Panthers top Devils in Jersey

Hockey Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils surely won't miss seeing Florida's Kris Versteeg for the rest of the season.

Versteeg put the Panthers ahead in the second period with his fifth goal in four meetings against New Jersey this season, sending Florida to a 3-1 win over the Devils at the Prudential Center.

Former Devils backup goaltender Scott Clemmensen got the better of his former teammate, Martin Brodeur, stopping 27 shots in Florida's second straight win. Mikael Samuelsson added an empty-net goal in the victory.

Brodeur, returning after a one-game absence because of an ankle injury, turned aside 17 shots in New Jersey's second straight loss and first regulation defeat in eight games (5-1-2). Steve Bernier scored the lone goal for the Devils.

Versteeg gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead at 7:43 of the second period after New Jersey twice failed to clear its own zone.

The Panthers managed to keep the puck in and Stephen Weiss' shot from the top of the slot was deflected by a New Jersey defender. The puck went directly to Versteeg, who snapped a shot from the left circle past Brodeur for his 21st goal of the season.

"It wasn't anything they did... we started to throw the puck away," said New Jersey captain Zach Parise. "It's frustrating because we've been playing really well of late. It wasn't a great effort by us."

Versteeg finished the season series with five goals and one assist. Clemmensen also continued to haunt his old team, improving to 4-0 lifetime against the Devils. He stopped all nine shots he faced in the second period and seven more in the third.

The Devils failed to convert a late power play -- their only chance of the game -- and Samuelsson found the empty cage with 25 seconds remaining.

New Jersey grabbed the lead just 1:39 into the game when Bernier deflected the puck past Clemmensen. Dainius Zubrus intercepted a poor clearing pass along the right boards and sent pass toward the net. The puck first tipped the stick of Alexei Ponikarovsky before Bernier chipped it through the five-hole for his first goal as a Devil.

The Panthers tied it on a power play with 4:52 left in the opening period. Moments after Zubrus took a hooking penalty, Bergenheim deflected Erik Gudbranson's shot from just above the left circle past Brodeur for his 11th goal of the season.

"We came out well, the first 10 minutes," said Devils head coach Pete DeBoer. "We were playing our seventh game in [12] days and I think we ran out of little bit of gas."

Game Notes

The teams split the four-game season series, each winning once at home and on the road. It marked the third straight season-series split between the teams...Florida improved to 12-12-4 on the road this season...The Devils hadn't lost in regulation since a 4-1 setback against Philadelphia on January 21...Parise had a seven-game point streak stopped.

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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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