Devils Submit New Ilya Kovalchuk Contract for NHL Approval

Filed under: Devils, NHL Free AgencyThe New Jersey Devils may finally, officially, have star right wing Ilya Kovalchuk in the fold for the rest of his NHL career. After a month of starts and stops -- and a mid-July press conference that turned out to be premature -- the Devils submitted a new Kovalchuk contract on Friday for approval by the National Hockey League.

The league has five days to approve or reject the deal. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told FanHouse, "There is no timeline at this point" for a ruling.

In recent days Devils management met with league officials to create a framework for a contract acceptable to the league for the six-time 40-goal scorer. Last month, the NHL rejected a 17-year, $102 million dollar deal that it said circumvented the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The league's decision was reaffirmed in an arbitration hearing between the NHL and the NHL Players Association.

Early reports have speculated that the new Kovalchuk contract is expected to be in the range of 15 years and $100 million. If true, a long month of squabbling led to Kovalchuk's annual salary cap hit being reduced by less than $1 million. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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