The gentleman’s agreement between the KHL and NHL is clearly a deflationary factor on salaries. If the NHL was in a position where owners had to pay a higher price for top talent to outbid the KHL that would be better for overall player salary levels. The KHL gets not much out of that deal except the promise that the NHL will send players to the Olympics in Russia.

This move is probably just a power play by the KHL using the main weapon in their arsenal (opening up the checkbooks to lure away talent at any time, causing NHL chaos) to get what they need (NHL talent in Sochi). Once the Sochi Olympics are over, you might see the gloves really come off the KHL as they will probably have nothing left to lose by maintaining their agreement with the NHL.

If I was Donald Fehr, I would probably be very excited about that prospect of increased demand for player services, meaning increased salaries. Even within the context of the CBA it might lead to more spending up to the cap across more franchises.

He signed a massive contract that knew would go beyond the current CBA, he got paid enormous amounts of money and shaped how the Devils planned both their current roster and their future roster.

No … he does not have the right to stay in Russia because the CBA expired.

Also , the whole point of being in a union is to unite with your fellow tradesman and better the WHOLE organization. This does not mean only when the outcome suits YOUR liking . This logic completely destroys all that a unions stands for. If the outcome was to mean SO much to him in particular, ( unfortunatly I need to point out Sid “crybaby ” Crosby’s involment in the negotiations ) , then HE should have been here fighting for what he thought was fair and not playing in another league. But by sitting back and allowing others to negotiate on your behalf , then you must go on whatever the deal is , and that it was the best deal possible . Since it was too much out of your day to be involved, then don’t cry about how much YOU had at stake .

That being said- Kovy will be back.

Think back…waaaaaaay back to when Kovy signed his deal in New Jersey, was anyone talking about HRR and the new CBA during that year while the league was posting record profit?

It wasn’t even a story, if you had the foresight in 2010 to predict CBA & HRR issues, you should have alerted the rest of us – because you act like all of these issues were foregone conclusions years before they even came into public view.

Side Note: Yes the world does work like that, and the league has demonstrated that by allowing 2 contractual buyouts for each team.

Also, theres nothing in his contract that allows him to walk away from it should his salary be cut. Thus his salary being cut is NOT a violation of his contract and as an employee he has no choice but to honor it. CBA negotiations and as such are part of the business as you point out… walking away from a legal contract for no legal reason isn’t. I don’t know about you, but I consider someone willing to walk away from a legal contract, with no legal reason for doing so, to have serious character issues.

Side Note: By your logic, teams should be able to walk away from contracts when a player doesn’t perform. After all, if I sign you to a deal expecting a certain level of performance (performance has a dollar value in this world) and you don’t deliever… I’m not getting the full value of that contract, so why should I pay you? In your world I should be able to cancel the contract and not pay you a dime. The world however, does not work like that.

again, well said cheeman

Kovy signed a deal to play in the NHL but once the lockout happened, he has every right to leave. Don’t call him a clown or moron, you look like a child throwing a temper tantrum. He would make more money playing in Russia than he would in the states. The deal would be the same or close to ($$$) and then he wouldn’t get taxed. and again he would be playing at home, who wouldn’t want that. If the role was reversed would you stay in Russia if you could play back home for equal pay…..

I feel for Devil fans here if they lose Parise and Kovalchuk in one season but in the end we all know Kovy will be back by mid week, say the 15th

Good riddance and good-bye.

You should not say this man has no heart. I hadn’t seen a Devil play with heart like that in the playoffs in quite some time.

if he’s happy there,.then stay!

he’d be a fool to return if he doesn’t like the.NHL.