Maple Leafs Leaves Boston Down Jets

Hockey Betting Lines

"It was a fun game for fans to watch, that's for sure," said Miller. "Lots of good chances and lots of scoring. It was a good hockey game and I'm glad we came out on top."

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Vancouver Canucks probably couldn't have picked a better spot to close out their five-game road trip. The Canucks look to secure their ninth straight victory over the Maple Leafs this evening as the two clubs clash in Toronto.

 

A visit to Toronto could help Vancouver finish the swing on a winning note. The Canucks haven't lost to the Maple Leafs since Nov. 24, 2003 at Toronto, outscoring the Maple Leafs by a 19-9 margin in four meetings at Air Canada Centre since.

 

Vancouver held a two-goal lead over Carolina in the second period on Thursday following goals by Kevin Bieksa and Mason Raymond, but the Hurricanes countered with four in a row until Alexandre Burrows pulled the Canucks to within one with 11:20 to play.

 

While Sedin became the ninth Swedish-born player to reach 700 career points, twin brother Daniel missed the game due to back spasms and is questionable for this contest. Minus one half of the Sedin brothers, the Canucks have lost two straight for the first time since Nov. 3-4 after winning nine of 10.

 

Toronto was in action last night and dropped a 5-4 decision in Buffalo. Nikolai Kulemin converted the Maple Leafs' first successful penalty shot since 2006 and Dion Phaneuf had a goal before receiving a five-minute major and ejection for boarding in the second period.

 

The Maple Leafs now return home for three straight.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With his future in the NHL uncertain beyond this season, it is fortunate for Ducks' forward Teemu Selanne that Anaheim's lone meeting with the new Jets franchise this year takes place in Winnipeg. In a game that Selanne said he marked on his calendar as soon as the 2011-12 schedule was made public, the 41-year-old returns tonight for the first time in nearly 16 years to the city where his decorated career began.

 

The Finland native's tenure with the Jets lasted only three-plus seasons, however, as he played his final game with them on Feb. 4, 1996 before getting dealt to the Ducks three days later along with Marc Chouinard and a fourth- round pick in the 1996 draft in exchange for Chad Kilger, Oleg Tverdovsky and a third-round pick in 1996. The Jets then relocated to Phoenix at the end of that season.

 

Now in his 19th NHL season and in his second stint with Anaheim, Selanne won a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007 and is the franchise's all-time leader in goals, assists, points and games played. He is tops on the club this season with 21 assists and 31 points heading into his anticipated return to Winnipeg.

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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.

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