NHL Turns Down Kovalchuk Deal with Devils

There will be no deal with the Devils for Ilya Kovalchuk. The NHL rejected an unprecedented 17-year, $102-million agreement between Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils, saying that the contract, if allowed, will violate the league’s salary cap rules.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Kovalchuk and the Devils can appeal the league ruling through the players’ association, which should file a grievance in the next five business days to have the deal approved. Both the Devils management and Kovalchuk’s agent insist that the contract does not violate the existing collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union.

According to the league, the final years of the contract circumvents the salary cap rules. Under the contract, the Devils will pay Kovalchuk only $550,000 in each of the last five years, allowing New Jersey to take an average of $6-million salary-cap hit each year throughout the 17-year deal. Kovalchuk is slated to receive $98.5 million in the first 11 years of the contract.

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said the contract, which would have been the longest in league history, is not the first of its kind in the NHL. “This is within the rules. This is in the CBA. There are precedents that have been set. But I would agree we shouldn’t have these. I’m also saying that because it’s legal and this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing for the right reasons.”

If the contract is turned down with finality and the Devils refuse to restructure the deal, Kovalchuk will become an unrestricted free agent again and allow other teams to negotiate deals with the 27-year-old winger, who has been the NHL’s top goal scorer since 2001.