04/25/24
August 09, 2010
Kovalchuk contract rejected by arbitrator : The NHL has won its case to have Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year, $102-million (all currency U.S.) contract rejected, making the Russian star an unrestricted free agent.
posted by tommytrump to hockey at 06:15 PM - 3 comments
As a Devils fan I may be in the minority, but thank jeebus! I'm still reading through the official document (pdf), but I believe this was the right decision.
posted by MrFrisby at 03:33 AM on August 10, 2010
This is the sentence that sticks in my craw...
The result of extending the pay schedule into years that performance likely will not occur is to artificially lower the annual cap hit, thus increasing available payroll room for the Club and, ultimately, argues the League, serving to defeat the very protections of competitive fairness within the League that the parties negotiated in 2004-05 by way of the Team Payroll Range provisions.
I thought the salary cap was to assure "cost certainty" for the owners. Did Bettman think we'd forget that little phrase? Since when does the league office give a damn about competitive fairness?
posted by MeatSaber at 04:39 PM on August 10, 2010
I do think this is right. I mean, if you're going to be the league where you have a hard cap and guaranteed money, the contracts have to respect that relationship too.