Comments on: NHL wins contract grievance case against Ilya Kovalchuk; Kovalchuk a free agent once again

By: Hockyfan???

Hockyfan??? — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:44:47 +0000

It seems the Hockey contracts are as incomprehensible as the game.

By: gafarr

gafarr — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 21:44:52 +0000

for a similar offense ,the team committing
should have to be fined ,a luxery taxe of 10 million $.
then that would stop all this nonsense.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:11:31 +0000

Intent to circumvent the CBA is grounds for voiding a contract according to the CBA. It seems that there is clear intent based on any measure i can come up with. 1. The contract is designed to lower the cap hit from what it actually is to a more palatable #. This alone is an intent to circumvent, while it may have been let go many times it is a loophole but the GM intent is there. 2. The average age of retirement for a nhl player is a major determining factor. While there are a few players who have played into their forties, active players in their forties or approaching can be counted on one hand – Chelios (just retired), Lidstrom, Recchi, Guerin? (39 i think), Selanne? Kariya, Tkachuck. Maybe there are a few others, my point is that if 5 or so players out of the 600-650 roster players in the league make it to 40, and only 1 in the last 25 years has made it to 44, then it is reasonable to also assume that Kovalchuck’s contract was a retirement contract. 3. Lou Lamoriello who helped draft the CBA said in a press conference the day of the signing that contracts like this should not be allowed, in a sense saying they violate the intention of the CBA, but that they don’t explicitly break the rules. He shouldn’t have said that. It proves his intent in this case to circumvent a document he directly helped in creating. That’s my take as a law student.

By: jerry

jerry — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:29:48 +0000

Was there a specific contactural violation in the wording of his contract; it seems a tad subjective that they voided the contract. On what specific grounds?
I have long thought that the NHL PA needs to hire some top notch attorneys and/or consultants to aid them.Wasn’t embarrassing enough to go strike a few years back and return for less money. Now the league is nullifying what seems like a valid contract.

By: Rndmacts

Rndmacts — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:24:27 +0000

There were two major differences with this contract and others, first was the number of years where he would earn less than the NHL minimum and secondly the contract left NJ over the salary cap, if the NHL agreed to this contract they were saying to other players, big deal about your contract. If NJ were serious about the validity of this contract in the first place they would have cleared some cap room in advance. It was slap in your face obvious that the contract was written to circumvent the rules and nothing else. Don’t compare to Hossa’s contract where the price reduction is for what, one year not five.

By: HockeyTown

HockeyTown — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:08:47 +0000

Fine them 5 Mill a year for the length of the contract. No other owner will try to push the envelope again.