal +150 (Bet365, Play to +140), Anytime Goalscorer +500 (Bet365, Play to +475)
Michal Kempny Anytime Goalscorer (+1800)
We've seen a few non-NHL skaters get off to strong starts in this tournament and prove capable of hanging in with the world's best. One of the skaters that fits that bill is Michal Kempny, who's seemingly turned back the clock at age 35. Kempny was a big piece of the Washington Capitals' 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team and has generally received meaningful roles with Czechia's program in recent years.
Kempny ranks second among Czech defenders, having played 40:11 through two games in this tournament. He's never been an overly offensive defender and will always receive a lot of usage in more defensive situations, but due to his hefty usage and solid play, he has managed three shots on target in both of the first two games, and did record a goal versus France.
Kempny has put up six goals in 31 games this season in the top Swedish league with Brynas IF. Considering that he is seemingly Czechia's number-two defender, a price of +1800 is long enough to take a stab here, though this is obviously a dart throw.
Pick: Michal Kempny Anytime Goalscorer +1800 (DraftKings/Bet365 Play to +1600)
Nikolaj Ehlers Over 3.5 Shots on Goal (-110)
Based on betting odds, Denmark's battle against Latvia on Sunday is the most evenly priced game of the tournament thus far, with Denmark currently sitting at -115. Latvia managed a 4-3 win over Germany Saturday, as goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped 26 of 29 shots to secure the victory.
Germany's three top stars, Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle, and Moritz Seider, combined for 18 shots on goal in Saturday's matchup. The game script obviously factored into those outputs, but it's not surprising to see that those talents had success in pouring shots on target versus Latvia given its lack of high-end talents to match up versus those skaters.
Denmark is fighting a similar battle in terms of overall talent, but it does offer Ehlers, who is undoubtedly the best skater from either team in this matchup. Though a line of 3.5 is one higher than we would ever see for Ehlers when he is skating for the Carolina Hurricanes, it still does not appear to be enough of a bump for this particular spot, or at least not coming back at even money.
Ehlers skated 20:31 versus Germany, recording three shots on goal and ten scoring chance contributions. He had three shots on goal in Saturday's matchup versus the USA and skated 19:07. Though he's not yet recorded four shots on goal in this tournament, a pair of three-shot outputs is actually encouraging for me given that this is a significantly better matchup for Ehlers to pour pucks on target.
Pick: Nikolaj Ehlers Over 3.5 Shots on Goal (Bet365, Play to -110)
