Oilers, Ducks close the book on NHL's regular season

Hockey Betting Lines

04/11/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers will both close the book on disappointing seasons this evening when they play the last regular- season game of the NHL's 2009-10 season at Honda Center.

The Ducks have lost three straight and will miss the playoffs for the first time in five seasons. Edmonton, meanwhile, will finish with the fewest points in the league, currently 62 barring tonight's result, and will sit out the postseason for a fourth straight year.

Anaheim, which won the Stanley Cup in 2007, heads into an interesting offseason following this game. Both defenseman Scott Niedermayer, 36, and 39- year-old forward Teemu Selanne will likely contemplate retirement over the summer, while 35-year-old Saku Koivu is a pending free agent.

With the Ducks looking towards the future, Niedermayer, Selanne and Koivu didn't even make the trip to St. Louis on Friday, a 6-3 loss to the Blues. The veterans could return for tonight's home finale, though.

Matt Beleskey notched his first career two-goal game for the Ducks, Bobby Ryan added his 35th goal of season and had an assist, while Curtis McElhinney was shelled for all six goals on 48 shots.

"We just sat back and let them come at us and they capitalized," McElhinney said.

The Ducks have won all three of their meetings with the Oilers this year, sandwiching a pair of 3-2 wins around a 7-3 triumph at Edmonton on Feb. 14. Anaheim has won four straight and six of its last eight versus Edmonton, though its home win on Feb. 10 snapped a four-game skid to the Oilers at Honda Center.

Anaheim has never before swept its season series with Edmonton, though it did go 4-0 with a tie against the club in 1996-97.

The Oilers will try to end the season on a bit of a roll, as a victory tonight would be their fourth straight. That would give Edmonton its second-longest win streak of the season behind only a five-game run from Dec. 3-11.

Edmonton scored the first three goals of its 4-3 shootout win over Los Angeles on Saturday. Mike Comrie scored twice and Tom Gilbert added a goal and two assists before a Kings' third-period rally forced overtime. Ryan Potulny and Shawn Horcoff then scored in the shootout and Devan Dubnyk stopped two of the three skaters he faced in the shootout after making a career-high 52 saves in regulation and overtime.

"We had a calm and confidence out there, almost too much," said Horcoff. "We relaxed out there with our goalie playing so well and that's how they got back into it. It was a hard win. We did a great job of moving the puck out of our zone. We turned the puck over a lot. We were able to sustain some pressure and get some key goals."

Edmonton will wrap up its worst season since a 64-point 1993-94 season and improved to just 9-27-4 on the road this year.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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MySportsbook.com week 1 NFL lines


Now that the 2008 NFL schedule is finally out, it is only matter-of-course for lines on “Week 1” to follow.  Of course MySportsbook.com is the first to churn out odds for the NFL’s inaugural week for the upcoming season.   Expect a lot of fireworks the first Thursday night of the season as the defending champion Indianapolis Colts face off against the surprise of the 2008 season, the New Orleans Saints.  These teams were ranked #1 and #3 in the NFL respectively a season ago so a high scoring affair could be in order.  As of now, the Colts will be giving 6 points to the Saints; keep in mind the Saints were one of the better road teams last season going 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS.  The first Monday night of the season will again provide a “double feature”. Coming off a disappointing season, the Cincinnati Bengals will look to get back to playoffs and improve their public image as they take on the AFC North favorite Baltimore Ravens.  The second game features a couple of teams that haven’t had too much success recently but each could make some noise if the NFC is as weak as it was last year as the San Francisco 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals. The most interesting game of the opening week will feature the NFC champion Bears as they hit the road to take on the NFL’s top team during last year’s regular season, the San Diego Chargers.

MySportsbook.com Week 1 odds:

Saints +6 @ Colts -6

Falcons @ Vikings (pick ‘em)

Panthers @ Rams (pick ‘em)

Broncos -3.5 @ Bills +3.5

Chiefs -1 @ Texans +1

Dolphins +3 @ Redskins -3

Patriots -5 @ Jets +5

Eagles -3.5 @ Packers +3.5

Steelers -4 @ Browns +4

Titans +6 @ Jaguars -6

Bears +6 @ Chargers -6

Lions +3 @ Raiders -3

Bucs +6.5 @ Seahawks -6.5

Giants +4 @ Cowboys -4

Ravens +3 @ Bengals -3

Cardinals +3 @ 49ers -3

 Super Bowl line (2008)

NFC +6.5 vs. AFC -6.5

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