Welcome back inside the betting lab, everyone, to the sixth season of Saturday picks here at Dobber Hockey. Last season ended a little dodgy in terms of our selections, however, an overall record of 67-47-0 and a respectable 14-5-0 for our gold picks has us headed into the 2024-25 NHL season fired up to stack a bit of loot on our favourite day of the week. A juicy board of 14 games awaits for the first betting Saturday of the year with no shortage of tantalizing tilts to choose from to pick out spots and sprinkle a few wagers.

Good luck this season, let's get this paper.
*

Complete 2023-24 Saturday Record (Daily Record Tracked/Posted @Flips_Picks):
Gold: 14-5-0
Silver: 12-7-0
Bronze: 10-9-0
Side Bets (Located at Bottom of Article): 31-26-0
2023-24 Combined Record: 67-47-0

*

Gold Selection
Sidney Crosby Anytime Assist (-115)

If you've been following along the past few seasons of Saturday picks here at DobberHockey, you're already likely quite aware of our affinity for betting on the best player of this generation in No. 87. Coming off one the most complete seasons of his Hall-of-fame-caliber career, Crosby is aging like a fine wine and comes into this matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs already with two assists in his back pocket and that's exactly where we're looking for our first Gold Pick of the season. Sid is one of the best play-makers this game has ever seen, using positional play, elite on-ice vision, and high hockey IQ to create chances for his linemates while making everyone around him better – an ideal candidate for anytime assist.

To no one's surprise, Captain Canada also absolutely owns the Maple Leafs, racking up 29 goals and 39 assists in 53 career regular-season meetings against Toronto. Just like most of the all-time greats, Crosby elevates his game in the clutch and when the lights are brightest, so the first Saturday night of the year on one of the NHL's biggest stages in Toronto should suit him just fine. Sid picks up right where he left off and continues to rack up assists. There's no telling how Pittsburgh's season will shake out in the long run, but one thing remains certain: The Penguins will go as far as Crosby carries them. With the window for winning about to slam shut in the Steel City, expect another All-Star-level season from one of the best to ever lace 'em up.

Silver Selection
Chicago Blackhawks @ Edmonton Oilers – Pick: Over 6.5 (-102)

The battle of the Connors goes down in Oil Town tonight with the Blackhawks rolling into Edmonton to take on a team that's been absolutely cooked in back-to-back season openers to the tune of a 14-1 goal differential. Sure it's only one game, but considering the extremely slow start to last season that cost Jay Woodcroft his job, McDavid and the boys are going to want to nip this in the bud ASAP. Straight up, this one has high-scoring, run-and-gun written all over it and we're keeping this one short and sweet. Chicago is an improved club up front with the additions of Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi into the top-six group and with Connor Bedard set to explode, the Blackhawks should be a much more effective offensive group compared to last year. However, they are still a punching bag on the backend with a ragged blue-line corps who has a ticked off and fired up Edmonton group out for blood. This one could get messy early.

We would also lean to the Oilers on the puck line here but for the sake of our Silver Selection we're hammering this total, collecting our chips and moving on. Oilers-Hawks go over the number, lock it in.

Bronze Selection
Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens – Pick: Senators ML (-156)

Look out, the Ottawa Senators have themselves a goaltender. Yes, it's one game in the books for their new number one man Linus Ullmark, but he's been lights out for the better part of three seasons and he looked nasty in his debut. With a young core that features studs like Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Tim Stutzle, and Jake Sanderson, the sky is seemingly the limit for the Sens should Ullmark continue to look like the player who rocked with a Vezina only a couple seasons ago. Ottawa ended its 2023-24 campaign with a win against this Canadiens club, with the Habs dropping nine of the last 10 against the Sens overall.

Ottawa just smothered a very good Florida Panthers team in a neat-and-tidy opening night 3-1 win and we expect that momentum and historical dominance against Montreal to continue. Sens on the moneyline for our Bronze Pick of the night.

Side Bets
Dallas Stars @ New York Islanders – Pick: Under 6.5 (-132)
Florida Panthers @ Buffalo Sabres – Pick: Sabres ML (+114)
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Colorado Avalanche – Pick: Over 6.5 (-122)

Flip Livingstone is an NHL betting and NHL fantasy writer and daily podcast host with experience at outlets such as theScore NHL, Narcity Media, Postmedia, and Hockey Night in Canada. You can follow him @Flips_Picks.