Report: NHL approves latest Kovalchuk contract offer

Rented Mule

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=331817

At long last it appears as though the Ilya Kovalchuk saga is about to reach its conclusion.

Both ESPN and Yahoo! are reporting that the NHL has approved the framework of the latest contract proposal by the New Jersey Devils allowing the team to complete the signing of the Russian sniper.

While the contract has yet to be signed, it appears as though the path has been cleared to allow the two-time 50 goal scorer to rejoin the Devils. However, the NHL has told TSN that as of 3 pm et, no deal had been approved. Since that time NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to ESPN's EJ Hradek that the Devils had in fact submitted a new Kovalcuk deal to the league and that the NHL now has five days to review the contract.

Terms of the potential deal have yet to be released but it is believed to be a 15-year deal worth approximately $100 million. It is also believed that the Devils have addressed the league's objections to the length of the contract and the enormous salary drop-off over the final years of the contract.

This should be very interesting to see how they restructured the deal to make all three parties happy.

Izy

kovy is 27 now, 15 years later with my maths is 42 and he will not play till then!!! or hossa, pronger, savard or any other player that their contracts are being checked by the NHL!!!

i'd like to point out that i'm a massive fan of hossa, and if he had not won the cup, he'll propably go on until he does but this way i can see him retiring in 6-7 years!!! basicly before his low salary years come to count.

Rented Mule

On Wednesday, league sources told TSN that no ultimatum had been issued, but the NHL and NHLPA did agree to extend the deadline for a decision on the Kovalchuk deal until Friday at 5pm et.

The Post reported that the NHL had told the NHLPA that it would grandfather the Kovalchuk, Luongo and Hossa deals under two conditions:

1. "That the cap hit on future multi-year contracts will not count any seasons that end with the player over 40 years of age. The cap hit would be calculated on the average of the salary up through age 40 only."

2. "That the cap hit on future contracts longer than five years will be calculated under a formula granting additional weight to the five years with the highest salary."

If the NHLPA does not accept these, the Post reported that the NHL would reject the Kovalchuk contract, start the process of doing the same to Luongo's deal, and open an investigation in the Hossa deal



Donald Fehr is about to take over as the new executive director of the NHL Players' Association. Bettman and company do not want to deal with him directly with this issue and want to sweep this all under the carpet as fast as possible.

Fehr is a ruthless negotiator having gone through the wars with the baseball unions. I would expect a different attitude from the NHL front office if the NHLPA was in such a state of disarray at the moment.

Rented Mule

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=332542

BREAKING NEWS

Sources tell TSN that the NHL and the NHL Players' Association have reached an agreement on an amendment to the rules that govern long term contracts.

The two sides are now working on getting the paperwork done in time for the 5pm et deadline both sides agreed upon to render a verdict on the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation.

The agreement means that Kovalchuk's contract with the New Jersey Devils will also get approved as part of a new global settlement.

More to follow.