Canadian teams make free-agent splash

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07/02/2010 - Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The last time Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen were in Calgary Flames uniforms, it seems management, fans or the players themselves, couldn't leave town fast enough.

Times change, especially when your former team may be the only one courting you. And so we have the slightly odd sight of Calgary general manager Darryl Sutter signing Tanguay to a one-year deal and Jokinen to a two-year deal on the opening day of free agency in the NHL.

Tanguay, 30, had a career-high 81 points (22 goals, 59 assists) in 2006-07 as a member of the Flames. In the last three seasons - one each with Calgary, Montreal and Tampa Bay - Tanguay's production has slipped considerably. He had 10 goals and 37 points last season for the Lightning. Sutter is hoping Tanguay and Jarome Iglinla can reignite the magic.

Jokinen, 31, played most of last season in Calgary before being shipped off to Broadway in February. In 26 games with the New York Rangers, Jokinen was a bit of a bust, with four goals and 11 assists. In 75 games, with Calgary over parts of last season and 2008-09, the veteran Finn wasn't bad, notching 19 goals and 31 assists.

It's nowhere near his career high of 91 points (39 goals, 52 assists) in 2006-07 with Florida, but the Flames can use all the offence they can get after posting a league-worst 204 goals last season, or 2.49 goals per game.

The Flames also signed forwards Tim Jackman and Raitis Ivanans. Jackman, 28, had four goals, nine points and 98 penalty minutes in 54 games with the New York Islanders last season. Ivanans, 31, spent the last four seasons as the Los Angeles Kings' enforcer, but had no points and 136 PIMs in 61 games last season.

Other Canadian teams made a splash, too, in a busy week of signings, trades, drafts and general house cleaning.

The Ottawa Senators went for offensive finesse on the back end instead of bone-jarring body checks by signing veteran blue-liner Sergei Gonchar to a three-year deal and watching Anton Volchenkov sign with the New Jersey Devils. Gonchar is 36 and has a lot of mileage on him, but he has a deadly accurate shot and few can compare when it comes to producing points from the point and being the quarterback on a power play.

Vancouver signed two-way forward Manny Malhotra to a three-year contract as well as inking forwards Joel Perrault and Jeff Tambellini. The big deal for the Canucks, however, was signing defenseman Dan Hamhuis to a six-year contract.

The 27-year-old has played all six of his NHL seasons in Nashville. More importantly, Hamhuis has missed only nine games during that time. This durability is important for a Vancouver blue line that was devastated by injuries all season.

There also is a lot to look forward to in Edmonton in 2010-11: No. 1 overall draft pick Taylor Hall will be given every chance to make the team; speedster Jordan Eberle is on the verge of cracking the roster; Ales Hemsky will be healthy (for at least one shift); and free-agent defenseman Kurtis Foster will add some depth to the blue line.

The Oilers also acquired defenseman Jim Vandermeer from the Phoenix Coyotes for forward Patrick O'Sullivan, which is not a bad thing. The Oilers have lots of smallish forwards and need some beefing up on the blue line.

The Oilers lost some grit when injury-plagued captain Ethan Moreau was picked up on waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a bit of an inglorious end for the 34-year-old winger who has led the team in injuries and dirty work for years.

Toronto added some Stanley Cup grit with the acquisition of Kris Versteeg from the Chicago Blackhawks (along with prospect Bill Sweatt). Versteeg has scored 20 or more goals in each of the past two seasons. Going to Chicago were Viktor Stalberg and QMJHL forward prospects Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis.

The Leafs also got more truculent by signing gritty forward Colby Armstrong to a three-year deal. Armstrong had 15 goals and 29 points in 79 games for the Atlanta Thrashers last season.

Montreal found two low-cost backups to Carey Price after shipping playoff savior Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues last month by signing goalies Alex Auld and Curtis Sanford to one-year deals. The Habs also signed forward Dustin Boyd to a one-year contract. The former Flame and Nashville Predator is a decent third- or fourth-liner.

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.

SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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