In light of the ongoing soap opera between the NHL and the New Jersey Devils over the contract status of star forward Ilya Kovalchuk, lets examine the entity that is the lifetime contract.
The thought process of general managers who have succeeded (or in the case of the Devils, attempted) in signing players to these types of contracts is that by signing players to contracts where dollar value declines significantly towards the end of the contract, they're able to reduce said player's salary cap hit, therefore having more cap space left over to invest in other quality players.
In the salary cap era, where a relatively low salary cap ceiling of 59.4 million has forced many quality teams to dismantle their roster (like 2010 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, who've parted with nine players from their championship run), signing these lifetime contracts only makes sense, right?
The salary cap system was implemented in the NHL's first post-lockout season in 2006, and that year it debuted with a ceiling of 39 million dollars. By 2008 it was up to 50.3 million, and last year had a ceiling of 56.8 million dollars.
If the cap has ri ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by James Crider
‘Till Death Do Us Part: The Lifetime Contract In The NHL
September 2nd, 2010 by James Crider Leave a reply »
Advertisement