Spreading the money over 17 years, means his cap hit is only 6 million dollars per season (or 700 grand more than Pominville!). Even if the Devils were made to keep his salary on the books after he retires, it's only 550 grand a season. Take inflation into account and what the salary cap will be the (if there is one) and I think it's a brilliant move. It completely circumvents the salary cap.

Everybody wins. That greedy bastard Kovalchuk gets his dump truck full of money, and the Devils get one of the premier goal scorers in the NHL at a very low cap hit (relatively speaking)

Say what you will, but Lou Lamoriello is one shrewd motherfucker...

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"Let's just trap Sekera in the caverns underneath HSBC arena." -BlueandYellow

Reporter: "Steve, you guys now lead the league in defensive scoring."
Montador: "It's probably because of how good-looking we are."

They really need to do something about these contracts in the next collective bargaining agreement. It goes completely against what the original purpose was of establishing a hard cap. It's fucking ridiculous to for anyone to think the Devils have ANY intention of keeping Kovalchuk for anywhere near 17 more seasons....fuckin joke

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"I can't really hear what Jeremy says, because I got my two Stanley Cup Rings plugging my ears...." -Patrick Roy in reference to Jeremy Roenick's trash talking

I know everyone's all "oh, it'll be a bargin in 10 years" but really? 17 years is insanity. Children born today will be seniors in high school when this contract is supposedly up. I'll be 46 years old (OH MY GOD!)

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"Oh honey, I would but...I don't want to" ~ Karen Walker

I will literally double my age by the time this contract is up.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

I'll be close to that.

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Sure, it's a great deal. The Devils get a great player, and the entire salary structure of the league goes to shit. Awesome. /sarcasm.

I still don't get it. Can they get rid of the cap hit if they buy him out at e.g. age 35?
What happens with the cap hit if he chooses to retire at some point? 6M or what he is making that year?

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Here's the scenarios.

1. He retires. Since he signed his contract under the age of 35, the balance of the contract just drops off the books. There is no additional cap hit.

2. He's bought out in 2021. (That's when his actual salary drops below $1M per.) Based on the current CBA rules, New Jersey would have $5.6M in cap penalties for the next 6 years, then $200k in cap penalties for 6 more years.

It's very likely that New Jersey is simply planning on Kovie to retire before this deal is up. No way he plays it out all the way, and no way they buy him out unless it's within the last year or so. The cap penalties to do so would be astronomical.

Thank you!
Does he still get payed after he retires? If not he will probably play until he is in the 550k period and New Jersey is screwed.

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Ha...he literally sold his soul to the Devil(s)

Laaame jokes aside, I really hope other nhl "stars" won't look for these kind of deals. I just always think about the Depietro and Yashin contracts...look how well that turned out.

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"Oh honey, I would but...I don't want to" ~ Karen Walker

The precedent was established well before this contract.

Hossa, Pronger, Lecavalier. All have front loaded contracts that drop off at the end to mitigate the cap hit.

Oh just so you guys know, the owners are talking about a $48M salary cap in regards to the next CBA. So, if it happens, Uncle Lou has officially gone senile (he's also a supposed supporter of the $48M cap, but after this deal, maybe he's senile already).

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mechaphil

Lou admits he doesn't think the Kovy deal should be allowed


http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fire ... t_of_nhl1/
Sounds like ownership wanted it more than he did

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Oh yeah, that translates to : "Ownership wanted to do something to draw in people to the new building and get revenues up. They said 'Do whatever you have to do to sign him.' "

yeah...puck daddy confirms

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Hold my beer and watch this...

The only reason it was rejected is because they have found a massive loop hole in the joke of a salary cap.

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

This is going to set up an epic battle between the NHLPA and NHL. Who wants to put money down that Donald Fehr is hired by the PA in coming days?

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mechaphil

I can and I would love to see the douchebag Bettman step down from this.

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

The NHL and NHLPA both have their valid arguing points on this, but seriously the NHLPA is finally gonna flex nuts for once.

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mechaphil