[kickass32]

Good news, we can finally put this shit behind us......also...fuck yeah, GO DEVILS!!!!!


From TSN - Canada's Sports Leader
NHL,NHLPA agree to rules on contracts, approve Kovalchuk's deal

The NHL and the NHL Players' Association have reached an agreement on an amendment to the rules that govern long-term contracts.

The two sides have also agreed to extend the 5pm et deadline to complete the paperwork involved with the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation.

Kovalchuk's 15-year, $100 million contract with the New Jersey Devils has been approved as part of a new global settlement. Deals like those signed by Kovalchuk, Roberto Luongo, Marian Hossa, and Marc Savard will be the last of their kind.

The amendments address two specific rules which only apply to long-term contracts (contracts defined as five years or longer).

First: For long-term contracts extending beyond the age of 40, the contract's average annual value for the years up to and including 40, are calculated by dividing total value in those years by the number of years up to and including 40. Then for the years covering ages 41 and beyond, the cap charge in each year is equal to the value of the contract in that year.

For example, when a 35-year old player agrees to a seven-year deal that expires when he's 42, the NHL would now take the first five years of the contract to age 40 and average them out. The total becomes the dollars divided by five years. That player's average annual salary would then become the cap hit.

His cap hit in the final two years of his deal would be the actual value of the contract in those seasons, therefore a cap hit of $525,000 for years six and seven of the deal.

Secondly, for long-term contracts that include years in which the player is 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40; the amount used for purposes of calculating his average annual value is a minimum of $1 million in each of those years (even if his actual compensation is less during those seasons).

As an example, a player signs the exact same seven-year deal discussed above, however the deal is signed at the age of 32 and is set to expire when the player reaches 39 years old. For that contract, the two seasons at $525,000 would remain, however they would be treated as years at $1 million for the purpose of calculating the appropriate cap charge.

These new rules will only apply to contracts negotiated and filed after Sept. 3. They do not apply retroactively to existing contracts, therefore long-term deals signed by the likes of Henrik Zetterberg and Rick DiPietro would remain unaffected by Friday's decision.