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New Jersey/NHL inaction on Kovalchuk move would set horrible precedent |
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If Kovalchuk wants to leave, there is really no way to make him stay and play. And with a string for years at $11M/year in actual salary and a $6M cap hit until 2080 (only slight exaggeration), I think you can make a reasonable case that New Jersey just managed themselves a buyout similar to Lecavalier without actually having to shell out the money.
But if, as seems to be the case, the NHL and New Jersey Devils just let a player under contract walk away to play in another league without any ramifications, it sets a horrible precedent for the league going forward. If this is interpreted to be the norm for handling this situation, it basically makes each and every year of an NHL contract a player option for the NHL that he can evaluate versus overseas (primarily KHL) options. The NHL contract ceases being a contractual commitment that a player must live up to.
The biggest fallout of this situation if it continues on the path that it is on is that it will significantly cost NHL players from Russia and to some degree Europe in the long run. GMs will need to put an additional risk factor into the equation when signing contracts.
At first glance, one might say that this risk has always existed. But there is a key difference with this situation. Up until now, the risk has almost exclusively been for players NOT under contract. As such, it is a long-term risk with young players because you know you will need to re-sign them multiple times. It is also a lesser risk with veterans though once they reach UFA age each new contract point already sees competition with 30 other NHL teams so adding i the KHL is not really a big deal. The key difference here is that this a player under contract which is significantly. Prior to now the general thinking that once a player was under contract, he would fulfill it and that you would not have to worry to much about that until that contract was up and it was time renegotiate.
I think the NHL needs to consider and react to this situation not as a 1-off situation involving only Ilya Kovalchuk but rather think of what its action means for the integrity of all contracts going forward. At a minimum, New Jersey, prodded by the league if necessary, should be holding Kovalchuk to the fire and making him pay something (a percent of his KHL contract?) to buy out his NHL contract. This at least sets the precedent that a player cannot just walk away without some kind of ramifications/penalty.
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