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NHL News
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Monday, 26 July 2010 19:06 |
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The Associated Press is reporting that the NHL Players Association has filed a grievance over the league’s rejection of a 17-year, $102 million contract between the New Jersey Devils and superstar winger Ilya Kovalchuk.
The deal was rejected by the league because it circumvented cap rules, which commissioner Gary Bettman had warned against after several other long-term front-loaded deals (see the complete breakdown of Kovalchuk’s deal here). The NHLPA claims that the contract is legal under the collective bargaining agreement and should be allowed.
Agents predicted last week that the deal would likely be allowed since nothing in the collective bargaining agreement forbids front-loaded contracts. Front-loading the deal allows Kovalchuk’s cap hit to be around $6 million despite him earning $11.5 million from 2012-2017.
The ruling on Kovalchuk’s deal will be closely watched by several other big-name NHLers whose contracts come up next season. Brad Richards, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton are among the names who will likely end up with front-loaded deals if Kovalchuk’s contract is allowed.
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Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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NHL News
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Monday, 26 July 2010 03:25 |
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When the NHL adopted a salary cap, teams could no longer load up top-to-bottom with superstars. Instead, winners have found a new strategy: put more than 50 percent of cap space into a few top flight players. The last two Stanley Cup winners have done just that.
The Pittsburgh Penguins currently have 60 percent of their cap space wrapped up in six players. The Chicago Blackhawks put all their chips with Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brian Campbell – all All-Star caliber.
AOL Fanhouse writer Adam Gretz spoke with Penguins GM Ray Shero (read the entire articlle here) concerning this strategy:
"If you have money tied up in three or four guys, hopefully that means you've got three or four top players," said Shero during a phone interview with FanHouse. "The worst thing you can do is have three or four guys tied up in big money contracts, but they're not difference makers. We're fortunate here to have Crosby and Malkin as our franchise players. We have a lot of money tied up in them, $8.7 a piece cap wise per year. When you go back to the pre-lockout era, it's hard to recall, but there used to not even be a roster size and you could have as many guys on your roster as you wanted. When Detroit won the Cup, back whenever it was, and Luc Robitaille was a fourth-line player, a Hall of Fame guy, you could carry 28 guys on your payroll if you could afford it."
The Blackhawks are hurting because of the types of risks referenced by Shero, their names are Christobal Huet ($5.625 million) and Brian Campbell ($7.140 million). Both aren’t stars and both have enormous contracts. The Blackhawks are forced to fill in more marginal players than they’d like because of those failed contracts.
One way around being forced to use average players is to develop young ones. Gretz notes that Shelly Anderson of the Post-Gazette wrote that this increased need means development camps are now more important.
"We didn't really want to use the development camp as an evaluation as much as an education for the players," Shero told Fanhouse. "I think it was our best development camp so far. The competition was really good, we liked what we saw in Eric Tangradi and Dustin Jeffrey, and they showed they have a chance to help us.
"Still, It's more of an education for the players both on and off the ice," he continued. "This is the one time we can see a number of college players, and they have to pay their own way, but I think it's good for them because they never had the chance to come to training camp to get a feel for what it's like. It's really their only chance to see what it's like in that environment and meet the people and coaches and have some idea of what to expect."
Along with putting the big bucks into stars and developing young talent, Shero says that each time finds their own identity and formula for winning. But eludes to goaltending as, let’s just say, not as important as it once was.
"I think it really just depends on how your team is going to be built. Detroit has never really had a ton of money in goaltending, they choose to spend it elsewhere. A team like Philadelphia now, that's kind of what they're doing, going heavy in defense and not as much in goal. Every team is a little bit different. If you have it, you want to keep it. If you don't, there's other avenues you can go to to hopefully have success on a year-to-year basis. I think it just really depends what you have for assets in goal. I'm not looking to move Marc-Andre Fleury to replace him with another goaltender, that's just not what we're looking to do. We have Marc-Andre, we'll keep him and build our team that way."
OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
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Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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NHL News
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Saturday, 24 July 2010 04:24 |
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The Panthers may have finally figured out that everything starts at the top. The team hit rock bottom last year when they announced, then doubled back on, a sort-of-but-not-really fire sale. But, as soon as the off-season arrived, the 1996 Eastern Conference champions (2000 was the last time they went to the playoffs) began their reformation.
When the architect of the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks Dale Tallon signed on to be the Panthers’ GM, we knew there would be changes. Not just with players, but across the board.
Sunrise Sports and Entertainment announced Friday that Cliff Viner will take over as General Partner, Chairman & CEO of the Florida Panthers and the BankAtlantic Center. Viner, who was the Chairman and Co-General Partner with Stu Siegal since Nov. 2009, will be on his own as Siegel returns to his role as Limited Partner.
“First of all I would like to thank Stu for his contributions in reshaping the business strategy of SSE during the recent transition period,” Viner said in a statement. “As Stu turns his focus to other business opportunities, I am confident that the decisions we have made over the last eight months have put us in position to reach our goals and achieve success. With General Manager Dale Tallon leading our franchise, and President & COO Michael Yormark at the helm of our business operations and entertainment offerings, I am extremely excited about the future of this organization.”
OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
(THE BIZ OF BASEBALL)
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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NHL News
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Saturday, 24 July 2010 00:42 |
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ProHockey Talk’s Joe Yerdon wrote Friday that many agents believe if the NHLPA appeals the overturning of the Devils’ 17-year, $102 million, they will win hands down and the contract will be allowed.
Yerdon pulls this quote from The National Post:
But several player agents said if the matter goes before an arbitrator, the league would soon find out that it "doesn't have much of a leg to stand on."
"I can tell you that during bargaining, that the league was not successful in negotiating rules to limit the length of contract a player can sign with a club," said player agent Ian Pulver, who was one of the authors of the CBA. "So the NHL is going to have to show evidence that the club and the player were trying to defeat rules in the collective agreement, because they can't certainly prove that a player will not play when he's 44 years old.
"You have to have the evidence to support that. Saying 'we think' is not strong enough."
Indeed, there is nothing in the language of the CBA that limits the number of years on a player contract. Neither is there any proof that Kovalchuk will not be playing in 2026-27.
The Devils have until Monday to renegotiate or allow the NHLPA to file a grievance. Expect the latter. And, though I criticized Bettman for letting some get away with front-loaded long-term deals and not Kovalchuk, the league is not wrong for attempting to shut the “cheating” down. But, instead of “investigating” the Hossa deal, they should have rejected it immediately. Same with Pronger, same with Zetterberg. But, since no action was taken then, Bettman and the NHL will likely not be able to take Kovy’s deal away.
Earlier this week, I wrote that Bettman’s image would be further damaged by the Kovalchuk rejection. What I should have said is that everyone comes away looking bad. Owners look like they’re trying to cheat, Bettman looks like he plays by different rules depending on the situation and the players look greedy as heck. Yerdon puts it best saying that trying to get billionaires to admit they were wrong is getting “blood from a stone.”
OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
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Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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Articles and Opinions
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Wednesday, 21 July 2010 04:15 |
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Any goodwill Gary Bettman had built up from the Olympics and incredible Stanley Cup playoffs just got taken out back and shot. The league rejected Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year, $102 million contract on the basis of the likelihood the winger won’t complete the 17 years, TSN reports:
"TSN Insider Darren Dreger explains that the deal was rejected due to the fact that the NHL does not believe that either Kovalchuk nor the Devils expected the 2004 Rocket Richard trophy winner would be playing near end of the contract and that it is a case of artificially lowering the annual average value of the contract. The Devils must now either file the contract once again or the Players' Association can file a grievance.
Should the NHLPA decide to file a grievance, the contract would remain dead until an arbitrator determines otherwise."
As I wrote on Biz of Hockey yesterday, the deal beyond ridiculous, especially because Kovalchuk will earn more than 95 percent in the first 11 years, but in an earmark of ridiculousness that makes the scoring system and Southern expansion look ingenious, Betteman is cutting down essentially the same contract he allowed for other NHL stars.
Marian Hossa would have to play into his early 40s as would Chris Pronger, both at less than $1 million if they played out their entire contracts. Likelihood of that is equal to the chance Tom Hicks is given a statue in Dallas.
Admittedly, the NHL warned teams to quit with the front-loaded long-term deals, but now comes the fuzzy part: How long is too long-term? How front-loaded is too front-loaded? Every area of the rejected contract is a gray area. Will others like Joe Thornton try a front-loaded long-term deal, but not so front-loaded as Kovalchuk? My guess is that they sure will, especially if the NHLPA wins a grievance (which has a fair chance because nothing the Devils did violates the collective bargaining agreement).
If you call a foul on Kobe on one end, you’ve got to blow the whistle on Garnett and if you don’t, then you can’t. Betteman essentially said some may and some may not have front-loaded long-term contracts. Now just disallow NHLers in the next Olympics, bring a team to Mexico City and Betteman’s all set.
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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Articles and Opinions
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Written by Matthew Coller
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010 05:24 |
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 Donald, meet Gary. Gary meet Donald. Now, you two meet Ilya and Lou. Donald, meet Gary, Lou and Ilya. Now guys, work this nonsense out.
Let’s start in July, 2009. ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside reports the NHL is “concerned” with front-loaded long-term contracts. Marian Hossa signed a 12-year deal with the Blackhawks paying him $7.9 million for the first seven years and $1 million for the final four.
Makes sense, right? He won’t be very good 11 years from now, so why should he make top dollar? Hossa will be 42-years old by then and won’t be able to score on a high schooler, and nor will he have the chance to. Hossa won’t see 42 in the NHL, in fact, near one percent make it past 38, but what will happen is his cap hit will be reduced to $5.275 million and he’ll still make $7.9 million assuming he retires by age 37.
An NHL executive told Burnside the contract makes sense because 40-year olds never make much more than $1 million, so all is fair. Yeah, and I’ll sell you my magic hat and golden-egg-laying goose.
Hossa was not alone in July, 2009. Chris Pronger’s monster contract beings at $7.6 million and ends just above the league minimum. Huh, Great minds?
Well, if they think alike, then so does another great mind: Lou “ca Brasi” Lamoriello. The Devils GM Lou Lamoriello wasn’t concerned with bad blood over signing superstar Ilya Kovalchuk to another Lou-dacris contract. Kovalchuk signed with the Devils for $100 million over 17-years. Kovy, 27, will peak at $11.5 million, yet earn just over $3 million in the final six years of his contract. Years he’s more likely to be Yachting than skating.
If Kovy plays until 2021, he’ll be 38-years old and have earned 96.5 million of the $100 agreed upon. Yet, his team will take significantly less in a cap hit. Textbook loophole: The CBA says the cap hit will be the average of the total contract. And nobody saw front-loaded long-term contracts coming?
Don’t worry, NHL commissioner Gary Betteman warned everyone to play nice. The Minnesota Wild did with Mikko Koivu’s contract. He’s got a $6.75 cap hit for seven years, Kovalchuk has only $6 million for 17 years.
The worst part is this can’t be corrected until the next collective bargaining agreement, which will likely feature ace-in-the-hole Donald Fehr, who may argue with the same “who, us?” tactics as owners and GMs. The NHLPA wants its players paid, the GMs don’t want the cap hit, but the commish is calling shenanigans.
But, just in case, big-name unrestricted free agents of next year will be waiting with bated breath for their day to come. These front-loaders are likely to be grandfathered in after the next CBA, which was extended for another year. Stars like Brad Richards, Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton will all have their shot at a 29-year, $300 million contract with $297 million in the first 6 years. Currently Richards’ cap hit is $7.8 million, but odds are his salary goes up, but cap hit goes down. What a mess.
Keep investigating, Gary. But, at this point, there’s nothing the league can do but watch.
Here's the complete breakdown of Kovalchuk's contract via the Star Tribune:
2010-2011: $6 million
2011-2012: $6 million
2012-2013: $11.5 million
2013-2014: $11.5 million
2014-2015: $11.5 million
2015-2016: $11.5 million
2016-2017: $11.5 million
2017-2018: $10.5 million
2018-2019: $8.5 million
2019-2020: $6.5 million
2020-2021: $3.5 million
2021-2022: $750,000
2022-2023: $550,000
2023-2024: $550,000
2024-2025: $550,000
2025-2026: $550,000
2026-2027: $550,000
OTHER NEWS FROM THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
(THE BIZ OF BASEBALL)
Matthew Coller is a staff member of the Business of Sports Network, and is a freelance writer. He can be contacted at
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