Aiming for first three-game win streak, Stars host Sharks

Hockey Betting Lines

12/29/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars will get another chance at their first three-game winning streak of the season when they host the mighty San Jose Sharks for tonight's Pacific Division clash at American Airlines Center.

In addition to winning back-to-back games, the Stars have been victorious in four of their last five contests. Dallas has also recorded at least a point in five straight games, going 4-0-1 over that stretch.

The Sharks, meanwhile, are tied for the NHL lead with 58 points and are 23 points ahead of Dallas for first place in the Pacific.

San Jose is 2-0 against the Stars this year and won the last meeting by a 6-2 score when they rolled to a win in Dallas on November 28. The Sharks have won three of four and five of the last eight encounters between the clubs and have also taken five of six in Dallas.

However, the Stars did get the better of San Jose in the playoffs last year as Dallas eliminated the Sharks in six games during the Western Conference semifinals.

The Stars earned their most-recent victory over another Pacific rival, posting Saturday's overtime victory against visiting Anaheim. Mike Modano ripped a one-timer past Jean-Sebastien Giguere with 1:26 remaining in OT to give Dallas the 4-3 decision over the Ducks.

Mike Ribeiro recorded a goal and two assists, while James Neal and Brad Richards each scored and added a helper for Dallas, which was coming off an 8-2 victory over Toronto. Marty Turco was shaky in net, but made 19 saves to pick up the win.

Richards and Ribeiro each extended point streaks to five games with the former notching four goals and six assists during the run and the latter posting two goals and seven helpers.

Saturday's win marked the opener of a three-game homestand for the Stars, who are 8-5-3 as the host this year. Dallas will complete the residency against New Jersey on New Year's Eve.

The Sharks had a two-game winning streak halted their last time out, as they dropped a shootout decision Saturday in St. Louis. Brad Winchester scored the equalizer in the third period and tallied the game-winner in the shootout, as the Blues edged San Jose, 3-2, notching their first win over the Sharks since the 2006-07 season.

San Jose last lost to the Blues on January 20, 2007 and had beaten St. Louis seven straight times prior to Saturday's setback. The Sharks also had won seven in a row in the Gateway City.

Jonathan Cheechoo and Mike Grier each had a goal and an assist for the Sharks. Joe Thornton added a pair of helpers for San Jose, while Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves.

The Sharks are playing the middle segment of a three-game road trip that will end New Year's Eve at Minnesota. San Jose has lost three straight as the visiting team and is sporting a 9-4-2 road record this season.

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A bye week will allow Terrell Owens broken hand to recover just in time for the next game the Dallas Cowboys are slated to play, according to reports. MySportsbook.com, an football sportsbook, has posted football betting lines on TO playing.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger Sunday night and had a plate surgically attached to it Monday. Although Owens' hand was swollen and aching Wednesday, Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said he's optimistic the receiver will be back at work next week and catching passes a week from Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.

MySportsbook.com online sportsbook listed Terrell Owens with odds of 7-2 (or $7 paid out for every $2 bet) to return back for the game against Tennessee.

"I certainly wouldn't rule it out now," Parcells said, referring to Terrell Owens immediate return. "Maybe five days from now I might, but I wouldn't rule it out now. ... I know we're looking to try to get him moving around pretty good in the next day or so. So we'll see where we are."

Owens did not speak with reporters Wednesday, but said Sunday he'd be out two to four weeks. A return against the Titans would be 13 days after the surgery. The Cowboys were listed as an early -7 1/2 favorite vs. the Tennessee Titans for Week 4 at MySportsbook.com

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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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