Ilya Kovalchuk contract caused a fire storm with contracts that some claim circumvent the CBA. My question is how far are they going to go back and look? I also wonder if I am the only one that doesn't really like the current CBA? I think teams should be able to adjust their cap numbers when they get into injury problems.
Arbitrator Richard Bloch's ruling on the Ilya Kovalchuk grievance yesterday could affect the registration of Marc Savard's seven-year, $28.05 million contract.
In Bloch's decision, acquired by Team 1200 legal analyst Eric Macramalla, the arbitrator upheld the NHL's rejection of Kovalchuk's 17-year, $102 million contract. In the decision, a footnote includes Savard's contract (others include those of Chris Pronger, Roberto Luongo, and Marian Hossa) as featuring a similar structure to Kovalchuk's rejected deal. Savard will be paid $7 million in 2010-11 and 2011-12; $6.5 million in 2012-13; $5 million in 2013-14; $1.5 million in 2014-15; then backdives to $525,000 in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
According to the footnote, Savard's contract has been registered but is being investigated once more by the league. According to the collective bargaining agreement, the NHL can conduct an investigation to determine whether circumvention took place even after a contract has been approved and registered.
"[W]hile the contracts have, in fact, been registered, their structure has not escaped League notice: those [Standard Player Contracts] are being investigated currently with at least the possibility of a subsequent withdrawal of the registration," the footnote reads. "It is also the case that the figures in Kovalchuk's case are demonstrably more dramatic, including a 17-year term length, a $102,000,000 salary total, and precipitous drop that lasts for the final six years of this contract." [Boston Globe]
