Stars jump on Jackets early, hold on

Hockey Betting Lines

02/09/2012 - Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamie Benn opened and closed the scoring, including an empty-netter in the final second, as Dallas downed Columbus, 4-2.

Stephane Robidas' goal was the final of three in the first 21-plus minutes, and Alex Goligoski also lit the lamp in the victory. The Stars won for the second time in three games overall and their third straight at Columbus. Kari Lehtonen surrendered a pair of power-play goals on 28 shots in the win.

Curtis Sanford was roughed up early, but held the Stars scoreless after the early minutes of the second period, stopping 31-of-34 shots overall. Vinny Prospal and Rick Nash scored for the Blue Jackets, who were trying to win three straight for the first time since last February.

Dallas wasted little time taking to the offensive, scoring two goals before many fans could find their seats. Steve Ott, stationed along the left boards, sent a pass in front that sailed across ice to Robidas, who floated a shot on net that fell in-between several skaters at the front of the net. Benn collected himself and the puck before firing a wrister past the goaltender just 1:35 into the contest. Then a wild scrum in front of the net and a fortuitous bounce of the puck led to another tally.

A straight-on slap shot by Tomas Vincour deflected off a Columbus defender's face, leaving him down on the ice and the puck in front of the net. Goligoski was in the right place at the right time, lunging with his stick to poke in the rebound at 4:21.

Early in the second period and just four seconds after a power play expired, Dallas increased its lead. Robidas lined up and launched a slap shot from out by the blue line. The rocket got by Sanford with the help of Loui Eriksson, who didn't deflect the puck but screened the goaltender by standing in front of the net in the direct line of the shot.

Columbus was down but not out, taking advantage of the power play to cut into its deficit. First, Prospal, sliding down the seam, deflected in Fedor Tyutin's centering feed with a backhand up high and past Lehtonen at 8:32. Nash was then the benefactor of picture-perfect passing several minutes later on the man-advantage.

Tyutin and Derick Brassard stretched the defense with back-and-forth feeds, and it was Brassard who fit the puck between a crowd of defenders across ice and on the back side to a streaking Nash, who deposited it in an empty net for his 18th tally of the season.

Lehtonen stopped seven shots in the third to maintain the lead and Benn scored on an empty-netter with less than a second remaining.

Game Notes

Prospal snapped a 13-game scoreless streak and extended his point streak to four games. He signed a one-year contract extension on Wednesday...Lehtonen atoned for a 4-1 loss to Columbus on December 29...Benn scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season...Dallas travels to Buffalo to play the Sabres on Friday night, while Columbus breaks up an extended home stretch with a game at Minnesota on Saturday. The Blue Jackets downed the Wild, 3-1, on Tuesday.

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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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