July 26, 2010, NHLPA files grievance against NHL for its voiding of Ilya Kovalchuk contract news story for HockeyPrimeTime.com

NHL and NHLPA to butt heads over Kovalchuk

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Written by Denis Gorman

Monday, July 26, 2010 15:32

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association are headed for their first battle since the 2004-05 lockout. It could be an uncomfortable preview of what is expected to be a protracted labor negotiation in 2012. The NHLPA filed a grievance against the league Monday afternoon in response to the NHL’s voiding of Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract. The NHLPA stated that it “filed a grievance disputing the NHL's rejection of the Standard Player Contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk. Under the terms of the CBA, the NHLPA and Mr. Kovalchuk are entitled to an expedited resolution of this matter. The NHLPA will have no further comment until this matter has been resolved by an Arbitrator.” The corresponding move was expected after the league rejected the 17-year, $102 million contract last Wednesday. The league has frowned on the heavily front-loaded contracts that have become the norm for elite players in recent years. The players like the deals – they are well-compensated for their efforts and know where they will ply their trade late into their careers. Organizations benefit from these deals, called “retirement contracts,” because it allows them to keep their cornerstone players under contract long-term and minimize the salary-cap impact by reducing actual salary in the final years of the contract. “The contract has been rejected by the League as a circumvention of the Collective Bargaining Agreement," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said last week in a statement that was posted on NHL.com. "Under the CBA, the contract rejection triggers a number of possible next steps that may be elected by any or each of the NHLPA, the Player and/or the Club. In the interim, the player is not entitled to play under the contract, nor is he entitled to any of the rights and benefits that are provided for thereunder.” The Devils responded to the league’s action by releasing a statement late last Wednesday afternoon. General manager Lou Lamoriello said the organization was “extremely disappointed that the NHL has decided to reject the contract of Ilya Kovalchuk. The contract complies with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.” The matter will now go to a mutually agreed upon arbiter. If the arbiter rules in favor of Kovalchuk, the league must honor the contract. However if the arbiter sides with the league, Kovalchuk and the Devils could re-work a deal that meets with the league’s approval. He could also opt to become a free agent again. If Kovalchuk determines that is his best option, an interested observer could be Los Angeles Kings general manger Dean Lombardi. Lombardi had put forth offers to Kovalchuk when the left wing visited the organization before he signed with the Devils. Lombardi did not comment when asked if he was going to monitor the arbitration hearing. You can follow us on Twitter @DenisGorman http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/headlines/nhl-and-nhlpa-to-butt-heads-over-kovalchuk

Analysis of the Ilya Kovalchuk 17-year, $102 million contract with for HockeyPrimeTime.com

Analysis: Kovy deal may stoke critics

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Written by Denis Gorman

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 18:01

It was a startling admission from a man who often says very little. Lou Lamoriello was encircled by a handful of reporters moments after Ilya Kovalchuk press conference had ended in Newark Tuesday afternoon. The fiscally conservative President and General Manger of the New Jersey Devils was fielding questions about the 17-year, $102 million contract that the franchise had given Kovalchuk. The stinger: With the current collective bargaining agreement expiring at the end of the 2012 season, is it possible that some of his brethren may point to the record-setting contract, and others like it, as a negative for the league’s long-term financial well-being. “I would say I might agree," Lamoriello said. "I might agree. But there is nothing that we have done wrong. This is within the rules. This is the CBA. There are precedents that have been sent. Because it’s legal, this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing.” Kovalchuk’s newly signed mega-pact, and those of Chicago’s Marian Hossa, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and the New York Islanders’ Rick DiPietro, will certainly be a focus when the new CBA is negotiated. Kovalchuk will make $6 million dollars this season and next; he will earn $11.5 million in the four-season span between 2012-13 and 2016-17. He will make $10.5 million, $8.5 million, $6.5 million and $3.5 million in 2017-18 through 2020-21. The number decreased to $750,000 in 2021-22. He will make $550,000 in the final four years of the contract. All that averages out to a $6 million cap hit each year Kovalchuk plays for the Devils. The numbers alone are staggering. But what may engender more criticism from Lamoriello’s fellow owners are the no-movement and no-trade clauses written into the contract. Kovalchuk cannot be traded or sent to the minors in the first six years of the contract. He has a no-trade clause in the final nine years of the contract. What it also does is force Lamoriello’s hand to make another personnel move. According to capgeek.com, the Devils are $1.8 million over the $59.4 million salary cap. The CBA allows for a team to be up to 10 percent (or $5.94 million) over the cap during the summer, but not over the cap when the season starts. That and the impending long term negotiations with left wing Zach Parise, a restricted free agent after next season, almost certainly means that a member of last year’s team will be discarded. Dainius Zubrus, Jamie Langenbrunner — who was one of five Devils at the press conference, along with Martin Brodeur, Parise, Patrik Elias and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond — and Brian Rolston could be among those shopped or sent to the minors in an attempt to create cap room. That Rolston is due to make $5 million this season and next, and is 37 years old, could make a potential move difficult.

http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/headlines/analysis-kovy-deal-may-stoke-critics

July 20, 2010, Ilya Kovalchuk re-signs with the New Jersey Devils news story for Metro NYC Newspaper

US – Tuesday, July 20

Published 21:38, July the 19th, 2010

Devils lock up Kovy for 17 years

In the end, Ilya Kovalchuk determined that his chances to win a Stanley Cup were greater in North Jersey than in Southern California.

The money he's due to receive would look good anywhere.

The premier player on the free agent market agreed to a 17-year, $102 million deal with the Devils yesterday, capping a near month-long process which was marked by speculation. The Devils will hold a press conference this afternoon at The Prudential Center to announce the signing.

“Ilya is excited to be continuing his career with New Jersey and knows first-hand the team’s dedication and commitment to winning,” Jay Grossman said in a statement released by Puck Agency, which represents Kovalchuk.

The re-signing of the 27-year-old left wing is the crowning achievement of Lou Lamoriello’s summer. The Devils’ President and GM hired John MacLean to be the 16^th coach in franchise history; re-signed RFA wing David Clarkson; traded for centerman Jason Arnott; and signed free agent defensemen Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder, and goaltender Johan Hedberg. Volchenkov, Hedberg and Kovalchuk are represented by Puck Agency.

Los Angeles, the Islanders and, reportedly, SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL were involved in the bidding for Kovalchuk. It was believed that the Islanders had prepared a 10-year, $100 million offer. The Kings and Kovalchuk’s representatives had off-and-on negotiations for two weeks.

There was a published mid-day report on July 5 that said the Devils were going to announce that the organization had re-signed Kovalchuk. Grossman wrote on Twitter that “Ilya Kovalchuk looking to make decision on his future today.” The pact had not signed by the end of the day and Grossman tweeted that “Ilya Kovalchuk choices have been narrowed down, details to be finalized but no announcement tonight.”

The Devils had acquired Kovalchuk, defenseman Anssi Salmela and a second round pick from Atlanta in February. He recorded 27 points (10 goals and 17 assists) in 27 games with the Devils. Entering his ninth NHL season, Kovalchuk has recorded 642 points (338 goals and 304 assists) in 621 assists. He has scored eight points (three goals and five assists) in nine playoff games. Kovalchuk was the Devils’ best player in the first round playoff loss to Philadelphia, as he scored six points in five games.

You can follow us on Twitter @DenisGorman

DENIS GORMAN

http://metro.us/us/article/2010/07/20/03/3835-82/index.xml

New York Rangers free agency analysis column for HockeyPrimeTime.com

'Boogey Man' no laughing matter

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Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, July 09, 2010 18:40

A tsunami of derisive laughter flooded the NHL on July 1. The storm emanated from the league office and grew uncontrollably due to the incredible and immediate power of television media and the internet. The damage has not yet abated. The recovery process has not begun. It will not begin until the night of Oct. 9 in Buffalo. The final assessment won’t come for at least four years. Who caused such an outpouring of ceaseless ridicule? AROUND THE ATLANTIC New York Rangers general manger Glen Sather, who signed former Minnesota enforcer Derek Boogaard to a four-year free agent contract worth $6.5 million. Listed at 6-foot-8 and 257 pounds, Boogaard is perhaps the NHL’s most feared pugilist. He possesses the kind of frightening knockout power last seen on Broadway in the persons of Colton Orr and legendary enforcer Joey Kocur. Boogaard has totaled 544 penalty minutes in 255 NHL games over five seasons. The other parts of his game are missing. Boogaard has not scored a goal since his rookie season of 2005-06. He has career totals of two goals, 12 assists and a minus-12 rating. Boogaard’s lack of production and plodding skating, combined with the length and value of his contract, were the common criticisms. The Rangers also had an enforcer under their employ in Jody Shelley. Shelley and Brandon Prust were repeatedly praised by John Tortorella for “changing the culture” in the Rangers’ room after being acquired in separate in-season trades with San Jose and Calgary, while ably handling the on-ice policing duties. The 34-year old Shelley eventually signed a three-year, $3.3 million free agent contract with Philadelphia. There are valid arguments against the Boogaard signing. What has been forgotten – or perhaps conveniently ignored – was the lack of protection the Rangers afforded themselves for wide swaths of last season. The lack of a backbone was highlighted by two incidents. The first was when the Flyers' Daniel Carcillo pummeled the Rangers' leading scorer, Marian Gaborik, in a January game in Philadelphia. Later in the season Sidney Crosby cross-checked and slashed Henrik Lundqvist during a game at Madison Square Garden. The attacks led to Tortorella to recently opine that the organization needed to add “more jam to the hockey club,” and to have more of a “presence around our blue (and) protect our goalies a little bit better,” discussing the organization’s short and long-term future after the entry draft with local beat writers. With Boogaard in the fold, it's tough to fathom opponents will consider bullying the Rangers as they did in the past. The 28-year-old Boogaard also fits into the organization’s public mandates to stockpile young talent. Sather vowed to the New York Post prior to the start of free agency that he would not “overpay” a free agent, and that the organization’s young players will have opportunities to earn jobs at the NHL level. Sather re-signed centers Vinny Prospal and Erik Christensen, grinding winger Prust and defenseman Dan Girardi. He was able to convince Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh to leave Wisconsin to ply their trade at the professional level. Backup goaltender Martin Biron and Swedish forward Mats Zuccarello-Aasen were also signed as free agents. On Friday, Sather traded Aaron Voros and prospect Ryan Hillier to Anaheim for defenseman Steve Eminger. His last task is to re-sign Marc Staal to a long-term contract. The Rangers as currently constituted are better than the team that lost to Philadelphia in a shootout on the season’s final afternoon. The only question is if enough has been done for the Rangers to have a puncher’s chance to contend for a playoff berth. Should the Rangers reach the playoffs, Sather will have the last laugh. Notes Philadelphia announced yesterday that it had agreed to a one-year deal with Nik Zherdev. The fourth overall selection in the 2003 draft, Zherdev had disappointing stints with Columbus and the Rangers. Zherdev played last season for Atlant-Moscow of the KHL and totaled 13 goals, 26 assists and 79 penalty minutes. … Newsday reported that New York Mets COO Jeff Wilpon spoke with Charles Wang about the possibility of the Islanders relocating to Willets Point, Queens. Wilpon would build a new arena for the Islanders across the street from Citi Field, the Mets' new state-of-the-art park. … The Devils offered UFA winger Ilya Kovalchuk a seven-year contract worth $60 million according to Monday’s New York Post. By Friday, however, Kovalchuk had not accepted the pact. … Pittsburgh passed on re-signing UFA defenseman Sergei Gonchar. Instead, GM Ray Shero added defensemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek from New Jersey and Phoenix, respectively. http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/atlantic/boogey-man-no-laughing-matter