Devils and Pens battle in the Steel City

Hockey Betting Lines

02/27/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will get another opportunity to show the Pittsburgh Penguins who is boss in the Atlantic Division when the two clubs meet tonight at the Mellon Arena.

The Penguins endured a stretch where they won 12 of 13 to rocket up the Eastern Conference standings, but have lost of their last three games after winning six straight.

The Pens made a move to help them in the postseason push this morning, when they acquired veteran defenseman Gary Roberts from Florida just hours before the NHL's trade deadline. Pittsburgh gave up young defenseman Noah Welch in exchange for the 40-year-old Roberts, who has 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 50 games this season.

Tonight's game will be the sixth of eight meetings between the two teams this year. The Penguins won the most recent battle on February 16, but the Devils own the series edge so far this year at 3-2. New Jersey has also won six of its last eight games against the Penguins and 15 of the last 21.

The two clubs also bring in respective home and road streaks. The Devils have won in a row as the visitor, while the Penguins have won their last eight games on home ice.

The Devils still hold a nine-point edge over Pittsburgh for the top spot in the division.

New Jersey won for the fourth time in five games on Sunday as Jamie Langenbrunner scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and the Devils hung on to defeat the Washington Capitals 3-2.

Langenbrunner also added an assist in the contest as the Devils won the back end of the home-and-home set versus the Caps. Travis Zajac and Zach Parise each had a goal and an assist.

Scott Clemmensen, making his first start since December 14, stopped 23-of-25 shots to earn the win.

Right Wing Brian Gionta has missed six straight games because of a groin injury and is questionable for tonight's game.

The Devils are 17-11-2 on the road this season and play the first of two home games on Friday against Toronto.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, was bested by Tampa Bay, 5-1, on Sunday

Sergei Gonchar tallied the lone score and Jocelyn Thibault gave up three goals on 15 shots before getting pulled early in the second period for Pittsburgh, which is 18-8-4 at home this season.

Both second-year star Sidney Crosby and rookie Evgeni Malkin are riding seven- game point streaks. Crosby has been setting up goals with 10 assists along with one tally over his streak while Malkin has posted three goals and seven assists over his burst.

The Penguins play their next two games on the road, beginning in New York on Thursday.

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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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