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Report: NHL offers “ultimatum” with NHLPA over Kovalchuk contract, dire consequences if not accepted

Lou Lamoriello,Ilya Kovalchuk,  Jeff Vanderbeek i

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello, left, and star forward Ilya Kovalchuk, second from left, of Russia, listen Tuesday, July 20, 2010, as owner Jeff Vanderbeek answers a question at a news conference in Newark, N.J. Kovalchuk is staying with the Devils after agreeing to a staggering 17-year, $102 million deal with the team. (AP Photo/ Mel Evans)

AP

If you found yourself disappointed by this afternoon’s news about the NHL and NHLPA agreeing to extend the deadline to decide the fate of Ilya Kovalchuk’s latest contract with the New Jersey Devils, don’t worry, business just picked up.

The New York Post’s Larry Brooks is reporting that the NHL has given the NHLPA a set of stipulations under which they’ll agree to the Ilya Kovalchuk contract and, in essence, grandfather his deal in as the last of its kind so long as the players union agrees to amend the collective bargaining agreement to end these sorts of deals... Or else.

A well placed source reports that the league has informed the Players’ Assn. that the league will grandfather the recently submitted Kovalchuk 15-year, $100M contract, Luongo’s 12-year, $64M deal that is entering its second season and Hossa’s 12-year, $63.3M deal that also is entering its second season into the CBA under the following conditions:

1. That the cap hit on future multi-year contracts will not count any seasons that end with the player over 40 years of age. The cap hit would be calculated on the average of the salary up through age 40 only.

2. That the cap hit on future contracts longer than five years will be calculated under a formula granting additional weight to the five years with the highest salary.

The league has given the PA, which is being directed by Donald Fehr, until Friday at 5 pm to accept these conditions. If the PA refuses, or if negotiations fail to yeild a common ground, the league has informed the PA that:

1. It will reject the Kovalchuck contract.

2. It will move to immediately devoid the Luongo contract.

3. It will move to immediately open proceedings for a formal investigation into the Hossa contract.

Take a second to digest all of that because that’s one heaping pile of “Whoa....”

Now I know you’re saying that this may not be true when it comes to stuff coming from the New York Post and that’s fair. Larry Brooks is a bit of a different guy though because he’s a staunch NHLPA supporter in his columns and he seems to have connections from within. This report is awfully detailed, however, but use your grain of salt as you will.

If this is all true though, the NHL has now turned the game against the NHLPA and Donald Fehr, plain and simple. It’s the classic setting for negotiation. The NHL will give the NHLPA what they want as far as Kovalchuk’s deal is concerned as long as they give in to amending the collective bargaining agreement to add the new rules on contracts and cap hits. If the NHLPA decides to tell the NHL to stuff it where the sun doesn’t shine, then they’re nixing Kovalchuk’s latest contract and declaring war on the other deals they’re investigating and zeroing in on Roberto Luongo next with Marian Hossa waiting in the wings.

And you thought there was an uproar over Kovalchuk? Just wait until Vancouver, the West Coast Branch of Tinfoil Haberdashery, gets involved. Chicago fans are still busy trying to figure out who the heck is still on the team after their summer. Presumably they’ll get angry if/when they see that Marian Hossa is still on the team but won’t be because the league is going to give his contract the grenade.

To be serious though, Friday now has the potential to be the end is the beginning is the end of all of this nonsense. The plans are laid out clear as day. Either the NHLPA goes along with the NHLs ideas and everything proceeds as normal and contracts from that point on will be judged differently or they fight and Kovalchuk either goes for it again or bolts to Russia, meanwhile Roberto Luongo gets his agent on the phone posthaste to start working on a new contract. Marian Hossa, meanwhile, starts to sweat things out a little wondering if the NHL is coming for him too.

This isn’t to say that Friday will be an Armageddon kind of day as far as these parties are concerned. It’s not. This just means that talk about actual hockey is either going to be able to happen uninterrupted or fall back behind legal wranglings while we’re on the precipice of a new season. What a fine mess we’ve found ourselves in.