NHL Rejects Devils Huge Contract

Less than 24 hrs after the New Jersey Devils signed star free agent Ilya Kovelchuk, the NHL have opted to reject this contract calling it a "retirement contract".  A retirement contract, is a long term contract that stretches out the annual cap hit making it reasonable to sign the player now, knowing he will retire before the full term comes to an end.  Is it fair to assume when someone will retire?

I'll let you be the judge, the break down of the rejected contract looks like this;

SEASON		NHL SALARY	AGE		CAP HIT
2010-2011		$6,000,000	28		$6,000,000
2011-2012		$6,000,000	29		$6,000,000
2012-2013		$11,500,000	30		$6,000,000
2013-2014		$11,500,000	31		$6,000,000
2014-2015		$11,500,000	32		$6,000,000
2015-2016		$11,500,000	33		$6,000,000
2016-2017		$11,500,000	34		$6,000,000
2017-2018		$10,500,000	35		$6,000,000
2018-2019		$8,500,000	36		$6,000,000
2019-2020		$6,500,000	37		$6,000,000
2020-2021		$3,500,000	38		$6,000,000
2021-2022		$750,000	39		$6,000,000
2022-2023		$550,000	40		$6,000,000
2023-2024		$550,000	41		$6,000,000
2024-2025		$550,000	42		$6,000,000
2025-2026		$550,000	43		$6,000,000
2026-2027		$550,000	44		$6,000,000

  
So as far as the NHL is concerned, they feel (as do the rest of us) that Kovelchuk will retire well before he hits 44 years old.  Not to mention the fact that after the first 11 years of his contract he will make $98.5 Million Dollars of the 102 million.  This works out to, what should be, an $8.95 Million Dollar cap hit (as opposed to the $6 Million Cap hit) if it wasn't for the remaining 3.5 million spread over Kovy's retirement years.

This contract looks very similar to the deal that Marian Hossa signed with the Chicago Blackhawks last year, locking him up for 12 years (until he's 43) $63.3 Million contract with an average cap hit of $5.275 Million.  Hossa will make $1 per year over the final 4 years of his contract.  You can check it out at Cap Geek right here.

Now, Since this is a Red Wings blog, I'm sure I'll hear complaints and comparisons to the contract that Henrik Zetterberg signed or the Johan Franzen deal, and people pointing fingers that these contracts are in the same category.

Lets break those down.

Henrik Zetterberg - 12yrs - $73 Million

SEASON        NHL SALARY AGE     CAP HIT
2009-2010       $7,400,000        29     $6,083,333
2010-2011       $7,750,000        30     $6,083,333
2011-2012       $7,750,000        31     $6,083,333
2012-2013       $7,750,000        32     $6,083,333
2013-2014       $7,500,000        33     $6,083,333
2014-2015       $7,500,000        34     $6,083,333
2015-2016       $7,500,000        35     $6,083,333
2016-2017       $7,500,000        36     $6,083,333
2017-2018       $7,000,000        37     $6,083,333
2018-2019       $3,350,000        38     $6,083,333
2019-2020       $1,000,000        39     $6,083,333
2020-2021       $1,000,000        40     $6,083,333

Johan Franzen - 11yrs - $43.5 Million
SEASON        NHL SALARY AGE    CAP HIT
2009-2010       $5,500,000        30     $3,954,545
2010-2011       $5,000,000        31     $3,954,545
2011-2012       $5,250,000        32     $3,954,545
2012-2013       $5,250,000        33     $3,954,545
2013-2014       $5,000,000        34     $3,954,545
2014-2015       $5,000,000        35     $3,954,545
2015-2016       $5,000,000        36     $3,954,545
2016-2017       $3,500,000        37     $3,954,545
2017-2018       $2,000,000        38     $3,954,545
2018-2019       $1,000,000        39     $3,954,545
2019-2020       $1,000,000        40     $3,954,545

Both these deals put Hank and the Mule to 40 years of age, a common age for players to retire, and both with a reasonable decline in salary.

New Design

So with my triumphant return to the blogging community, I've also taken some time to re-vamp the look of the site. Blogger has added some new features during my brief hiatus, so I was playing with new layouts to enhance the look and feel of the site. I'm still not sure if I love the look yet, but it's a nice refreshing change to bring in Sabotage 2.0.

Away from the blog

So I've been away for quite some time and haven't blogged in a while.  Shockingly, I've received a few (but not many) requested to get back to adding my random thoughts to the internet.  The bulk of my ramblings have been about the Detroit Red Wings, with a sprinkling of whatever I feel worthy of sharing with the world.  Due to a major change in my daily schedule, I find myself with more time to write, and thus, the blog gets a revitalization.

I hope you all enjoy "I'm Telling Y'all It's A Sabotage" version 2.0.