So Ilya Kovalchuk finally settles for $102 million over 17 years. A little face saving on his part because he walked away from $100 million over just 12 years from Atlanta but he can justify it by noting that Atlanta has only made the playoffs just once in 10 years and never one a playoff game. The cap hit for New Jersey is a manageable $6 million. The contract is front loaded of course so the last 7 years represents only $7 million in actual salary. So Kovalchuk will collect $95 million over the first 10 years of the contract so he almost got his $100 million over 10 years. It will cost the Devils at least 2 veterans - likely Brian Rolston and Jamie Langenbrunner.
The contract makes a mockery of the salary cap. Owners negotiate a collective agreement to protect themselves from escalating contracts and then they just do an end around the agreement. Players are laughing all the way to the bank. Of course, who looks most foolish is Islander owner Charles Wang who signed Rick DiPietro at a straight $4.5 million per season for 15 seasons. Guess Chuckie never heard of front end loading.
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