Lightning's Gary Roberts announces retirement

Hockey Betting Lines

03/10/2009 - Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Gary Roberts announced his retirement from the National Hockey League after a 21-year career on Tuesday.

"Today, I am officially announcing my retirement from the National Hockey League," said Roberts. "I am extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to be a part of this great league. The game has been so good to me and I will always be thankful for having had so many years doing what I loved to do."

The 42-year-old Roberts played in 30 games with the Lightning this season, tallying four goals and three assists after being acquired from Pittsburgh in the offseason.

"Gary has done everything we could have asked or expected of him this year," said Lightning general manager Brian Lawton. "Although we wish things had been better to date for the club, we are extremely grateful to Gary for his contributions both on and off the ice."

Ironically, Roberts appeared in his last game on March 1 in Calgary, against the team that selected him 12th overall in the 1984 draft. He played 10 seasons with the Flames (1986-96) and was a member of Calgary's 1989 Stanley Cup winning team. He first retired following the 1995-96 campaign with a serious neck and back injury at the age of 30.

Roberts, however, returned to the league with Carolina for the 1997-98 season and played with the Hurricanes until 2000 before moving on to Toronto (2000-2004), Florida (2005-2007) and Pittsburgh (2007-2008).

The three-time All-Star finished his career with 438 goals, 910 points and 2,560 penalty minutes in 1,224 regular-season games.

In 130 career postseason contests, Roberts recorded 32 goals and 93 points. He helped the Penguins to last spring's Stanley Cup Finals.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.