Sutter set for debut as Kings host Ducks

Hockey Betting Lines

12/22/2011 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Finding success on the road has been a burden for the Anaheim Ducks and they will take another shot at ending their lengthy struggles as the guest against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.

The Ducks could find it even tougher to win tonight on the road when Kings head coach Darryl Sutter makes his anticipated debut. The Ducks are winless in their last 12 road games -- a franchise low -- and haven't prevailed away from home since a 3-2 win at Minnesota on Oct. 27. They are 2-10-4 on the road this season and last in the Pacific Division -- 11 points behind Los Angeles, which is currently fourth in the standings.

Anaheim has lost three in a row overall and has only four wins in its last 24 games. It has dropped the first three tests of a five-game road trip and suffered a 5-3 setback at Dallas on Monday. Teemu Selanne, Lubomir Visnovsky and Nick Bonino all scored in the second period for the Ducks, who got 28 saves on 33 shots by goaltender Jonas Miller.

"Seems like whenever we make a mistake, it's always in the back of our net," said Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, who is 2-6-1 since taking over the team. "We come out good for short periods of time, then all of a sudden we get out of the game plan. I don't know if the focus is lost or what."

The Ducks have given up 14 goals during their losing streak and will close out the swing Monday at San Jose. Selanne is riding a nine-game point streak (3g, 10a), which is tied for the longest such streak in the NHL this season. Corey Perry has eight goals and 10 assists in his last 16 games.

Meanwhile, Sutter was officially named head coach of the Kings on Tuesday and will make his debut this evening. He has guided an NHL team to the playoffs in 10 of 11 seasons as a head coach and takes over for Terry Murray, who was fired December 12 following a 13-12-4 start. John Stevens coached the Kings on an interim basis for the last four games (2-2-0).

Sutter inherits a team that is coming off a 3-2 shootout victory at Toronto on Monday in the finale of a four-game series. Dustin Brown scored the only goal of the shootout and added a tally in regulation, while Justin Williams lit the lamp for Los Angeles, which got 31 saves from Jonathan Quick.

"We have a bunch of guys on this team that can lead," said Brown. "We have guys who have been around this league for a while and know how to get things done."

The Kings hope to stop a three-game home losing streak tonight and are 8-9-1 in the City of Angels this season. Brown has a goal in two of the past three games and Williams has three points in the last two games. The Kings are 8-0-0 when scoring three-plus goals in a game.

Los Angeles has taken two of three meetings with Anaheim so far this season and has won five of the previous eight encounters at Staples Center. The lone matchup in LA resulted in a 2-1 shootout victory for the Kings.

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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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