The NHL done blowed up

[mattola]

Spector's Hockey - More Fallout from the Kovalchuk Contract Ruling - August 10, 2010.

A compilation of the latest assessments of the arbiter ruling in favor of the NHL's rejection of Ilya Kovalchuk's contract with the New Jersey Devils, including speculation the league could revisit the contracts of Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, Boston's Marc Savard and more.

CSNPHILLY.COM: Tim Panaccio considered yesterday's ruling a loss for both the NHL and NHLPA, noting over half the membership of the latter seemingly cares little about their associations membership or issues. Panaccio also suggests what's been left unanswered if if the league might revisit the contract Chris Pronger signed last summer with the Philadelphia Flyers.

YAHOO! SPORTS: Nicholas J. Cotsonika suggests the ruling raises troubling questions, wondering why Marian Hossa's contract with the Blackhawks, Henrik Zetterberg's with Detroit and Roberto Luongo with the Canucks didn't cross the line if Kovalchuk's with the Devils did. The ruling gives the league the power to subjectively decide what circumvents the cap and what doesn't but suggests the rules aren't clear on the matter, suggesting issues like this end up back on the bargaining table.

THE GLOBE & MAIL: James Mirtle reported arbiter Richard Bloch in levying his decision also noted the contracts of Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, Chicago's Marian Hossa, Boston's Marc Savard and Philadelphia's Chris Pronger are under investigation for circumvention, noting the league has two months to go after Luongo, Savard and Pronger until they start getting paid under their current contracts for this season, which begins in October.

CALGARY SUN (VIA TORONTO SUN): Randy Sportak suggests the league let too many horses out the door before closing the barn, failing to crack down on heavily front-loaded, long-term contracts such as those signed several years ago by Philadelphia's Daniel Briere and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff.

ESPN.COM: Scott Burnside also noted the potential consequences Bloch's ruling could have upon other front-loaded, long-term contracts previously approved by the league, and doubts this issue will signal another potentially nasty labor war between the NHL and NHLPA, noting this is but one of several issues which will be addressed in the next round of collective bargaining.

SPORTING NEWS: Craig Custance suggests the league could be opening a can of worms if it attempts to retroactively reject the contracts of Luongo, Savard, Pronger and Hossa.

OFFSIDE: A SPORTS LAW BLOG: Eric Macramalla offers up his legal analysis of the Kovalchuk decision, including Bloch's' full decision.

NEW YORK POST: Mark Everson reports the Devils currently have just over $3 million in available cap space meaning they'll have to dump salary if they're to sign Kovalchuk to a new contract. Devils GM Lou Lamoreillo in a statement last night indicated he's reopened contract talks with the Kovalchuk camp in the wake of the arbiter's ruling in favor of the league. Larry Brooks meanwhile suggests league commissioner Gary Bettman could vacate the 2010 Stanley Cup title won by the Chicago Blackhawks if the league should successfully pursue a rejection of Marian Hossa's contract with the club if Bettman so chose to do so.

VANCOUVER SUN/CKNW: report Roberto Luongo's 12-year contract with the Canucks is now under investigation by the league in the wake of the arbiter's decision on the Kovalchuk contract.

MLIVE.COM: George James Malik suggests the contracts signed by Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen with the Detroit Red Wings appear to be safe.

SPECTOR'S NOTE: The NHL could be creating more problems than it solves if it attempts to retroactively reject the contracts of Luongo, Pronger, Savard and Hossa. The Bruins might be willing to accept the rejection of Savard's contract as it would get them out of his contract thus resolving a salary cap issue for them this coming season, but the Canucks, Flyers and Blackhawks definitely won't be happy by such a move, which has the potential to threaten the unity of the team ownerships in the next round of collective bargaining. The league should content itself with its victory in the Kovalchuk decision as it will serve notice to teams that future attempts at cap circumvention via heavily front-loaded, long-term contracts won't be rubber-stamped as they were in the past. I'll have more on this in tomorrow's Soapbox.

 

[awaz]

larry brooks is a balding man's hair away from being in an asylum.. no way the stanley cup win for the hawks gets vacated.. he's just capitlizing on the fact that the NCAA has 'vacated' wins to write a piece that will gain attention.. and IMO there's no way they will 'retroactively reject' any of the contracts mentioned either.. i think they are going to investigate them, so they know everything going on in the contracts, and find a way to close all the loopholes when they renegotiate the CBA in a couple years.. if they dont 'investigate' they might not catch every loophole.. now they just say they are investigating these contracts to further their stance against these front-loaded contracts so next off-season we dont have these questions

 

[dash]

 

[mattola]

we all know it wont be reversed that would destroy any legitimate part the NHL has remaining among the Big "4" sports, but that being said if Luongos contract is truly being investigated so should everything over 10 years.