Flyers sign Boucher, Laperriere
Hockey Betting Lines
07/01/2009 -
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Flyers brought a familiar
face back into the fold Wednesday, as they signed goaltender Brian Boucher to
a two-year deal. The club also inked veteran forward Ian Laperriere to a
three-year deal.
Boucher, who was a first-round pick by the Flyers in 1995, spent last season
in San Jose and was 12-6-3 with a 2.18 goals against average and .917 save
percentage in 22 games with the Sharks. He also managed to post a pair of
shutouts while serving mainly as the backup to No. 1 netminder Evgeni Nabokov.
The 32-year-old Rhode Island native also figures to be a backup with the
Flyers, who signed Ray Emery to be the club's top netminder last month.
Boucher has played in 247 NHL career games, including 103 contests with the
Flyers from 1999-2002. In addition to his time with the Flyers and Sharks,
Boucher has also played at the NHL level for Phoenix, Calgary, Chicago and
Columbus.
Laperriere played in 74 games with Colorado last season and notched seven
goals, 12 assists and also led the team with 163 penalty minutes.
The 35-year-old winger has played in 1,001 NHL games with the Avalanche, Los
Angeles, St. Louis and the New York Rangers and has recorded 118 goals, 198
assists and 1,794 penalty minutes over that span.
<< Torrealba reinstated after kidnapping incident
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies reinstated catcher
Yorvit Torrealba from the restricted list following a kidnapping incident with
a pair of his relatives in Venezuela.
Torrealba had been sidelined since June 2
<< Canadiens sign Cammalleri to five-year deal
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward
Mike Cammalleri to a five-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though multiple media outlets
reported it
<< Bruins ink Bitz to multi-year deal
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins signed forward Byron Bitz to a
multi-year contract on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bitz appeared in 35 regular season games in his rookie season with Boston in
2008-09, r
<< Flames sign D Pardy
Calgary, Alberta (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Adam
Pardy on Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not released
Pardy recently completed his first NHL season with Calgary, posting one goal
and nine assists in 60 r
<< Cuddyer helps Twins slip past Royals
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Cuddyer hit a solo homer and
knocked in two runs, as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Royals,
5-1, in the rubber match of a three-game set at Kauffman Stadium.
Joe Mauer went 3-
Thrashers acquire Kubina, Stapleton from Toronto >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers acquired defenseman
Pavel Kubina and forward Tim Stapleton from the Toronto Maple Leafs for
defenseman Garnet Exelby and forward Colin Stuart on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old Kub
Blue Jackets add Pahlsson >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets signed free agent
center Samuel Pahlsson to a three-year contract Wednesday.
Terms were not disclosed, but NHL.com reports the deal is worth a total of
$7.95 million.
"Sami
Wild add D Zanon >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild agreed to terms with
defenseman Greg Zanon on a three-year contract Wednesday.
Financial terms were not released, but NHL.com reports the total value of the
contract is $5.8 million.
Report: Pistons agree to deals with Gordon, Villanueva >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Pistons have reportedly agreed to
deals with guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva.
While any deal cannot be formalized until July 8, the Detroit Free Press
reported Wednesday th
Columbus signs G Garon >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed
goaltender Mathieu Garon to a two-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but TSN Canada reports the deal is worth a
total of $2.4 million.
"One of
Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “
What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?
There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).
Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
How the Opening Line Is Made
The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.
Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.
A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)
The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.
For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."
“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
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