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NHL Rejects New Jersey's Kovalchuk Deal
| NHL Rejects New Jersey's Kovalchuk Deal |
| Wednesday, 21 July 2010 15:00 | |||
In all of the aforementioned contracts, the player gets a ‘front loaded’ contract that runs for what is essentially his entire career. In Kovalchuk’s case, the deal was for 17 years and that timeframe has been typical with other contracts of this sort. The issue that the NHL has with the Kovalchuk deal—and the criticism that the hockey media has leveled on others of this sort—is that the year by year compensation is a very transparent attempt to circumvent the salary cap. In Kovalchuk’s case, he would have received $98.5 million of the $101 million value of the deal in the first 11 years. Not that anyone realistically expects him to be playing hockey at age 44—and certainly not under the same contract—but if he had fulfilled the deal he would make a non inflation adjusted $550,000 for the final three years. Considering that’s roughly 1/3 of what the average NHL player makes, it was just too farfetched to get away with. The NHL released this statement: "Under the CBA, the contract rejection triggers a number of possible next steps that may be elected by any or each of the NHLPA, the Player and/or the Club. In the interim, the player is not entitled to play under the contract, nor is he entitled to any of the rights and benefits that are provided for thereunder. The League will have no further comment on this matter pending further developments." Devils’ general manager Lou Lamoriello responded: "There is nothing that we have done wrong. This is within the rules. This is in the CBA. There are precedents that have been set. But I would agree we shouldn't have these. I'm also saying that because it's legal and this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing for the right reasons." Some have questioned why NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman chose to strike down the Kovalchuk deal while approving a number of other similarly structured contracts. Of course in his position as final authority on pro hockey in North America, he’s not required to explain the rationale for his decision. At this point, the Devils will likely rework the package and both the team and player have a number of options to have the decision appealed or arbitrated.
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The front loaded, long term contract has become increasingly common among NHL hockey teams seeking to pay superstars top dollar while getting around the league salary cap. The Blackhawks used the tactic to retain Marian Hossa last season, the Red Wings did as well in order to keep Henrik Zetterberg and a number of other deals were done using a variation on this theme. Yesterday, however, the NHL decided enough was enough and rejected New Jersey’s contract extension with forward Ilya Kovalchuk.
