Hockey "Cold War" rages on
Hockey Betting Lines
08/26/2010 -
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cold War may be a thing of the past in
a political sense, but the battle between Russia and the West is still alive
and well in the hockey world.
This week, representatives of the NHL and KHL, among numerous other ambassadors
from international hockey leagues, gathered in Toronto for the World Hockey
Summit. One hot topic was whether NHL players will be allowed to skate in the
2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but another, more-pressing issue
took center stage.
That topic was the ongoing battle between the world's biggest and best hockey
leagues, the NHL and Russia's Kontinental Hockey League. Since the KHL was
formed in 2008, the league has placed itself in direct competition with the NHL
by attempting to lure players to Russia. How successful the upstart league has
been in achieving that goal is up for debate, but it's clear that the KHL has
at least drawn the attention of the NHL.
On the surface, the leagues appeared to be civil towards one another in Toronto
this week, but just like in the Cold War, the real battles are raging behind
closed doors.
Former NHL player and current KHL executive Slava Fetisov, a Hockey Hall of
Famer, did his best to highlight the supposed goodwill between the warring
leagues when he said, "We need the help to grow together. I think we need the
relationship with the NHL. But in reality, synergy is not on at the top of the
list for either sides.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly was more pragmatic in his assessment of
current relationship between the leagues when he said, "I think, obviously, we
have had some misunderstandings and disagreements and you only bridge those
differences by continued dialogue. I think we have improved the level of
dialogue in recent months and I hope that continues."
The real point of contention facing the leagues is that there is currently no
transfer agreement in place between the NHL and KHL. Until an agreement is
worked out regarding that issue, there are no rules of engagement when it comes
to the KHL trying to lure players away from the NHL, or vice versa.
Up to this point, most of the NHL players who have decided to jump ship for the
Russian league have been toward the end of their careers, but there is one name
that keeps popping up as an example of the KHL's ability to draw talent away
from North America. That player is former Nashville Predators forward Alexander
Radulov, who signed a three-year deal with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the KHL in the
summer of 2008 despite having one season remaining on his contract with the
Preds.
Both the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation condemned the signing,
but without a transfer agreement in place, neither organization had any legal
recourse to stop Radulov from leaving his NHL club. All the Predators could do
was suspend Radulov for the 2008-09 season and lament the fact that they wasted
a first-round pick on a talented player who decided his best career move was to
play professionally in his home country.
Two years later, Radulov's exodus seems like an isolated incident but there are
still no rules in place that could prevent another player from making the same
decision. The very real possibility that a young player will simply pull ups
takes and leave for the KHL has struck fear in the hearts of NHL general
managers and possibly has led to only four Russian players being selected in
the first round of the NHL Entry Draft over the last two years. After Radulov,
a key question regarding any Russian prospect has been the player's desire to
play in North America, something that is not as easy to gauge as whether or not
a guy has the skill to be a success in the NHL.
As with the aforementioned issue regarding NHLers playing in the 2014 Olympics,
the transfer agreement problem will not be solved before the NHL's current
collective bargaining agreement expires on September 15, 2012 and there is a
distinct possibility that the controversy will linger on even after a new CBA
is agreed upon. After all, the KHL is a separate entity and doesn't have to bow
to the NHL demands.
One hopes that cooler heads will eventually prevail for the sake of
international hockey as a whole. While the Cold War between the Soviet Union
and the U.S. went on for over 40 years, hopefully the NHL and KHL can find a
more expedient solution to their problems.
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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.
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Bonds nearly hits HR 751, SF wins
4 and drove in
a pair of runs, and Barry Bonds nearly hit homer No. 751 as San Francisco beat
1, in the middle contest of three at AT&T Park.
6) allowed five hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings, fanning
eight and walking three.
game slide.
Bonds, who came within five homers of Hank Aaron's record on Friday, went
1 with three walks, an RBI double and scored twice. The double ...
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