Stars slip past Avalanche in SO

Hockey Betting Lines

04/10/2009 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Ribeiro scored the decisive goal in a wild shootout, as the Dallas Stars topped the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, at the Pepsi Center.

In the shootout, Colorado's Wojtek Wolski went first and fooled Dallas goaltender Matt Climie out of his pads. Wolski skated to the left side of the crease, getting Climie to go in the same direction, but he left the puck on the right side and tapped it into an open net.

Fabian Brunnstrom beat Peter Budaj on a top-shelf backhander before Milan Hejduk, switching backhand-to-forehand several times, notched a goal with a backhander over Climie. Dallas' James Neal had his shot slowed down, but the puck rolled by Budaj into the net. A shooter was finally stopped, as Climie stuffed T.J. Hensick's attempt.

Ribeiro's dazzling attempt then won the game. He skated in with his back to the net and turned slightly, sending a pass between his legs. Ribeiro also put his stick between his legs and made a forehand shot, which Budaj initially stopped. But it bounced in the air and into the right side of the crease before rolling across the goal line, ending the contest.

Steve Begin and Brunnstrom scored for Dallas, which was eliminated from playoff contention last weekend. Climie stopped 25 shots in the win, the Stars' second in three tries.

Chris Stewart and John-Michael Liles had the goals for Colorado, which has one win in its last 11 games. Budaj stopped 37 shots.

Stewart's power-play goal with 7:17 left in the second period got Colorado on the scoreboard, but Brunnstrom evened the game on the man advantage 2:09 into the third.

Begin gave the Stars the lead with 3:11 remaining in regulation on a tip-in from the slot, but the Avs evened the game less than a minute later. Liles took a shot from the left corner that bounced off Climie into the Stars' net.

Game Notes

Dallas was 1-for-2 on power plays, while Colorado went 1-for-5...The Stars close their season Friday at Anaheim...The Avalanche host Vancouver and St. Louis over the weekend to end their 2008-09 campaign.

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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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