On Monday July 19, it seemed like a lengthy hockey nightmare was over. That day seemingly marked the end of the Ilya Kovalchuk Holding Pattern Era and the continuation of the Kovalchuk-Devils pact. Of course, you should know that the league said “hold on a second” and rejected his contract at this point.
Today marks the deadline for the NHL Players Association to file a grievance on Kovalchuk’s behalf. Tom Gulitti of the Devils-oriented Fire & Ice blog has the details.
The NHL Players’ Association has until 5 p.m. Monday to file a grievance on behalf of Ilya Kovalchuk for the NHL rejecting his 17-year, $102 million contract with the Devils for salary cap circumvention.
All indications are that the NHLPA will file the grievance before Monday’s deadline after its lawyers conducted a thorough study of the facts, including interviewing all the parties involved in the contract negotiations. The delay the last two days was likely due to the union waiting through the weekend before officially filing the paperwork.
After the grievance is filed, the NHL and the NHLPA must hire a “system” arbitrator to rule on the case. Both sides must agree on the arbitrator. I was among those who speculated that the process could take weeks, but the NHLPA will want to expedite the search so that Kovalchuk will not be in limbo too much longer as far as where he will play in 2010-11. So, if the NHL drags its feet, it will be quite obvious.
Need a quick review of the possible scenarios? Consider this your Ilya Kovalchuk “Choose your own adventure” game.
1. The arbitrator upholds the rejection - Kovalchuk would become an unrestricted free agent again, giving him the choice of restructuring his contract with the Devils or going with a different team. Both the Kings and - according to Gulitti - the KHL have expressed interest in Kovalchuk if he went back on the market.
2. The arbitrator validates the contract - the league would be forced to approve the contract right away.
3. The Devils could restructure the original contract before the grievance, but Gulitti and many others say that probably won’t happen.
4. If the NHLPA doesn’t file a grievance, then Kovalchuk would become an unrestricted free agent again.
OK, so those are the possibilities. What does this mean to you? Well, if you’re bored out of your mind sitting in a cubicle (or a basement or your evil lair/mansion), then you can count on an official word about a grievance - or lack thereof - today. We’ll be on top of it today at PHT.