National Hockey League: What does Richard Bloch’s decision mean for the NHL?
So yes the Kovalchuk deal was struck down. There is a line that the NHL won’t let the teams cross. It’s a fuzzy sort of line but at least it’s there. If you try to make an 11 year contract look like a 17 year contract then you are crossing that line.
That is in essence what Richard Bloch’s ruling on the Kovalchuk deal means. There have been other front-loaded contracts and the NHL did raise an eyebrow but let them through. They were let through because there was nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that could stop them. It’s understood that they were in spirit designed to circumvent the salary cap and the CBA says that is not right but it doesn’t clearly say so.
The CBA at no point makes any mention of an age limit for contracts. A team could sign a player for as long as they want no matter how old the player is. According to the language of the CBA there was no violation of rules in the Kovalchuk deal. It did, however, unapologetically try to circumvent the CBA and the salary cap contained in it. The text of the CBA does state that no action that “is intended to or has the effect of defeating or circumventing” the salary cap would be allowed while at the same time saying that the CBA does prohibit or deter conduct permitted in the agreement. It even goes on to say that anything permitted by the CBA can’t be considered circumvention. The two clauses of the CBA were in conflict that Bloch effectively resolved.
Signing players on long term contracts is permitted and that is exactly what the NHL players association based their argument on. The arbitrator prohibited conduct permitted by the agreement citing another part of the agreement that almost suggests that if your intent is to circumvent the cap then the NHL can stop you no matter what the CBA allows.
It’s a legal mess that won’t be properly resolved until the next collective bargaining agreement and there are indications that it might get worse. The arbitrator rulings are binding on both the NHL and the NHLPA. Unless of course there is a “serious miscarriage of justice,” so the players association could in fact pursue the matter further.
Until then it’s the NHL’s victory. The NHL might direct its guns towards contracts that were signed and went through without much resistance which were similarly front-loaded. Bloch in his statement also mentioned previous contracts that were similar in nature and sought to circumvent the salary cap though in a much less spectacular manner. The players include goaltender Roberto Luongo, centre Marc Savard, defenseman Chris Pronger and winger Maria Hossa.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed that the Pronger and Hossa’s contracts were still under investigation. Bloch did not discount the possibility that some of those contracts could be withdrawn. Some of those contracts, while worth less, deal with the same sort of timeframes as the Kovalchuk deal. Roberto Luongo’s contract has him ‘playing’ until he is 43 and Marian Hossa until he is 42.
The general opinion on those deals is that the NHL won’t take action against them after already having registered them once. However when those contracts were registered the NHL didn’t have anything of the sort of precedent that Bloch has set with the Kovalchuk deal. If recent events teach anything it’s that expert opinions are still only just opinions. The NHL could very well move against them.
They might actually have to because since the Kovalchuk deal has been struck down the league has come under unprecedented pressure and is facing accusations of double standards. The league gave its go ahead to the Blackhawks, Flyers and the Canucks to exploit a loophole and then stepped in to stop the same when the Devils used it. They would have to deal with those contracts if they want to escape being called out on the apparent double standards. Or if the league thinks it’s too much trouble, they would opt to just ignore that criticism and wait until the next CBA where they would use Bloch’s ruling to plug the loopholes once and for all.
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