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08-03-2010, 01:16 PM #1
Kovalchuk Drama
Does anyone else find this whole Kovalchuk situation to be bad for the NHL and secondly just further proof that Gary Bettman needs to be replaced?
Here is a great article by Larry Brooks who if you arent familiar is mainly a Rangers reporter so it was kinda funny to see him on the Devils/Kovalchuks side
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/devil...Cwc5Mu0780RP4I
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08-03-2010, 01:59 PM #2Hockey Advisor
Actually a pretty good article (and I don't find Larry Brooks to even be near 'pretty good' most of the time).
The Kovalchuk fiasco has been discussed a lot in other threads already. My opinion still remains the same: While it's bad for the NHL as a whole, and certianly violates the spirt of the rules.... I don't see how anyone can suggest this contract is in violation of the CBA, if deals to players like Pronger, Hossa, Luongo, etc were deemed acceptable. This contract takes the front loaded / long term thing much farther than the other deal did - it's number are crazier, and have bigger percentage gaps, but it accomplished the same thing.
Should this issue be the one that makes Bettman a free agent? Not sure.
These contracts are something that he (or his people) should have seen as a possibility when the CBA was negotiated. Imposing an 8-10 year contract limit solves it (you can't make the contract long enough to add throw-away years to lower the cap hit anymore).
It is one of the very few things people have blamed Bettman for, that might actually be a fair thing to do.
Does it mean the end of him? Probably not. My impression is that he's well liked (maybe not personally, but the job he does) by almost all of the owners. If he's got 25+ clubs that support him as President - I wouldn't expect him to be leaving anytime soon.
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