The NHL Trade Deadline is Friday so it absolutely could affect betting on the league this week if key players are held out on teams – we are looking at you, Chicago’s Patrick Kane – with a trend imminent. Here’s a look a two intriguing early-week games. Check back for NHL odds.

Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week (February 27th, 2023)

NHL Power Rankings: Granting each team's trade-deadline wish https://t.co/pDijAE8jkr pic.twitter.com/3l9mF5A8uA

— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) February 27, 2023

Boston Bruins vs. Edmonton Oilers

• When: Monday, February 20, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, AB
• TV: NHL Network, SNE, SNO, SNW, TVAS, NESN
• Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub (Bruins) // 630 CHED (Oilers)
• Live Stream: NHL Live
• NHL Betting Odds: Bruins (+1.5) // Oilers (-1.5)

This could be a Stanley Cup Finals preview. Edmonton leads the NHL in scoring and Boston is second. The difference is the Bruins lead the league in goals-against average and the Oilers are closer to the bottom third of the NHL. This is their first meeting of this season with Edmonton visiting Boston on March 9.

Boston enters off its sixth straight win, 3-1 at Vancouver on Saturday. The NHL-leading Bruins were clinging to a one-goal lead in the final minute of regulation before Linus Ullmark sealed his 30th win of 2022-23 by becoming the 13th different goaltender in NHL history – and ninth since 2000 – to score a regular-season goal. Martin Brodeur is the only netminder to do so multiple times. No Boston goalie had ever scored a goal.

Ullmark, who backstopped the Bruins to their fourth win streak of at least six games in 2022-23, required the second-fewest contests by a goaltender in NHL history to reach 30 victories in a single season behind only Tiny Thompson (35 with Boston in 1929-30). Boston is now 30-0-3 when scoring first this year. It’s the fifth-longest such point streak in league history. Montreal (43 games in 1977-78) holds the record.>[?

Over the weekend, the Bruins acquired defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals in exchange for forward Craig Smith , a 2023 first-round draft pick, a 2025 second-round draft pick and a 2024 third-round draft pick. Orlov and Hathaway both made their Boston debut in Saturday’s win.

The Oilers may have been looking ahead to this game when they lost 6-5 in Columbus on Saturday. Connor McDavid had two goals and two assists in the loss. McDavid (113 points) sits two goals shy of his first career 50-goal season and now owns a 25-point advantage in the Art Ross Trophy race, ahead of teammate Leon Draisaitl (88 points), who on Saturday matched McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov for the longest goal streak in the NHL this season (7 GP). McDavid’s 113 points are the most by a player through 60 games in a season since 1995-96 when Mario Lemieux had 57-79—136 at that stage.

For the Oilers, it was only the second regulation-time loss in their past 18 games. The Jackets drove starter Jack Campbell to the bench after 14 shots and four goals. It was a league-leading 10th time the Oilers have scored four goals in one period, though, as they did it in the second against Columbus.

NHL Betting Pick: Boston Bruins

Seattle Kraken vs. St. Louis Blues

• When: Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 8:00 PM ET
• Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO
• TV: BSMW, ROOT-NW
• Radio: Sports Radio 93.3 KJR (Kraken) // KSMO 1340 AM (Blues)
• Live Stream: NHL Live
• NHL Betting Odds: TBA

St. Louis continues to sell off its best pieces as versatile forward Ivan Barbashev has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for prospect Zach Dean. The 27-year-old Barbashev has been a productive middle-six winger this season despite his team’s struggles around him, with Barbashev having racked up 10 goals and 19 assists for 29 points through 59 games thus far, all while logging roughly 16-and-a-half minutes in ice time per game.

With the Blues floundering in the standings and facing a salary cap crunch for next season, it became increasingly obvious in recent weeks that the team wasn’t going to be able to re-sign Barbashev. Dean was selected with the 30th pick in the 2021 draft by the Golden Knights and brings with him a first-round pedigree and a track record of point-per-game production over his four seasons in the QMJHL.

Previously, the Blues traded captain Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a three-team deal with the Wild on Feb. 17. Forward Vladimir Tarasenko and defenseman Niko Mikkola were traded to the New York Rangers by the Blues on Feb. 9 for forward Sammy Blais, defenseman prospect Hunter Skinner and two conditional draft picks.

The other St. Louis players seem to have quit with the team on a five-game skid. The team has Blasi acquired forward Kasperi Kapanen from the Pittsburgh Penguins with a waiver claim and Kapanen will be available to join the Blues lineup Tuesday when they host the Seattle Kraken.

“It’s a good pick up, brings speed, has good skill,” Blues coach Craig Berube said of adding Kapanen. “Looking forward to getting him here, coaching him and having him be part of the team.”

Kapanen, 26, was originally drafted by Pittsburgh at No. 22 overall in 2014. This season, the 6-foot-1, 194-pound forward has posted 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) and eight penalty minutes in 43 games. Overall, the Kuopio, Finland, native has dressed in 364 career regular-season games, including stints with Toronto and Pittsburgh, amassing 172 points (70 goals, 102 assists) and 86 penalty minutes.

Seattle hasn’t made a big move yet but could by the deadline as it battles for the Pacific Division title in just the franchise’s second year.

This is the last meeting of the season between these teams. They have split the first two with the most recent matchup on Dec. 20 in Seattle. The Kraken won 5-2. Ryan Donato, Carson Soucy, Daniel Sprong and Jared McCann scored in Seattle’s three-goal second period. Martin Jones made 22 saves. It was the Kraken’s first win ever in the series.

NHL Betting Pick: Seattle Kraken

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READ MORE: Top NHL Betting Picks of the Week – March 6th, 2023