OT: Kovalchuk to NJ Devils
Ilya Kovalchuk will sign with the Devils. Details on the deal are not available yet.
This move will almost certainly put the Devils over the cap, necessitating that they trade away a fair amount of salary.
UPDATE: Deal to be 17 years and valued somewhere in the range of $150 million according to ESPN. A $150 million deal would be a cap hit of around $8.82 million a year. In the near term, this necessitates that the Devils drop about $4.7 million to make break even, and then they'll still have several roster spots to fill...
This contract's length and amount not confirmed yet and I wouldn't be surprised if it is false, as this is simply ridiculous.
UPDATE 2: Unsurprisingly, the $150 million figure has been recanted by ESPN. Now, they are reporting that the deal "could top $100 million". FWIW, the cap hit for a $100 million contract is $5.88 million. The Devils have 19 players signed and a little under $4.2 million in cap space.
have their one offensive player for their team. Continue filling roster with left wing lock types.
I'd argue that Parise has some offensive spark...looks like they will be doing some serious player moving, especially after trading for Jason Arnott earlier (4.5 mill), and then signing some free agents. Either way...once Brodeur retires in 2-3 years, the Devils will be in some serious trouble.
People always seem to forget that the devils are more than capable of scoring:
- Elias is a former 90+ point scorer.
- Arnott was on a line with Elias and Petr Sykora that led the league in scoring at the start of the decade.
- Parise is one of the top 3 or 4 young players in the league.
The devils have had a bit of an identity crisis the last few years. Two years ago, Sutter was the coach, and opened the gates a bit towards more offensive hockey. Problem was that there wasn't the talent available for it. So Lemaire comes back last year, and takes the team back to defensive minded. Except there wasn't the defensive talent available to him (no one has replaced Stevens, Daneyko, Niedermayer or Rafalski since they all left, and Paul Martin was out all year with a broken forearm).
The direction the team is heading in is exciting. They stocked up on defensive talent despite losing Martin, and have brought in Arnott and Kovalchuk.
I like it. As a Wings fan I am happy that he is staying the hell out of the Western Conference.
The Kings would have been a pretty stacked team next year (2009 Blackhawk esque), had they signed him, but I'm also glad he is staying in the east. 7 years 60 million (ish) is a pretty good sized price tag for a team with only $4 million or so free. I'd look for Brian Rolston or Dainius Zubrus to be moved (5 million and 3 million respectively), especially with signing Volchenkov earlier this summer.
I don't know how easy it would be to move Rolston, as he is 37 years old and hasn't produced a lot the past couple years (08-09: 15-17-32, 09-10: 20-17-37),
I agree 100%...thats a lot of cap for a non-factor guy...plus he signed it when he was over 35, so its all guaranteed...I still think they will try to dump him on a team with cap room...say the islanders...even if it means for something as little as a 5th or 6th rounder...just to get rid of him. Then again you never know what can happen in the sports world.
I wonder if they gave him the 17-year behemoth contract that was rumored to be on the table
its supposed to be about 7 years, 60 million.
Apparently people in Russia are saying it's 17 years for something north of $100 million. And if so, it's a giant middle finger to the CBA. He'll be 44 when the contract expires.
guess what I read was off...I just heard on sportscenter it could be 17 years 150 million.
The NHL will step in if it is a 17 year contract.
The problem is, the NHL didn't step in when the Islanders signed Rick DiPietro to a 15 year deal or when Washington signed Alex Ovechkin to a 13 year deal. Marian Hossa signed a 12 year deal that expires when he's 42. Zetterberg signed a 12 year deal that expires when he's 40. Roberto Luongo has a 12 year deal that expires when he's 43. The NHL might not step in, but they will definitely add something to the CBA to discourage these kinds of deals.
Here's the thing about all of the aforementioned deals:
the player still makes around value for the length of the contract. In Hossa's case, maybe not, but every other player there makes his value (at the time of signing) straight through the contract.
17 years at a reported 5.7-6.0 a year for Kovalchuk when he will play 10-12 at an absolute maximum is circumvention, no other way about it.
We'll see when the terms drop.
is encapsulated in 17 year deals for guys who have never won anything.
As a Devils fan, this is awesome news. Though he didn't quite gel with the team last year, he worked his ass off. Every shift I saw him play last year was a hard-working one. I'm thrilled to have him.
Re: the talk of a 17 year contract: I can pretty much guarantee that is not something Lamoriello would ever agree to.
EDIT: I take that guarantee back. If it's really a 17 year deal that exists only to circumvent the salary cap, then it is exactly the kind of crafty shit Lamoriello would do.
All signs point to the rumored 17 years being true. We'll know by this time tomorrow, though. News conference set for 1:00pm Tuesday. If the rumored terms of this contract are true this might quite possibly go down as one of the worst contracts ever. The Devils seem to be completely deluded about what they've done this offseason. Case in point:
Kovalchuk's signing is the most recent move for the Devils, the clear winners of this year's offseason.
http://devils.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=534603
That is from the Devils' own website. Arrongant? Yes. Insane? Also, yes. Way, way too much, for too long of a period of time, for too few players who don't produce when it matters.
For real. 17 years of Ilya Kovalchuk is a hellish nightmare. Who's going to center him? Clarkson? Zajac plays on Parise's line. Are they that desperate to upgrade Patrick Elias? Or Brian Rolston? Do you really need four lines' worth of scoring left wingers?
I would think its a good bet that Kovalchuk will play with Arnott and Elias.
Also, I don't understand the talk of desperation. Isn't every team desperate to win the cup? The Devils made a serious move at upgrading their team. The cost of this? Probably losing Rolston (who hasn't been producing the last two years) and / or Zubrus (which would be unfortunate, but hardly devastating).
Fo sho. Just a lot of LWs
Terrible move, and I expect the NHL to look at this deal very closely. How many players actually play till they are 44? The NHL should really do something about this loophole.
Still, even if it gets the seal of approval, it's still awful. Kovalchuck =/= Ovechkin, but he'll sure as hell be getting paid like him.
...well, they both play on the Eastern Conference...they play hockey...
not much else.
It is a very similar deal to Hossa's 13 year contract in Chicago. I agree the way this contract is structured goes against eveything the CBA has stood for.
While I agree that 17 years for $150 million or so is obnoxious and terrible, I wouldn't go so far as to say Kovalchuk doesn't produce when it matters. He was basically the only player who gave any sort of offensive production for the Devils in that embarrassment of a first-round exit. He had an even plus/minus when only one person (Zajac) on a supposedly defensive team was north of the Mendoza line. The team scored 9 goals in their 5 games, and Kovalchuk had a hand in 6 of them.
Also, he spent the previous 8 years in Atlanta. Even a player like Crosby or Ovechkin couldn't single-handedly take a team like that to the playoffs. It's hard to win with one or two stars and a bunch of AHL-level players.
Wow. I honestly can't believe this signing. It's Jagresque.
Just wanted to add one other thing -
Regarding still having positions to fill: the Devils (no doubt because of the cap issues) are giving a number of young players the chance to step up. The last four or so drafts for the Devils have been good ones, and they're banking on those (cheap) players filling the holes.
I'm glad he's staying here. I've gotten used to watching our free agents walk out the door. Marty only has a couple years left. We could't afford to let this guy leave.
http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=339
He makes 750,000 his 6th to last year and then 550,000 his last 5 years...
This is an extremely obvious attempt to circumvent the cap. He's getting over 90% of his salary in the first 60% of his contract. It may technically be legal, but its certainly against the spirit of the CBA.
Yeah, it's technically legally. Barely. I agree with you completely. Totally aganst the spirit of the CBA.
I know everyone's eyes have popped out of their heads about the length of this deal, but there is something else that might be even more absurd about this contract: NMC for '10-11 through '16-17 and NTC '17-18 through '26-27. That's just ridiculous. I realize that Lamoriello is widely regarded as a "genius", but I'm sorry, this deal is just beyond the point at which point you have to wonder if the guy has lost his marbles. Just insanity.
So, for the first seven years of the deal, if they want him gone, they'll have to buy him out. Then, from age 34 to 44, he can veto any and all trades in which he's included. So they've given this dude $102 million with no insurance against a long-term injury, a drop in production, or a sour attitude. That's some rad business.
17 years? WTF. I mean, the dude is still young, and this contract will basically carry him through and beyond his career as an impact player.
this contract will basically carry him through and beyond his career as an impact player.
This contract will carry him through his career, not just his career as an impact player. Not many players in recent times have still been lacing them up at age 44 (I can only think of one).