Vancouver Canucks often wounded defenceman Sami Salo has had more than his share of freak injuries. After only appearing in 68-games last season due to everything from an MCL sprain to nearly bursting a testicle. A report from the Vancouver Sun coming out of Finland has Sami Salo on the shelf for at least three months after rupturing his Achilles tendon playing floor hockey. Yes, floor hockey. Sami Salo is that soft.
Although the Vancouver Canucks have not issued a statement at this time, the reports of Salo’s floor hockey mishap should hardly come as a surprise given his injurious history. In 11 NHL seasons, Salo has only eclipsed the 65-game mark five times. The former Ottawa Senators 9th round pick was traded to the Canucks for Peter Schaefer. Salo has managed to injure just about every part of his body over the course of his career including; his ribs, eyes, both legs, knees, nose, balls, feet, ankles, groins, shoulders, and now his Achilles.
The injury to Salo will likely put a damper on any immediate plans the Canucks may have for trading defenceman Kevin Bieksa. Salo has one year remaining on a contract that keeps him at a cap hit of $3.5 million. Salo has 273-points in 665 career games, and 26-points in 74 playoff games.
The Atlanta Thrashers took a page from the NHL late Wednesday by choosing to reject an arbitrator’s ruling on a $2.4 million deal awarded to left winger Clarke MacArthur. MacArthur found his way to Atlanta in March of last season after the Buffalo Sabres sent him packing for a couple of draft picks. The $2.4 million awarded to MacArthur caught more than a few by surprise considering the third tier type production he’s managed over parts of four seasons.
MacArthur scored 16-goals last season between Buffalo and Atlanta, and his career high was the 17 he potted in 2008-09. That 17-goal season was in Buffalo,where just about anyone can score 15-to-20 goals – even Ales Kotalik. The Thrashers, or any team for that matter, have every right to reject an arbitrator’s ruling and allow MacArthur to become a free agent.
The fruitful arbitration ruling probably sent chills up the spine of several NHL general managers that are attempting to re-sign young mid-level talent. As Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal has pointed out, arbitrators work with statistics and comparables to come to their decision:
“The arbitrator usually goes on stats and comparables. When the Toronto Maple Leafs gave 23-year-old forward Nikolai Kulemin a two-year deal recently for an average salary of $2.35 million, that set the bar for the Brules and MacArthurs of the world. Kulemin had 36 points this past season.”
Matheson outlines the implications of the hefty $2.4 million MacArthur ruling as it relates to the Oilers’ desire to retain Gilbert Brule. It should be interesting to see if his arbitration case is influenced at all by the Thrashers’ choice to walk away from MacArthur. MacArthur’s 2009-10 output was 35-points, one shy of the ‘bar’ set by Kulemin. The 25-year old MacArthur can still negotiate with the Thrashers as a free agent, although, it’s more likely he’ll look to take his talents elsewhere. An NHL club electing to reject an arbitrator’s ruling isn’t completely out of the ordinary, but as our Score news team has stated… it’s rare:
“Boston was one of the first franchises to walk away from an arbitrator’s decision when it did so in 1999 for then-forward Dmitri Khristich. Most recently, Nikolai Zherdev wound up on the wrong end of the New York Rangers’ declining an arbitrator’s decision in 2009 and the Ukraine-born winger played last season in Russia.”
Clarke MacArthur is free to negotiate with any interested team, as a 25-year old unrestricted free agent. It’s not a bad position to be in, but it’s one that may not be quite as financially rewarding as his arbitration hearing.
Scott Lewis has done a fine job the last couple of days weighing in on the ludicrous 17-year contract that the New Jersey Devils offered to Ilya Kovalchuk, and because of that I hesitated to comment, but given that it’s summer, this is the biggest story around and I’ve got a few thoughts that aren’t being given wide play, I’m going to toss out a few things myself.
Length Doesn’t Matter, It’s How… Never Mind
The length of Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract is understandably getting significant play, but the fixation with the 17-year mark is, in my opinion, misplaced. To pick on one outlet, TSN compares the deal to long-term deals signed by Rick DiPietro and Alexander Ovechkin, among others.
The reality is those contracts aren’t comparable; Rick DiPietro got paid $4.5 million in 2006-07, he’ll get paid $4.5 million in 2020-21, and he’ll be paid $4.5 million every year in between. DiPietro’s contract really kicked off the really long-term pacts that have become a regular occurrence in the NHL (give the Islanders credit – they’re trend-setters) and had the NHL had an issue with long contracts that issue would have come out then and there. Ovechkin actually gets a modest raise in 2014-15, from $9.0 million per season up to $10.0 million per year.
Length is a non-issue here. Gary Bettman has previously commented that he doesn’t like these long-term deals, but the NHL has shown time and again that they will allow teams to balance the risk/reward ratio for themselves.
It’s All About Selling Realism
The problem with the contract is that while a quick glimpse shows nothing wrong – crazy years, check, big dollars, check, wake me when free agency ends – anyone looking at the breakdown of the deal (as I assume everyone has by now) has to be astonished by Kovalchuk’s willingness to play for a fourth-line rate of pay (or for fans of the New York Rangers, the hypothetical rate paid to players underneath the fourth-liners) for the last six years of his contract.
Others (everyone?) have pointed out that there are plenty of contracts out there that look a little fishy, and they’re right. Scott linked to a Behind The Net piece earlier today which compared Kovalchuk’s deal graphically with some of these other deals, but the number and impact of the fake years tacked on to the end of Kovalchuk’s contract far exceeds those handed out earlier. Let’s compare:
Ilya Kovalchuk (hypothetically, as in all of these cases) will spend the final five years of his deal earning just $550,000 – less than one-tenth of the average cap hit over the 17-year deal. In the year preceding those five, he’ll earn just $750,000.
Marian Hossa will earn just $1.0 million per season over the final four years of his deal – a hair under one-fifth of the average cap hit of his deal.
Chris Pronger will earn just $525,000 over the final two seasons of his deal, just over one-tenth the average value of his contract. This deal probably should have been overturned by the NHL, but in this particular case the Flyers may have outsmarted themselves – because Pronger will be over 35 when the deal goes into effect, if he retires for those final two seasons the Flyers don’t get out of the cap hit, and given how little money he’ll be making (after the age of 40) there may be precious little reason for him to stick around.
Like Pronger, Marc Savard will earn just $525,000 over the final two years of his deal, a number that represents a little over 13% the average value of his deal.
Other players have similarly suspicious years at the ends of their deals – Duncan Keith has one, Roberto Luongo has two, Vincent Lecavalier has one (maybe two, depending on how one counts), Henrik Zetterberg has two, Johan Franzen has two, Mattias Ohlund has one, and so on. It’s common practice for long-term deals now, and I’d suggest any general manager (at least those who have to worry about the salary cap) who signs a player to one of these long-term deals should be tagging on a few years at a reduced rate at the end of the deal, to make the cap hit manageable. Those that aren’t bending the spirit of the CBA a little bit are putting themselves at a disadvantage.
But while it’s conceivable that the players above might be willing to play for $1.0 million or so over the last year or two of their careers, only three deals see star NHLers scraping along near the league minimum over their final years. The Savard deal probably should have been overturned, although the fact that he earns substantially less than the other players on the list makes that offence a little less egregious.
The Pronger deal had no business being approved by the league, but Paul Holmgren is going to look like a prize idiot if Pronger does retire and the Flyers are stuck with that cap hit for two seasons thanks to the over-35 rule. It’s a case where I’d be all too happy to see the Flyers suffer at the hands of the same rules they were attempting to circumvent.
The Kovalchuk deal really isn’t in the same ballpark as those other players. Six years of near minimum-wage pay is more than three times as long as any other team has ever tried to worm through the NHL head office. It sees him take a 95% pay cut over a period of six years.
The Weasel Zone
In Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel, Scott Adams talks about the “gigantic gray area between good moral behaviour and outright felonious activities,” something he calls the “Weasel Zone.” He explains:
In the Weasel zone everything is misleading, but not exactly a lie. There’s a subtle difference. When you lie, you hope to fool someone. But when you’re being a weasel, everyone is aware that you’re a manipulative, scheming, misleading sociopath.
So while we all suspect that Marian Hossa might retire a year early, leaving the Blackhawks with a salary cap discount at no cost to the team, we don’t quite know it. the Kovalchuk contract crosses the line from being suspicious to being nearly certain; it’s a place where the NHL simply must draw the line.
But It’s Not Really A Big Deal
In the end, I doubt it’s going to matter. The NHLPA may file a grievance, and we may see some more dancing around, but the final result seems almost certain to me: Camp Kovalchuk and the Devils will rework the contract, keep a couple of ugly looking years tacked on to the end while nixing the rest, and the contract will move from a spot where it’s plainly in violation of the CBA to a spot where it may or may not be. Kovalchuk may give up some money, and the Devils may give up some cap space, but I suspect that will be the extent of the ramifications.
That, and we will have gained the benefit of knowing where the NHL’s leniency ends.
For those counting the days until EA Sports releases the heavily anticipated NHL 11, here’s a little more video game porn to help keep the excitement building: NHL 11 will feature 32 different sets of goaltender equipment. Game producer Gurn Sumal is keeping a nifty blog, In The Crease, following the production of the game, and his first post touches on the revamped design for goalies and their gear.
As you can tell from the screenshot above, goaltenders will be decked out in gear that accurately resembles the pads, blockers, and trappers that their real-life counterparts wear. Dallas Stars’ netminder Kari Lehtonen is sporting a video game rendition of his snazzy Vaughn SLW’s, and I’ve gotta admit that the attention to detail is astounding. Goaltenders offer a unique platform for design in NHL 11, based on the fact that there’s only two on the ice at one time:
“If you’re wondering how we’re able to put this much equipment in for the goalies as compared to what we put in for skaters, it’s all based on memory used in game. For goalies, there are only ever four goalies in the rink at any one time as opposed to 36 different skaters. We have to account for every single skater and goalie potentially having a different piece of equipment, which can add up quickly. The more equipment we have to load, the longer our load times are and once in the game it will affect the framerate.”
Even AHL standouts like ready-for-prime time Michal Neuvirth will be decked out in lifelike models of equipment:
We’ve only been afforded a look at the Vaughn sets of equipment thus far, but according to Sumal the game will feature all of the major manufacturers of goaltender equipment. The biggest change to the design of the game that will allow for more customization of goalie gear was the addition of more “zones” to their player models:
“… one of the biggest changes to the goalie equipment this year is that we’ve increased the amount of recolorable zones to nine (for sets that are complex). This also includes the older equipment that has been in the game in previous years like the Bauer X: 60 or the Vaughn V3 sets. Even with 9 zones some of the equipment may still be a little off due to the sheer amount of customization that a specific set may have but we’ve tried to make it as close to real life as possible.”
It’s been a number of years since EA has attempted to include replicas of goalie’s real-life masks (NHL ’97? Anyone?), and that may have to be added to the wishlist for another installment. For now, we’ll take the renewed focus on the rest of their equipment. No word yet if Carey Price’s pads will feature a pouch for his smokes.
When rumours of a proposed 17-year contract offer for Ilya Kovalchuk from Lou Lamoriello and the New Jersey Devils first began to float, there were essentially two schools of thought. There were those that dismissed the absurdity of the idea, and there were those that thought just maybe Lou had gone off the deep end in an effort to sign the 27-year old Russian. As the rumours started to become a reality it was as though Kovalchuk and his agent Jay Grossman were simply trying to expose every possible loophole in the collective bargaining agreement on purpose. For the NHL, “circumvention” is the preferred nomenclature. Late Tuesday, the Kovalchuk deal was rejected.
Something was awry with the Kovalchuk deal from the beginning. The NHL has seen its share of questionable contracts tabled and accepted over the last several seasons, but nothing quite as facetious as the one signed by Ilya Kovalchuk on Monday. From the way Tuesday’s press conference at the Prudential Center unfolded, Kovalchuk’s shit-eating grin, and Lamoriello’s own admission that this deal was out of the ordinary – there was bound to be some level of investigation.
“… there is nothing that we have done wrong. This is within the rules. This is in the CBA. There are precedents that have been set. But I would agree we shouldn’t have these. But I’m also saying that because it’s legal and this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing for the right reasons.”
An immediate outcry from Devils fans and the CBA-obsessed following the announcement of the NHL’s rejection of the deal will have little impact on any impending decision resulting from, in all likelihood, a grievance filed from the NHLPA. Although, there were a number of pertinent questions raised as to why the NHL is only stepping up now after the plethora of similar long-term deals signed in offseasons past. As the fellas at Behind The Net have pointed out: “There are nine existing contracts that ‘violate the spirit of the CBA’ by de-escalating a player’s salary over a number of years to reduce his salary cap hit”.
It’s true that the lengthy deals binding the likes of Vincent Lecavalier, Alex Ovechkin, Duncan Keith, Chris Pronger, etc. are all in violation of the ‘spirit’ of the CBA. With none of those contracts exceeding 13 years in length, it’s feasible that Kovalchuk’s camp could make the argument of ‘what, then, is the cutoff for contract length?’. The NHLPA has five days from the date of rejection to file a grievance. These next few days should prove to be very contentious for all parties involved.
(In an effort to have some semblance of organization here, we’ll be moving forward with our daily link dump. Look for it each morning, it’s called “The Dump and Chase” (sooo clever, I know). If you’ve found something on the web that you think should be included justlet us know.)
+The Philadelphia Flyers cut ties with Simon Gagne on Monday by shipping him to Tampa Bay for Matt Walker and a 4th-round pick. The Lightning are hoping Gagne can stay healthy and provide the second line punch that Alex Tanguay couldn’t. The addition of Walker is a bit interesting, as the blue line in Philly is already a bit crowded. He does add some toughness, though… not that there was any shortage of that already there. “He is now their 8th defenseman costing more than their 6th and 7th”. [Broad Street Hockey]
+ Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year deal will be announced later today, but in the meantime take a gander at The Longest Contracts In the NHL. [Fanhouse]
+ Comprehensive breakdown of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract with analysis from most of the major opinionated outlets. [Wall Street Journal]
+ Sharp dressed man Patrick Sharp will be staying in Chicago, although the Bowmans still have no solution for their salary cap woes. [Puck Daddy]
+ Agitators make for some of the more entertaining guys to watch, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Derek Dorsett is one of those guys that can play physical and get under the skin of others. The guys at The Cannon are pegging him for a breakout of sorts with a prediction of 70-games played under new head coach Scott Arniel.
+ Obligatory NHL 11 news: the soundtrack for EA Sports’ NHL 11 and NHL Slapshot have been announced and feature a mix of 90s metal, current gems from the Black Keys and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and jock jams. No Billy Talent on the roster. [Operation Sports]
+ Great look from yesterday of the Mikko Koivu deal compared to those of Tomas Plekanec and Nicklas Backstrom. [Behind the Net Hockey]
+ I guess I’m not the only person that’s frightened by the possibility of Donald Fehr playing a role in the NHLPA; “Again, it’s a little early to fret too much, but already there are whispers that, under Fehr, the players might try to abolish the current hard salary cap and get a soft-cap, luxury-tax, revenue-sharing style system that baseball has had for the last seven years.” [All Things Avs]
+ Down Goes Brown was quick on the draw to nab a “leaked” copy of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract. How do you say… hilarious! [DGB]
+ Very enjoyable read putting Development Camp into context. [On Frozen Blog]
The Sacrilegious Section
Seeing as I tend to stray from actual hockey coverage over here, I figured if I properly label the section that has little to do with the game then we can avoid comment wars like we had yesterday. Anyway, here’s Dion Phaneuf’s girlfriend and Canadian crush-object Elisha Cuthbert telling Kelly Ripa that her son was hitting on her. The Leafs should really hold a Dion Phaneuf night next season where they hand out Phaneuf faux-hawk wigs.
(You can follow Lewis on Twitter @thesilencekid, he swears a lot and is heavy on the snarkasm. Good for the occasional laugh, though. )
When Ilya Kovalchuk became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010, many expected the demand for the Russian sniper to outweigh the number of days it would take for a suitor to sign him. There were rumblings of an impending decision as early as July 6. Then there were tales of an off again, on again Kovy courting by the Los Angeles Kings. In the end, it seems as though those rumours of a 17-year contract weren’t so exaggerated.
On Monday, the New Jersey Devils announced via Twitter that they had finalized an agreement with Ilya Kovalchuk. A press conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to make the marriage official. Despite a less than noticeable finish to his brief time in New Jersey last season, another underwhelming playoff performance, and fundamental philosophical differences of commitment to defence – Kovalchuk will likely be a member of the Devils for the rest of his natural hockey-playing life.
Just when it seemed as though Dean Lombardi and the Kings were on the inside track to land the two-time 52-goal scorer, Lou Lamoriello swooped in and managed to head-off any change of location plans by Kovalchuk and his agent Jay Grossman. Was it a snub? Hardly. If we have learned anything over the course of the last 18 days it was that dealings with Kovalchuk only offered a promise of uncertainty.
It’s hard to fault Kovalchuk for the exasperating saga that he orchestrated; he held out for what he wanted until someone was crazy enough to give it to him. If indeed the rumours of a 17-year contract are true, then the Devils signing of Kovalchuk will easily become one of the most heavily scrutinized deals in the history of the game. Speculation is pointing to Kovalchuk being retained at a very reasonable $6.5M-$7M, but the weight of a 17-year contract could propose more trouble in the end than it’s worth.
