Lots of star players in the NHL are signing megadeals. 12-year and seven-year deals are being made, but are they just using this to cheat the salary cap?
Consider Marian Hossa.
He signed a 12-year $62.8 million contract for a cap hit of about $5.23 million per year for the entire 12 years. However, he is being paid $7.9 million per year for the first seven years, then $4 million, and the last four years he is being paid $1 million or less. He was 30 years old when he signed the contract so he would have to play until he is 42 to live out the life of the contract.
Who the heck plays until they’re 42 (Chris Chelios notwithstanding)? I fully expect him to retire when he is 38, so up until that point he would have made an average of $7.4125 million per year.
These are savings of over $2 million on the cap hit which they can spend on other players, interesting no?
Then we look at Chris Pronger.
He was under 35 when he signed the contract but since the deal kicks in when he is over 35 they said that even if he retires it will count against the cap.
The Philadelphia Flyers challenged this rulin ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Imtiaz Ferdous
Are NHL Teams Cheating the Salary Cap With Long Term Contracts?
July 10th, 2010 by Imtiaz Ferdous Leave a reply »
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