NHL Rejects Kovalchuk's Contract

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

After reading the "alleged" details of Door #2, I don't think this version is going to pass either.

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

I just wonder what Zach Parise's contract will be for. 30 years and 120 million?

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

From Sportsnet :

In a sportsnet.ca exclusive, Nick Kypreos has the salary numbers break down of the latest deal between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk.

2010-11: $6 million

2011-12: $6 million

2012-13: $11 million

2013-14: $11.3 million

2014-15: $11.3 million

2015-16: $11.6 million

2016-17: $11.8 million

2017-18: $10 million

2018-19: $7 million

2019-20: $4 million

2020-21: $1 million

2021-22: $1 million

2022-23: $1 million

2023-24: $3 million

2024-25: $4 million

...

Four-million dollars at age forty-two???

From TSN :

It could all be over today.

The NHL has until 5pm Eastern to render a verdict on the latest contract offer between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk. The league must either approve the reported 15-year, $100 million deal or reject it.

...

[brett 1,029]

Fail!

1 mil for 3 years then bumps up to 3 and 4mil FAIL

[hooon 1,089]

Fail!

1 mil for 3 years then bumps up to 3 and 4mil FAIL

Agreed. This one shouldn't be allowed either.

[edicius 3,269]

This one looks just as ridiculous as the previous contract. Won't be surprised at all if the NHL rejects this one too, since it really makes no sense at the end.

[djohns74 3]

If the details are indeed accurate, then literally all this new contract does is increase the Devils' annual cap hit a bit while potentially saving them some actual cash at the end. Can we all agree that Kovy will not still be playing when he's 42 (never mind 44)? Okay, good. So then his contract is going to come off the books some time before its actual end.

Let's pretend he retires at 40. Under the original contract, that would leave 4 additional years that don't get fulfilled during which he's scheduled to make $550K annually, but with a cap hit of $6 million per year. He would have earned right about $100 million over the 13 years he played for the Devils ($102 million - [$550K * 4]), but the Devils would only have been charged a total cap hit of $78 million ($6 million * 13 years), so they're saving about $22 million in cap hit, though very little in terms of actual money spent. The contract value was $102 million, they would have paid $100 million, so not much of an actual saving there, but a definite circumvention of the salary cap in most people's eyes.

Now the new contract (again, if accurate). He again retires at 40 taking the final two years of the contract off the books. He would have made $7 million over that time, so if the total contract value is $100 million, then the Devils would have paid him a total of $93 million while the total cap hit charged over the course of the deal (13 years times $6.6 million) would be $85.8 million, which is a discrepancy of just over $7 million, or just less than a third of that of the original contract. If we assume he doesn't play out the contract, then it still could be considered a circumvention of the cap rules, but it's not nearly as much of one as in the original contract. Instead, the Devils would save a bit of actual cash this way, which I don't think the NHL is nearly as concerned about in the long run.

Based on all of this, I would say that this new contract structure is nothing more than an attempt to better disguise Kovalchuk's ultimate intention here of not playing out the entire term. In that sense, this one should probably be rejected as well. But considering that the money paid to cap hit charged ratio is much closer to reality, and the NHL doesn't want to lose a star of his caliber to the KHL, I suspect they'll let this one go through. However, if they simply remain silent, the deal is automatically approved, but they won't have verbally given their approval. I feel this is the way they'll choose to go, both for face-saving and future deniability, so don't expect to hear any reports about official "approval" of the deal.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

This, I love; from Sportsnet :

Can NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA advisor Donald Fehr resolve the Ilya Kovalchuk contract conundrum? A source told Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos via e-mail: "Don't rule out a possible resolution between Bettman and Fehr moving forward".

...

[xtrememachine1 795]

Another 48 hours of this crap... blahhhhh

[egroen 384]

I'm sure the new structure is designed to show an 'incentive' to play out the entirety of the contract... though not really that great of one considering, as pointed out above, he has already made the vast bulk of his contract by age 38. Interesting spin though.

This new one is probably 'less' of a circumvention than Hossa's but still more of one than Zetterberg's. Would not be surprised if it is approved.

Edited September 2, 2010 by egroen

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

TBH, the NHL has "no choice" but to reject this contract. How could they reject the first one and then rationalize the acceptance of this one? It's just as ridiculous as the first, if not more so with the BS tactic they're trying to pull in the final two years.

[egroen 384]

TBH, the NHL has "no choice" but to reject this contract. How could they reject the first one and then rationalize the acceptance of this one? It's just as ridiculous as the first, if not more so with the BS tactic they're trying to pull in the final two years.

If they accept it, it will simply be because it has 2 less years on it - ending when he is 42 versus 44.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Here's what stinks; from New York Post :

The NHL has given the NHL Players Association an ultimatum regarding not only the contested, front-loaded, long-term contract between the Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk, but of similar contracts the league registered last summer between the Blackhawks and Marian Hossa, and between the Canucks and goaltender Roberto Luongo.

The challenge, as told to The Post by several well-placed sources and reported exclusively last night on nypost.com, puts $211.9 million in player contracts in jeopardy.

The Post has learned that Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly informed the still-leaderless and obviously rudderless NHLPA by e-mail late last night that the league would grandfather the recently re-submitted Kovalchuk 15-year, $100 million contract into the collective bargaining agreement, as well as Luongo's year-old, 12-year, $64 million contract and Hossa's year-old 12-year, $63.3 million contract, under the following conditions:

1. That the cap hit on future multiyear contracts will not count any season that ends with the player over 40 years of age. The cap hit would be based on the average salary of the seasons in the contract up to age 40.

2. That the cap hit on future contracts longer than five years would be calculated by granting additional weight -- perhaps the average -- to the five consecutive years with the largest average salary.

...

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

If they accept it, it will simply be because it has 2 less years on it - ending when he is 42 versus 44.

My point is that its beyond obvious what the Devils and Ilya are trying to do. It's been reported numerous times that Kovie wants to finish his career in the KHL and by *still* tailing off this contract to the extent that they do while trying to mask it with two more BS seasons is fairly easy to see through.

The NHL would look like even bigger boneheads accepting this one than if they had just accepted the first given the stink that arose from it originally.

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

From Montreal Gazette :

...

For now, the NHL says it will only register the Kovalchuk deal if the union agrees to some unpalatable demands which change CBA rules. If the demands aren't met, the league is threatening to reject Kovalchuk's deal, de-register Luongo's 12-year, $64 million contract and formally investigate Marian Hossa's.

...

[IILeiBlazeII 15]

The NHL would look like even bigger boneheads accepting this one than if they had just accepted the first given the stink that arose from it originally.

Wait, we weren't going in assuming the NHL executives were a bunch of big boneheads?

Savard's agent agrees with me.

In an ideal world, I hope the NHL goes ahead and cancels the deals with the other listed players, as well as disallow Kovie's contract. I hope it leads to another lockout (again, a lockout that, as it was in 2005, is created by the big, boneheaded NHL execs). I just hope the NHLPA isn't stupid enough to roll over and die like they did in 2005. These guys have plenty of places to play (US/Canadian minor league teams, ALL the european leagues, the KHL, etc.) and I'd love to see the NHL get a taste.

Do I love NHL hockey? Hell yes, I do. Do I love the Detroit Red Wings? God let me bleed my team color for a reason. Do I love the idiocy of the NHL executives? Not one bit. We should be rewarding players that want to stay with their team their whole career. We should reward players that want to play for your team more than any other. We SHOULDN'T be punishing them by saying:

"Well, sorry X-star player... we know you want to play for us, but we can only afford $3.9 million instead of $5 million."

If X-star player accepted that, it'd be 4/5 the amount of money he deserves based against his peers! And before anyone says "ZOMG $3.9 million is SO MUCH MONEEEEEEEY!" keep in mind most hockey players don't have college education (or at least have completed it), so most will deal with either jobs inside the family or friends business and/or low-paying jobs. They are only making this much money during the prime of their careers (unless your name is Ovechkin or Crosby). Taxes when you reach that level of money are astoundingly high. The bottom line is not "the bottom line".

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Wait, we weren't going in assuming the NHL executives were a bunch of big boneheads?

Savard's agent agrees with me.

In an ideal world, I hope the NHL goes ahead and cancels the deals with the other listed players, as well as disallow Kovie's contract. I hope it leads to another lockout (again, a lockout that, as it was in 2005, is created by the big, boneheaded NHL execs). I just hope the NHLPA isn't stupid enough to roll over and die like they did in 2005. These guys have plenty of places to play (US/Canadian minor league teams, ALL the european leagues, the KHL, etc.) and I'd love to see the NHL get a taste.

Do I love NHL hockey? Hell yes, I do. Do I love the Detroit Red Wings? God let me bleed my team color for a reason. Do I love the idiocy of the NHL executives? Not one bit. We should be rewarding players that want to stay with their team their whole career. We should reward players that want to play for your team more than any other. We SHOULDN'T be punishing them by saying:

"Well, sorry X-star player... we know you want to play for us, but we can only afford $3.9 million instead of $5 million."

If X-star player accepted that, it'd be 4/5 the amount of money he deserves based against his peers! And before anyone says "ZOMG $3.9 million is SO MUCH MONEEEEEEEY!" keep in mind most hockey players don't have college education (or at least have completed it), so most will deal with either jobs inside the family or friends business and/or low-paying jobs. They are only making this much money during the prime of their careers (unless your name is Ovechkin or Crosby). Taxes when you reach that level of money are astoundingly high. The bottom line is not "the bottom line".

Trust me, I completely agree they look ridiculous and boneheaded. That being said, this CBA has been such a headache and these long-term contracts are basically a "f*ck you" to it given teams' bargaining power became limited in the first place due to the Cap.

Bottom line is if the leagues brass does want a cap, then they need to do better job of catering to teams trying to hang on to their talent in (what the NHL is trying to make into) a watered-down league.

[IILeiBlazeII 15]

Bottom line is if the leagues brass does want a cap, then they need to do better job of catering to teams trying to hang on to their talent in (what the NHL is trying to make into) a watered-down league.

Couldn't (and didn't) say it better myself! :3

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

Has the League forgotten that the CBA is supossed to be a binding agreement?

[ilmickeyli 40]

This s*** just really reinforces Kenny and co's brain power.. They seemingly were the first to abuse this loophole - but knew not to take it to these extremes.

[Buppy 1,720]

This s*** just really reinforces Kenny and co's brain power.. They seemingly were the first to abuse this loophole - but knew not to take it to these extremes.

True, though Lecavalier was really the first. Maybe Mike Richards if you want to count that one. 12 years, but ends at 36 and the salary doesn't drop off as drastically.

Seems 40 is a safe cutoff, except in Savard's case, where it's probably the two years at league minimum keeping the 'investigation' open.

Either way, we seem to be safe, so I don't care all that much what happens with the others. 44 to 42 is a big difference, and I'd expect the league to approve it, though I wouldn't be totally surprised if they ask for another re-work. And I still seriously doubt anything will come from the investigations of the other similar deals.

[dragonballgtz 273]

Has the League forgotten that the CBA is supossed to be a binding agreement?

I just look at the owners and laugh. They want a cap system but then they let their GMs offer these types of contracts...its just silly. They are embarrassing the league.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Well... he's at least practicing in jersey gear. link