Canucks host Jackets in key Western Conference battle

Hockey Betting Lines

03/01/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams fighting each other for playoff positioning will meet tonight in Vancouver, as the Canucks welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to General Motors Place.

The Canucks are currently fifth in the Western Conference with 70 points, while the sixth-seeded Blue Jackets are just two points behind. Edmonton and Anaheim are also just one point behind Columbus.

Vancouver just completed a stellar month of February and will try to carry over that success into March. After recording just two wins in 12 January games, the Canucks went 9-2-0 in February.

The Canucks ended the month with wins in five of their last six games and earned a close victory over visiting Tampa Bay on Friday to rebound from Tuesday's loss in Montreal.

Roberto Luongo made 20 saves and Steve Bernier netted the game-winner in the middle of the third period, as Vancouver clipped the Lightning, 2-1, at GM Place.

Alexander Edler added a power-play goal for the Canucks, who are 9-0 with two ties all-time in home games against the Lightning.

Vancouver began a four-game homestand with Friday's win over the Bolts and is 15-11-4 as the host this season. The Canucks have won four straight on home ice after losing their previous nine tests in British Columbia.

The Blue Jackets are coming off a win as they ended a two-game slide with a close decision Thursday in Edmonton. Steve Mason recorded his eighth shutout of the season with 19 saves as Columbus edged the Oilers, 1-0, at Rexall Place.

Raffi Torres, a former Oiler, notched the lone goal of the game for the Blue Jackets.

Mason, a rookie, has recorded two of his 24 victories this season against the Canucks. Columbus is 3-0 against Vancouver this year and will try to complete the season series sweep tonight with its sixth straight win overall against the Canucks.

Columbus has won two in a row and three of its last four at GM Place.

The Blue Jackets are 12-15-4 as the visiting club this year and is completing a three-game road trip tonight. Columbus has won three of its last four road tilts.

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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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