Kovalchuk, Devils a long way from satisfied

Ever since an arbitrator ruled in favor of the NHL’s rejection of Ilya Kovalchuk’s 17-year, $102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils, the club has been meeting with agent Jay Grossman to discuss submitting another contract that would be acceptable to the league.

Devils owners Jeff Vanderbeek, general manager Lou Lamoriello and Grossman met with league officials in New York on Monday, leading to rumors a new contract might be signed within hours.

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The speculation proved unfounded as it was subsequently reported no new contract for Kovalchuk had been submitted to the league and instead Vanderbeek, Lamoriello and Grossman had offered up a framework of a possible contract.

It appeared that was laying the groundwork for a Kovalchuk contract, but the New York Post reported Wednesday the league had rejected the Devils' pitch. The Post warned the league’s hard-line stance could force Kovalchuk toward Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), losing one of its top scoring stars in the prime of his career.

Indeed, hours after the Post’s story appeared, they reported KHL president Alexander Medvedev had heard from Kovalchuk’s Russian agent. Meanwhile, a report from a Russian sports site claimed the Devils offered up a 15-year deal while the league apparently will only accept 13 years or less.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly believes Kovalchuk intends to play in the NHL, but the possibility exists the league’s stance could push him closer to the KHL.

The league considered Kovalchuk’s original contract with the Devils and the club’s subsequent framework offer to be salary-cap circumvention. It’s not much different than what other teams have done in recent years, but the Devils’ offers for Kovalchuk were considerably longer and far more heavily front-loaded.

The problem for the Devils is their need to get Kovalchuk signed to a more cap-friendly average salary, which would give them more cap space to re-sign key players like star forward Zach Parise (who’s a restricted free agent next summer) without having to sacrifice other players and weakening their roster depth.

Kovalchuk was believed to be seeking a 10-year deal worth $100 million. The Devils can get him that if they front-load the deal, but the average cap hit could be higher than they need, which could mean moving more players than they’d want to make room for that salary.

The KHL can offer Kovalchuk a shorter deal for as much if not more money per season, all tax-free. The downside, however, is the KHL cannot offer up deals as long as those he’d get in the NHL, the league cannot guarantee contracts and the level of competition in the KHL is inferior to the NHL product.

Rumors have suggested the Los Angeles Kings or New York Rangers might try to jump into the bidding for Kovalchuk but to date there’s been no indication any other NHL team has contacted his agent. The Kings were in the bidding for his services a month ago but appear to have moved on, signing left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky and inking defenseman Willie Mitchell to a two-year, $7 million contract, pushing their cap hit to around $52 million.

That still leaves $7 million for Kovalchuk. But with notable young players like Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Wayne Simmonds to re-sign before the summer of 2011, it’s unlikely they’ll pursue him now.

As for the Rangers, they don’t have the cap space and they’re not going to trade Marian Gaborik, as some internet rumors claimed, to make room for Kovalchuk.

It’s believed the Devils are still working on a framework the league will accept, but time is now becoming an issue as training camps will open soon. It’s now up to them to determine the terms of the contract that will satisfy the Kovalchuk camp, meet the league’s requirements and still allows them a measure of flexibility for other player moves.