The NHL trade deadline is like Christmas Eve for hockey fans with all the wheeling and dealing and former Tampa Bay C Brad Richards has found a new home.

The Dallas Stars traded talented backup G Mike Smith, C Jeff Halpern, LW Jussi Jokinen and a fourth rounder in ‘09 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Richards and G Johan Holmqvist.

The Stars play the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday and SPORTSBETTING.COM doesn’t have a line set for that game yet but it does have Dallas listed at +600 to win the Western Conference and at +1500 to win the Stanley Cup in futures betting. 

High off a 12 game winning streak straight up (10-2 against the spread) the Houston Rockets could be without their big man until next season.

Citing reports from a Houston area TV station and daily newspaper, ESPN is reporting that Houston C Yao Ming has a stress fracture in his foot and will have season-ending surgery.

Ming was averaging 22 points and 10.8 boards a game this season.

SPORTSBETTING.COM has the Rockets listed as a 10½-point favorite when they host the Washington Wizards tonight.

This blog post is a day late, but we were talking about the Oscar’s night this morning and the consensus at our office was that Jon Stewart did a great job as host…and the two actors/musicians from “Once” were the best story of the night.

Odds on favorites “No Country for Old Men” won, and I think they Fedexed the award for Best Actor to Daniel Day-Lewis months ago, as he was a slam-dunk.

With the MLB training camps in full swing, the odds are up for who will lead the the league in home runs. As expected, A-Rod is at the top of that list, sitting at 9-2 odds. Joining him with the same 9-2 odds is Ryan Howard.

You can see the full list here

The #5-ranked Texas Longhorns travel to Big 12 rival Kansas State for Monday’s feature matchup. Kansas State is the small home favorite (-3) and have had good success vs. Big 12 opponents, sporting a 20-8 mark against the spread in their last 28.

You can see all the NCAA action here

The two most profitable teams for bettors in college basketball this season are:

1) New Mexico - 20-6-1 against the spread
2) North Carolina - 19-6 against the spread

After all the talk last week of Peter Forsberg remaining on the sidelines this NHL season, it’s reported that he signed with his old team, Colorado, earlier this afternoon. This signing, if Forsberg is healthy, makes the Avs a contender in the West.

Tuesday is a big day for hockey fans, as the annual trade deadline will see many players changing zip codes…and this year looks like it will include a plethora of big names on the move. No other sport can offer up a trade deadline day like the NHL. There will be plenty of drama building from the time the sun comes up in the East right to the last minute as deals are closed right at the wire.

Sharp bettors can evaluate what the moves mean to their teams chances of winning their division, their conference and the Stanley Cup and hit the future odds pages looking for opportunities.

In case you hadn’t heard, it looks like Ralph Nader will throw a monkey wrench into the Democratic candidate’s (Barack Obama is the current favorite to win the nomination) chances of winning the White House. Nader announced he will make another unsuccessful run at the presidency this fall.

Congratulations are in order for the Tennessee Vols, as they spoiled the run at a perfect season for Memphis last night. The #2 Vols pulled off the upset (they were 6.5-point underdogs) at Memphis, also snapping the Tigers 47-game home winning streak.