Thank God for sanity! An arbitrator ruled this week that the NHL was right to void the recently penned obscene contract between the Devils and Kovalchuk which would have been for 17 years and $102 million.
Hey, I am all for players getting what they can but when you sign a contract in bad faith, which is what the Devils and Kovalchuk did make no mistake about that, to try and circumvent a league’s salary cap I am sorry but you need to be smacked down. The deal would have had Kovalchuk playing until he was 44 years old. While not unheard of for players to play into their 40’s it is rare and quite frankly players who play at that age are almost always hardly worth the spot on the bench they occupy.

During the final five years of the contract Kovalchuk would have earned $550,000 each year. The structure of the contract in its entirety however was clearly designed to circumvent the cap and lock up Kovalchuk for a smaller hit each year than he would normally have counted for. This whole situation was made difficult because for years the NHL has sat by and allowed other players to flirt with similar contracts in terms of length and salary without much of a peep if any. Kovalchuk and the Devils were probably right to assume that they would be able to get away with this latest bizarre contract. But they did not.

Now it is back to the drawing board and it will be interesting to see what these two parties have up their sleeves as “Plan B.” There will probably be another long term deal hashed out but not as obscene as 17 years. But it will still, most likely, be a deal that is designed to circumvent the cap as best as both parties think they can get away with. They have other long term deals already accepted by the league to draw on and can always use the excuse that the league accepted those.

I honestly do not care if Kovalchuk ends up with the Devils or not when this all shakes out. In his stint with the team last year he proved a pretty ineffective part of the team and for the Devils to use him effectively they would have to reword their tried and true strategy for winning. I do not think that Kovalchuk makes the perennially dangerous Devils any more dangerous. He might make them dangerous in a different way but nothing more than that.

Three games ago the Capitals were in command of their series against the Montreal Canadiens leading three games to one.  Tonight they are thinking about what tee times they would like to start setting as they lose to the eighth seed in the east four games to three.  Jaroslav Halak shut down Alexander Ovechkin and Washington while shining in net behind a Montreal defense that blocked shot after shot.

Both teams had goals waved off.  For Washington a potential goal that would have tied the game at one was ruled no good after Halak was interfered with.  For Montreal a goal that would have made it 2-0 was called back.  But in the end the long and short of it is that Washington could not find ways to score needing only one win to close out the series and the Capitals folded earning them a new nickname in my book – the Washington Collapsibles.  The team with the best record simply could not finish off an underpowered Montreal squad that limped into the playoffs.

Despite being out shot 42-16 the Canadiens netted the only two goals of the game as Marc-Andre Bergeron (1) and Dominic Moore (2) scored.  The win sets up a second round match up versus the Pittsburgh Penguins and bringing up questions about whether or not Montreal can shut down a Penguins team much deeper than Washington.  Ottawa proved that they could do it sporadically but not over the course of a full series.

Game 1 between the Penguins and Habs will be Friday night and a quick turn around for Montreal while Pittsburgh has been off since last Saturday.  Whether or not Montreal can be giant killers yet again remains to be seen.

I’ve been under the weather the past couple of days but one thing I have been following, and waiting until I could hold down my lunch long enough to comment on, are two events that I think show that the NHL really has not gotten serious about the issue of players that take liberties on other players and leave serious injuries in their wake. Yeah, yeah … I know. Every year we hear rumors about how the NHL is going to get serious about dangerous hits. Yadda yadda.

But the truth? The truth is that this claim that NHL is going to lay down the law when it comes to dangerous hits that leave players injured is like rumors that someone has found solid evidence that Big Foot is real. It makes great for great press but it about as trustworthy as the later.

We are coming off two serious incidents. Tuomo Ruutu (brother of ex-Penguins Jarko Ruutu) boarded Darcy Tucker and Mike Richards leveled David Booth with a shoulder to the noggin. I’ve watched the videos and while the Ruutu hit could be considered marginal (Tucker put himself in a vulnerable position but that still does not excuse Ruutu) I still believe that he should have realized the vulnerable position Tucker was in and acted accordingly and not run him into the boards. The Richards hit however was an intentional lead with the shoulder. He saw Booth was in a vulnerable position and he purposely went after his head with his shoulder.

And the result of these two most recent examples of the NHL’s new “tougher” stance on dirty play? Richards played in the Panthers Sunday loss to the Sharks and Ruutu gets a three games suspension. As for the victims? Tucker is down and out indefinitely and Booth … well no one knows quite yet except to say that he will be out for at least a week.

Listen, I understand how fast hockey is. I understand that these are big guys out there and that when they get to moving it is sometimes tough to get them to stopping. I also understand that sometimes accidents with sticks happen. But year after year the NHL does nothing to really curtail the most egregious incidents of dirty play that border on goonism.

The NHL needs to take some simple steps to curtain these sorts of incidents. The first is that the NHL, subject to a review of the incident, needs to automatically suspend the player guilty of the infraction indefinitely until the injured player returns. Without pay. And without a giving a damn about the NHLPA and their thoughts on the matter.

I know the concept of allowing the league to review each incident and make a decision is bound to be unpopular. The league already comes under fire every year for showing favorability to its higher profile players and the first time one of them was found “no guilty” for some hit or another there would be an outcry. But you cannot treat the true accidental hit or marginal hit when fighting for a puck or when the victim puts himself in a vulnerable position at the last instance the same as the guy that tracks his prey down and takes a run at him.

Hitting is part of hockey. It should remain as such. But the safety of the players also needs to be considered. And if hits that knock a player out for months warrant a suspension of just a few games then there really is not much incentive to play a little more caution and with a care for your fellow players.

Rob Scuderi is now a Los Angeles King and he went there for the money let’s not deny it. Let’s also not begrudge him for that. For some people money is just that important and I can understand a 30 year old defenseman who gave everything he had during a Stanley Cup run wanting to cash in. But now rumors are circulating that perhaps even though Scuds wanted to return to the Penguins, that became practically impossible simply because he waited too long.

In an article today by Rob Rossi of the Tribune Review we see evidence of this:

Not that Scuderi ran to the Los Angeles Kings, who signed him to a four-year deal at an annual salary of $3.4 million yesterday afternoon.

According to some teammates, Scuderi waited too long before choosing the Kings over the Penguins, who are thought to have offered a five-year deal worth $10 million total.

“They’re probably right,” Scuderi said. “I thought I held out for a while, but with respect to L.A. you just can’t … look, it was time to make a decision.

“I always had always hoped maybe something could be worked out (with the Penguins). It was strictly a numbers thing, not a lack of need or want.”

Probably the fact that Scuds had never had teams throwing oodles of money at him in the past and his inexperience in the matters of contracts could be blamed, but what about his agent? Was it Scuds or his agent looking for a bigger cut that convinced Scuderi to keep looking around when several teams including the Penguins had made him offers or he was at least in negotiation with them? Teams like according to reports the Wild, the Rangers, the Lightning and the Stars were all reportedly interested.

Scuderi’s comment about it being time to “make a decision” was probably the most telling of the article. Because while he waited teams were signing free agents left and right making less cap room on their rosters available for someone like Scuderi. Some teams probably even had to withdraw offers or modify them as other players were signed and Scuds no doubt saw his potential paycheck dwindling so he pulled the gun. His comments seem to indicate that he is not happy about heading to the Kings but the paycheck he will be getting will ease that discomfort somewhat as more than likely he will be sitting at home next spring watching some of the teams he held out on making a run for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Rob Scuderi proved today that it really was all about the money as he took a 4 year deal worth about $3.4 million per year with the perennially bad Los Angeles Kings. I understand wanting to make money and like I said before I do not begrudge Scuds for seeking it but really? The Los Angeles Kings? Guess one Stanley Cup was enough as the former Penguins blue liner becomes the latest Penguin over the last few years to head out for teams that to call them marginal contenders for the playoffs would be generous.

Even I was surprised by this as never once did the team from the left coast come up when discussing who was in the hunt for Scuderi with people in the know.

Speaking from personal experience I don’t understand how someone can simply take money and go to a team that would be a failure. I have had many opportunities to work for many companies for more money and turned them down to take a better job for slightly less money with a stronger one. We all knew that Scuds was not going to fit under the cap but again … the Kings?

I hope Scuds is happy with his new home. And look on the bright side … there is no pressure to win when you are a member of the Kings.

The question has been asked a lot; what exactly would be the salary cap for the 2009-2010 season? There was a lot of speculation that it might even go down a little but that really was not expected. Today, on the same day as the entry draft, the league answer that question with a $100,000 answer.

Yep, that is the increase for next season. Teams will now have $56.8 million to spend rather that $56.7 million. That puts the bind on any team with multiple important free agents to sign. Teams like the Penguins. So if players like Guerin and Fedotenko were expecting to get huge raises to stick around you can pretty much kiss those thoughts goodbye guys!

Reports are that the the Penguins have already talked with Fedotenko’s agent and extended an initial offer for next season. We’ll see if they can fit him in under the cap and who else they are actively chasing down to resign in the coming days. Guerin will likely not resign until after the 1st when he sees what other teams will offer his veteran and experienced frame. But I still hold out hope that he will take a pay cut to stay on a team like the Penguins.