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A transcript of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract ruling, plus a few more details

New Jersey Devils v Philadelphia Flyers - Game Four

of the Philadelphia Flyers of the New Jersey Devils in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Wachovia Center on April 20, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jim McIsaac

We’ve broken down the Ilya Kovalchuk contract rejection from many different angles, but for those of you attention-to-detail types, someone finally posted a transcript of the ruling itself. Thankfully, Canadian lawyer and sports buff Eric Macramalla got his hands on a copy, which you can peruse at your leisure here.

Macramalla is a Partner at Gowlings, “a leading Canadian law firm” and also acts as a legal analyst for the radio station Team 1200. Most of what he writes about here isn’t particularly groundbreaking, although he did point out another interesting wrinkle from the case.

In the last 6 years of the contract, the comprehensive “No Move” clause is replaced by a “No Trade”, which gives the Devils the ability to rid itself of the continuing salary cap burden during the throwaway years of the contract.

He also pointed out that - while there has been some discussion regarding the league taking a look at other questionable contracts - arbitrator Richard Bloch also made sure to distinguish Kovalchuk’s deals from the others. The fact that he goes from a no-move to a no-trade clause is another example of why the contract is so brash.

So that will cover our Kovalchuk material for tonight. Chances are we’ll have more on that tomorrow, though.

(H/T to Spector’s Hockey.)