NHL unveils 2010-11 schedule

Hockey Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL revealed its 2010-11 schedule on Tuesday and will begin its slate of 1,230 regular-season games with five contests on Thursday, October 7.

It had already been announced that six teams will open overseas, starting with the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild playing a pair of games in Helsinki, Finland on October 7 and October 8.

The North American openers for October 7 will take place in Pittsburgh, Colorado, Edmonton and Toronto.

Pittsburgh will open its new Consol Energy Center against reigning Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia. The Penguins finally get a new building after playing at the Mellon Arena, commonly known as the Igloo, since their inception in 1967.

The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks will begin their quest to repeat in Colorado, while the night's other two openers feature Canadian rivals as the Oilers host Calgary and the Maple Leafs welcome Montreal.

In the other overseas openers, the Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks will square off for two games in Stockholm, Sweden on October 8 and October 9, while the Boston Bruins and Phoenix Coyotes will take the ice for two games in Prague, Czech Republic on October 9 and October 10.

It will mark the fourth consecutive year that NHL teams will travel overseas to begin the season.

The Blackhawks will raise a Stanley Cup banner for the first time since 1961 on October 9 before arch-rival Detroit visits the United Center. Chicago beat Philadelphia for the title earlier this month and those teams will meet for the first time next season on January 23 in the Windy City.

New Year's Day is also a feature on the schedule with the fourth annual Winter Classic. This season's contest pits the Capitals and Penguins, with superstars Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

The All-Star Game is back after going on hiatus last season because of the Olympics. Carolina will host the contest on January 30.

Another outdoor game highlights the February slate with Montreal visiting Calgary at McMahon Stadium. The Canadiens were part of the last outdoor game in Canada on November 22, 2003 against Edmonton.

The final day of the regular season is April 10 and the Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to start three days later. June 17 is the last possible day for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

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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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