Bruins visit Isles in first stop of long trip

Hockey Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins closed out their pre-Olympic break schedule with excellent play on the road, something the team hopes carries over when it opens up a season-long seven-game trek with this afternoon's matchup with the New York Islanders from Nassau Coliseum.

Boston won all four tests of a away swing from February 7-13 to put itself back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, but dropped a 4-1 home decision to rival Montreal on Tuesday in its first outing back from the NHL's extended hiatus for the Winter Olympics. The Bruins were able to bounce back on Thursday, however, by claming a 3-2 shootout victory over visiting Toronto on Miroslav Satan's goal in the third round.

Satan, who also accounted for the game's first goal in the first period, beat Maple Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere on a nifty deke to the backhand to put Boston ahead in the deciding phase, and netminder Tim Thomas stoned all three Toronto skaters he faced -- including former Bruin Phil Kessel -- during the shootout in his first start since February 2.

Thomas had 24 saves in regulation and overtime while subbing for Tuukka Rask, who sat out the contest due to a knee injury suffered in the Montreal game.

"I didn't take any extra pleasure because it was Phil," said Thomas when asked about stopping his ex-teammate in the shootout. I needed to get a win, our team needed to get a win. It's been a long time since we had a win at home."

The Bruins had lost 10 in a row (0-7-3) at TD Garden since a 4-0 shutout of Atlanta on December 30. The team's last win at home occurred at Fenway Park on New Year's Day, when Boston edged Philadelphia in the Winter Classic.

With Rask termed as day-to-day, Thomas will likely get a second straight start between the pipes today. The previously-struggling 2008-09 Vezina Trophy recipient owns a 7-4-1 record with a 2.00 goals against average in 12 career starts versus the Islanders, although he saved just 16-of-19 chances in a 4-3 overtime loss at Nassau Coliseum on December 12.

Boston may have leading scorer Patrice Bergeron back in the lineup this afternoon after the talented center took part in the team's morning skate on Thursday. The 24-year-old is dealing with a groin pull he sustained while competing for Canada in the recent Olympics and missed the Bruins' first two tilts after the Vancouver Games.

The Bruins, who have compiled a respectable 14-10-5 record on the road this season, enter today's play in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 67 points, one more than Atlanta, Montreal and the New York Rangers.

The Islanders started off strong after the league stoppage, besting Western Division co-leader Chicago by a 5-3 count Tuesday at the Coliseum, but couldn't sustain the momentum in a 6-3 road loss to Atlanta two nights later. The Thrashers erupted for four first-period goals, three of which came in the game's initial 10 minutes.

New York netminder Dwayne Roloson was pulled just 9:16 in after surrendering three goals on only seven shots, while backup Martin Biron stopped just 12- of-15 chances the rest of the way.

"In that first period, it felt like everything they shot went in," said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon.

Tim Jackman and Rob Schremp each pumped in a power-play goal for the Islanders, who will play four of their next five games at home and are presently six points out of a playoff spot in the East.

New York has won two of its three previous meetings with the Bruins this season, but Boston is 7-1-1 over the last nine bouts in the series and has gone 3-0-1 at the Coliseum during that stretch.

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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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