NHL Investigating Other Front Loaded Deals

[Phil The Thrill]

Arbitrator Richard Bloch's ruling to side with the NHL on voiding Ilya Kovalchuk's contract on Monday could affect other such front-ended hockey contracts.

Canucks general manager Mike Gillis confirmed to the Vancouver Sun via email late Monday night that the league is looking into Roberto Luongo's 12-year contract that was signed last fall.

"We have complied with the NHL request for information and are awaiting further instructions," Gillis told The Sun. "Cannot say anything further at this point."

Bloch's ruling specifically mentioned the contracts of Luongo, Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger, Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard and Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa as deals that the league is still investigating.

"Each of these players will be 40 or over at the end of the contract term and each contract includes dramatic divebacks," Bloch wrote in his ruling. "Pronger's annual salary, for example, drops from $4,000,000 to $525,000 at the point he is earning almost 97% of the total $34,450,000 salary.

"Roberto Luongo, with Vancouver, has a 12- year agreement that will end when he is 43. After averaging some $7,000,000 per year for the first nine years of the Agreement, Luongo will receive an average of about 1.2 million during his last 3 years, amounting to some 5.7% of the total compensation during that time period."

The NHL Players' Association argued that those four deals were approved and that Kovalchuk's deal should be approved as well.

Bloch disagreed with that point, writing:

"The apparent purpose of this evidence is to suggest that the League's concern is late blooming and/or inconsistent. Several responses are in order: First, while the contracts have, in fact, been registered, their structure has not escaped League notice: those SPCs [standard player's contracts] are being investigated currently with at least the possibility of a subsequent withdrawal of the registration."

Pronger, Luongo, Hossa and Savard are among a long list of players who have signed long-term deals that included extra years with diminished salary.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=330099

 

[snipezo]

Can't say that I'm panicked but it's dumb how they investigate the contracts that have already been approved. Don't get me wrong, I don't like these kind of contracts but investigating it while it's already been approved doesn't sound right to me.

 

[Gtown81]

Can't say that I'm panicked but it's dumb how they investigate the contracts that have already been approved. Don't get me wrong, I don't like these kind of contracts but investigating it while it's already been approved doesn't sound right to me.

agreed

 

[playmaker7]

Yeah I don't think theres much to investigate anyways since its there and its been approved...

 

[Phil The Thrill]

I agree they can't do much, however I think the cap hit should be based off how much the player gets paid rather then the average.

 

[playmaker7]

Same. Cap hit for that year should be the salary for that year

 

[Mauersota]

I don't think anything will happen, after all they've already been approved.

 

[fletch]

agreed with canucksfan, the contracts are stupid but it's too late to start this stuff now