We thought the wait for Ilya Kovalchuk to sign has finally ended. Monday, the 27-year-old winger announced a jaw-dropping 17-year deal with the New Jersey Devils, with whom he finished the 2009-2010 season.
As expected, Kovalchuk's decision, which had been keeping NHL fans and experts alike on the edge of their seats for nearly three weeks, stirred the league into yet another "Free Agent Frenzy."
Just hours afterward, Philadelphia traded longtime forward Simon Gagne to Tampa Bay for defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers needed the deal to free up much-needed cap space, but Gagne's addition also creates an intimidating foursome of forwards for the Lightning, with Gagne added to the trio of Steven Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, and recently re-signed Martin St. Louis.
But perhaps Philadelphia's trade was done too soon; less than 24 hours after Kovalchuk signed the deal that would let the Devils get away with him for only a $6.0 milion cap hit, the NHL rejected the contract, saying it "violates the Collective Bargaining Agreement".
While I'm not yet going to add Kovalchuk back into this compilation, as an eventual contract with New J ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Mark Jones
2010 NHL Free Agency: Ranking the Top 25 Remaining Free Agents
July 20th, 2010 by Mark Jones Leave a reply »
Advertisement