Kings cruise past listless Blue Jackets

Hockey Betting Lines

03/09/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonathan Quick needed to stop just 11 shots for his third shutout of the season and Los Angeles scored four first-period goals on its way to a 6-0 clobbering of Columbus.

Alexander Frolov had a goal and three assists while Michal Handzus and Fredrik Modin each added a goal and an assist for the Kings, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

Steve Mason was tagged for four goals on 13 shots and did not survive the first period for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped their past five games. Mathieu Garon stopped 20-of-22 shots the rest of the way.

It's been a difficult sophomore campaign for Mason, who won the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie last season. Coming into Monday's contest, he had a 3.08 goals against average and .899 save percentage, posting a 16-20-7 record.

"That was embarrassing," LA's R.J. Umberger said of the loss. "We didn't play smart. We are our own worst enemies out there."

Los Angeles dominated this game start to finish and scored the only goal it needed 5:49 in, as Wayne Simmonds caught up to the puck in the neutral zone, skated down to the right circle and blasted a shot under the glove of Mason.

Drew Doughty made it a 2-0 game with 6:36 left in the first on a one-timer from the slot, and Handzus scored 1:14 later when he jammed home his own rebound from the left side on the power play.

Frolov made it a 4-0 game with a power-play goal thanks to a one- timer from the top of the left circle.

The Kings took a 5-0 lead 4:20 into the second with their third power-play goal of the game when Modin skated into the slot and lifted a backhand past Garon.

It was 6-0 halfway through the second as Brad Richardson slammed home a rebound off a Jarrett Stoll shot that was sitting in the crease.

Columbus, which managed just three shots in the first period, had two in the second and six in the third.

"Mentally it can be a bit of a battle to stay focused a full 60 minutes, but the team played great the whole game," Quick said. "It was real easy for me. We had some big goals, and it was just a great game."

Game Notes

The Kings hit the road for a pair of games in Chicago on Wednesday and Dallas on Friday...The Kings took three of four against Columbus this season...Quick has seven shutouts in his career...LA scored on three of its six power plays while Columbus failed to score any of its four attempts.

Cbssporys Hockey Betting News

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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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