Remember a few years back when the National Hockey League cancelled an entire season because of their critical need for "cost certainty"?
The cash strapped owners insisted they had to have a salary cap and revenue sharing. The system was so bad and salaries were so out of control that they gambled the league’s survival on a season long lockout. And it appeared to work. The owners got their salary cap at a very manageable $39 Million and a 24 percent reduction of existing salaries. It took a few years but the viewing public came back as well.
Think they can pull it off twice?
I’m hoping so because that’s where the NHL is headed. For years the owners claimed they needed a hard salary cap to save them from themselves. Now they have it and apparently it’s still not enough.
For exhibit A, I give you Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.
Kovalchuk is possibly the most overrated player in sports today. In hockey terms, he’s on the Robbie Brown level of overrated. Don’t get me wrong, he’s incredibly talented, maybe the most dangerous pure scorer in the NHL. In order to access that ability, you just have to put up with never seeing him on the defensive side of center ice. Word on the street is he’s more than a bit selfish as well although dealing in speculation is always risky.
Here is what I do know, that is not speculation. In eight NHL seasons Kovalchuk has won a grand total of…drum roll please…one playoff game. Not one playoff series, one playoff game. His teams have appeared in the playoffs twice, though it’s fair to say that the Devils would have been there without him. Even his Russian Olympic teams have bombed out.
And for that, rumor has it that the Devils are paying Kovalchuk more than $100 Million over 17 years. And in reality, they are probably going to pay him about $90 Million (or more) over 10 years and the remainder over the last seven. You know, about the time he's retiring to Moscow to buy a KHL franchise with his new fortune. That’s assuming our Russian friend is still toiling in the NHL and dominating offensively at age 37.
Lou Lamoriello must have been awfully impressed with those 12 goals Kovalchuk banged in during his 32 game stint with New Jersey last year. Otherwise, I’m truly at a loss for words. And there but for the grace of Rick Dipietro go I.
Is this guy really worth more than Crosby and Malkin combined? Those two guys carried the Pens to back to back Stanley Cup finals. Is he worth more than Ovechkin?
And before you remind me how bad Atlanta has been, I will remind you that after the lockout they had quite a bit of talent including Marc Savard and some Slovakian forward that shows up in the Stanley Cup finals every year. In the pre Ovie days, one would think a player worth $100 Million could drag the Thrash to the top of the pathetic Southeast division.
I’m not buying it folks. Kovalchuk (I won’t call him Kovy in deference to Alexie Kovalev) is Sammy Sosa on skates. Great stats and a guy you simply can not win with. I’m betting Atlanta is better without him (and with half of the Blackhawks cup team from last year) and the Devils are worse.
Is this is why the NHL owners fought so hard for a salary cap…so Lou Lamoriello could make a mockery of it? For the love of Garth Snow, can Gary Bettman gets some stone and void this deal? And for the record, I’m not a guy who blames Bettman for every bad thing that happens in the NHL as so many others do.
It’s easy (and fun) to blame Lamoriello who has shown that he will do anything and throw anyone under the bus to win (with the notable exception of Melanie Brodeur’s ex-husband). Alas, he and the Devils are not alone in this mockery that will eventually lead to another damaging work stoppage.
I mentioned Garth Snow above. Since it was apparently not enough for him to torture Penguin fans with his lack of goaltending acumen, Snow decided to start this whole traveshamockery by giving a 15 year deal to Rick Dipietro. The deal has been a miserable failure, in part because of Dipietro’s two year knee injury that might ruin his career and also because he is just not that good. That did not stop others from hopping on the bandwagon.
The Blackhawks participated in this farce as well when they dropped a 12 year deal on that Slovakian guy who used to play for Detroit. The contract is for about $65 Million. The Hawks pay his about $60 Million over seven years and then pay him what amounts to a pension plan honorarium for the last five years. The assumption is that after the seven years are up, Hossa will retire and then go sign a one year deal in Russia with whatever team gives him the best chance to win the KHL Cup.
The cash strapped owners insisted they had to have a salary cap and revenue sharing. The system was so bad and salaries were so out of control that they gambled the league’s survival on a season long lockout. And it appeared to work. The owners got their salary cap at a very manageable $39 Million and a 24 percent reduction of existing salaries. It took a few years but the viewing public came back as well.
Think they can pull it off twice?
I’m hoping so because that’s where the NHL is headed. For years the owners claimed they needed a hard salary cap to save them from themselves. Now they have it and apparently it’s still not enough.
For exhibit A, I give you Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.
Kovalchuk is possibly the most overrated player in sports today. In hockey terms, he’s on the Robbie Brown level of overrated. Don’t get me wrong, he’s incredibly talented, maybe the most dangerous pure scorer in the NHL. In order to access that ability, you just have to put up with never seeing him on the defensive side of center ice. Word on the street is he’s more than a bit selfish as well although dealing in speculation is always risky.
Here is what I do know, that is not speculation. In eight NHL seasons Kovalchuk has won a grand total of…drum roll please…one playoff game. Not one playoff series, one playoff game. His teams have appeared in the playoffs twice, though it’s fair to say that the Devils would have been there without him. Even his Russian Olympic teams have bombed out.
And for that, rumor has it that the Devils are paying Kovalchuk more than $100 Million over 17 years. And in reality, they are probably going to pay him about $90 Million (or more) over 10 years and the remainder over the last seven. You know, about the time he's retiring to Moscow to buy a KHL franchise with his new fortune. That’s assuming our Russian friend is still toiling in the NHL and dominating offensively at age 37.
Lou Lamoriello must have been awfully impressed with those 12 goals Kovalchuk banged in during his 32 game stint with New Jersey last year. Otherwise, I’m truly at a loss for words. And there but for the grace of Rick Dipietro go I.
Is this guy really worth more than Crosby and Malkin combined? Those two guys carried the Pens to back to back Stanley Cup finals. Is he worth more than Ovechkin?
And before you remind me how bad Atlanta has been, I will remind you that after the lockout they had quite a bit of talent including Marc Savard and some Slovakian forward that shows up in the Stanley Cup finals every year. In the pre Ovie days, one would think a player worth $100 Million could drag the Thrash to the top of the pathetic Southeast division.
I’m not buying it folks. Kovalchuk (I won’t call him Kovy in deference to Alexie Kovalev) is Sammy Sosa on skates. Great stats and a guy you simply can not win with. I’m betting Atlanta is better without him (and with half of the Blackhawks cup team from last year) and the Devils are worse.
Is this is why the NHL owners fought so hard for a salary cap…so Lou Lamoriello could make a mockery of it? For the love of Garth Snow, can Gary Bettman gets some stone and void this deal? And for the record, I’m not a guy who blames Bettman for every bad thing that happens in the NHL as so many others do.
It’s easy (and fun) to blame Lamoriello who has shown that he will do anything and throw anyone under the bus to win (with the notable exception of Melanie Brodeur’s ex-husband). Alas, he and the Devils are not alone in this mockery that will eventually lead to another damaging work stoppage.
I mentioned Garth Snow above. Since it was apparently not enough for him to torture Penguin fans with his lack of goaltending acumen, Snow decided to start this whole traveshamockery by giving a 15 year deal to Rick Dipietro. The deal has been a miserable failure, in part because of Dipietro’s two year knee injury that might ruin his career and also because he is just not that good. That did not stop others from hopping on the bandwagon.
The Blackhawks participated in this farce as well when they dropped a 12 year deal on that Slovakian guy who used to play for Detroit. The contract is for about $65 Million. The Hawks pay his about $60 Million over seven years and then pay him what amounts to a pension plan honorarium for the last five years. The assumption is that after the seven years are up, Hossa will retire and then go sign a one year deal in Russia with whatever team gives him the best chance to win the KHL Cup.
And one shutters to think of what Glenn Sather would be spending if he had not completely capped out the Rangers on Wade Reddan and Mikey Roszival.
Remember, this was not a bidding war to land Crosby or Ovie; this is over the likes of Kovalchuk, Dipietro and Mike Richards. Are those guys worth trashing the league's hard earned "cost certainty" to sign?
For the most part, I don’t blame the players when the owners spend like drunken sailors. It’s not Dipietro’s fault that Snow took one too many slapshots to the cranium, just as it’s not Cristobal Huet’s fault that Dale Tallon went on an all night drinking binge before working up his contract. I’ll make an exception for Kovalchuk who was clearly willing to game the system until somebody was stupid enough to pony up all that money for him. There’s a sucker born every minute and in Lou Lamoriello’s case, there is one with a full time job.
I just wonder how this possibly ends well for the NHL. Especially when you consider how unlikely the NLHPA is to happily agree to another wage concession or salary cap reduction. Oh and that’s before considering whether they hire Donald Fehr as their next executive director. Chew on that during the next lockout.
I’m not naïve enough to think that wealthier owners would not spend every dime up to the top of the salary cap but I thought they would at least stop there. I just did not think they would go out of their way to circumvent the safe guards they created. It’s bad enough that the cap has risen from $39 Million to $59 Million in five years. Remember when teams said they could not make it work with a $35 Million payroll?
The 10 plus year contracts are for the most part a joke. I’ll give the Hawks Duncan Keith who might be around that long but for the most part, it’s flat out cap shenanigans. Good luck finding one forward since Gordie Howe who was scoring goals at a $9 Million per year pace into his 40s. And I'm just guessing that Mr. Hockey worked a bit harder at his craft and conditioning then Kovalchuk does.
I don’t wish injury on anybody so my fervent hope is that Ilya performs a Craig Patrick like on the job retirement. Please get fat, dumb, and happy. Show up out of shape, reduce your effort level, milk minor injuries all while buying a new Porsche once a week. There is nothing I would like better than to see Lamoriello stuck with a $100 Million bust that turns the Devils into the NY Rangers of Newark.
Remember, this was not a bidding war to land Crosby or Ovie; this is over the likes of Kovalchuk, Dipietro and Mike Richards. Are those guys worth trashing the league's hard earned "cost certainty" to sign?
For the most part, I don’t blame the players when the owners spend like drunken sailors. It’s not Dipietro’s fault that Snow took one too many slapshots to the cranium, just as it’s not Cristobal Huet’s fault that Dale Tallon went on an all night drinking binge before working up his contract. I’ll make an exception for Kovalchuk who was clearly willing to game the system until somebody was stupid enough to pony up all that money for him. There’s a sucker born every minute and in Lou Lamoriello’s case, there is one with a full time job.
I just wonder how this possibly ends well for the NHL. Especially when you consider how unlikely the NLHPA is to happily agree to another wage concession or salary cap reduction. Oh and that’s before considering whether they hire Donald Fehr as their next executive director. Chew on that during the next lockout.
I’m not naïve enough to think that wealthier owners would not spend every dime up to the top of the salary cap but I thought they would at least stop there. I just did not think they would go out of their way to circumvent the safe guards they created. It’s bad enough that the cap has risen from $39 Million to $59 Million in five years. Remember when teams said they could not make it work with a $35 Million payroll?
The 10 plus year contracts are for the most part a joke. I’ll give the Hawks Duncan Keith who might be around that long but for the most part, it’s flat out cap shenanigans. Good luck finding one forward since Gordie Howe who was scoring goals at a $9 Million per year pace into his 40s. And I'm just guessing that Mr. Hockey worked a bit harder at his craft and conditioning then Kovalchuk does.
I don’t wish injury on anybody so my fervent hope is that Ilya performs a Craig Patrick like on the job retirement. Please get fat, dumb, and happy. Show up out of shape, reduce your effort level, milk minor injuries all while buying a new Porsche once a week. There is nothing I would like better than to see Lamoriello stuck with a $100 Million bust that turns the Devils into the NY Rangers of Newark.
Even better, here’s hoping Zac Parise takes the reasonable deal that Los Angeles offered Kovalchuk and runs. Then LA gets the better player and for less money.
By the way, kudos to the Kings for bringing some sanity to this process. Kudos to all the teams that were smart enough to walk away from this insanity. Unfortunately, it only takes one idiot to blow up the whole system.
By the way, kudos to the Kings for bringing some sanity to this process. Kudos to all the teams that were smart enough to walk away from this insanity. Unfortunately, it only takes one idiot to blow up the whole system.
Sadly, the NHL has more than one with the title of general manager. I hope we are not lamenting that fact as another season gets canceled. I’m not sure that trick will work twice.
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