NHL Contract Investigations Are Paving the Way For Second Shutdown
August 16th, 2010 by Matt Hutter Leave a reply »On August 9, NHL history was made as an independent arbitrator ruled that a 17-year, $102 million contract, that was significantly (some would say ridiculously) front-loaded, circumvented the league's salary cap.
Thus, the contract was void and the player, an unrestricted free-agent.
For the sake of time, and assuming you have not just arrived from Mars, I'm guessing you know who I'm talking about here.
The general consensus among fans (well, most outside of New Jersey) was that this was the right decision and that the NHL's initial decision to reject the deal, was in fact, justified.
Consider for a moment what might be at stake had the arbitrator ruled against the NHL.
Allowing such an obvious side-step to the salary cap to stand could have served to only embolden other teams to sign similar deals under the current CBA which expires in September 2011.
If a 17-year deal is kosher, why not 20, 22 or 25?
After all, the CBA specifies only a cap on salary, not contract length.
Sure, that loophole has already been widened to the extent that Fat Albert could walk through it withou ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Matt Hutter
Advertisement