Search This Blog

Friday, August 13, 2010

Kovalchuk Saga Has Grown Tiresome

I know I'm not alone in thinking that the Ilya Kovalchuk saga has grown tiresome and may very well be holding the other 29 teams from re-tooling their rosters.

I will say this though.

These lifetime contracts need to stop.

Yes, his deal got rejected by the league and then he and the Devils saw that rejection upheld by an outside arbitrator. However, these long-term deals are insane.

Ask the New York Islanders how Rick DiPietro's deal is working out. I don't have confirmation, but I'm pretty sure his hospital bills equal his salary.

I understand the logic behind signing a guy for 10, 11, 12+ years. However, what the Devils did with Kovalchuk was absolutely, 100 percent circumvention of the salary cap.

Now, everyone in the union, and some writers out there, are upset about it being rejected.

Sure, the Devils signed him and agreed to pay him $95 million in the first 10 years, but did anyone honestly believe that Kovalchuk was going to play until he was 44?

The problem with this kind of deal is that Kovalchuk can retire whenever and still collect the cash. Not to mention that the Devils wouldn't have his $6 million cap hit to deal with for potentially the final nine years of the contract.

His cap hit would only count up until he turned 35 and then after that, would come off the books should he retire.

I'd be willing to bet that he doesn't last until he's even 37. Meaning, for another seven years, the Devils are off the hook for the cap and only have to pay Kovalchuk peanuts.

I've heard some Devils fans (yes, there are some legit ones out there, though you wouldn't know it from how many show up to the Rock to watch games) that the league rejected it because it's the Devils.

So now there's a league-wide conspiracy against the Devils?

When did this happen?

For the last few years, as a Pens fan, I've heard nothing but cries of "The league wants the Penguins to do well."

Really?

"The Pens get all the calls."

"Sidney Crosby is the third referee. Anytime he goes down the refs arm goes up."

"They had too many men on the ice when they scored that goal in the Stanley Cup Finals."

Please.

First off, the league rejected the Kovalchuk deal because it was Lou Lamoriello's way of whipping out his 21st digit and chucking up two middle fingers at Gary Bettman.

Just picture that image for a minute. Props to anyone who comes up with a SFW version of that in Photoshop. I'd bet the guys over at The Pens Blog have one on file for occasions such as this.

As far as all the Pens-hater comments go, wait until your team is relevant and we'll be first in line to tell you that your team sucks and the league is pulling strings to make them win.

Also, if the league was really looking to pull strings, wouldn't the Caps and Pens have played in the Eastern Conference Finals sometime in the past 3 years?

Has it happened?

No.

Has Ovechkin even reached the ECF?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAHA........sorry....need to keep this professional.

Side note: while playing NHL10 as a goalie in the Lightning's system, the Stars and Caps met in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dallas prevailed in Game 7 on the road in Washington. (Sounds familiar) So clearly EA Sports also hates Ovechkin as much as Gary Bettman.

Anyway, this saga needs to end.

Respected insiders and rumor guys, (no not the one you're thinking of) believe that once the Kovalchuk signing is official (and legal) that a bunch of other moves will be made.

(As I'm writing this, the band Arcade Fire is performing on the Daily Show. I have never felt better about being a hard rock fan in my life. This song on my television is making me contemplate if jumping off my balcony would hurt less than listening to this crap. Everyone in the band is bouncing around to their own beat and they're all into it like it's moving them to a higher state of consciousness or something. Perhaps it will bring them to a place where they'll realize their music sucks and they should stop pilfering people's money for their CDs. If you like this band, it might explain why you're reading this blog. Thanks for reading! Arcade Fire rocks! Honestly though, this might be the worst band on the face of the planet. Send us your thoughts on the worst band out there and we'll publish a list of them and offer our own insight.)

I wouldn't call Kovalchuk's situation remotely close to the media whoring that LeBron James partook in, but it makes sense that 29 other teams are waiting to see what happens with him before moving forward.

Perhaps we'll find out what all of our team's rosters will look like by the time training camp opens next month.

Maybe.

No comments:

Post a Comment