Regardless of whether you thought he was genuine or not, Kovalchuk was ready to play in New Jersey for the next 17 years and retire as a member of the Devils.

Traikos is seriously delusional if he thinks for one second that Kovalchuk would ever play the final six years of his contact at a measley $750k per, especially since he’ll be 44 in the last year of that contract.

Do these types of deals, which have been negotiated by New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit and Vancouver — give an unfair advantage to teams with deeper pockets?

This contract isn’t anywhere near what Detroit did. Hank and Mule signed contracts that pay them $1M in the final two years of their contracts – at a time when they’ll each be just 38 and 39 years old. To compare those contracts to Kovalchuk’s is a specious argument.

...But, aside from potentially embarrassing the league, by flaunting a mistake in the CBA in its face, is there anyone really losing by allowing this type of deal?

Every team that plays NJ will be hurt by this deal because Kovalchuk’s contract allows them to ice a far better team at a far lower price than they could otherwise. This ain’t rocket science, Traikos. Try to keep up.

Small-market teams cannot afford to pay a player to remain off the books, as the Devils would if Kovalchuk retires before his contract is up.

Does this guy know anything about hockey? Kovalchuk is under 35 so any contract he signs now comes off the books when he retires, whether that’s after the first year, the last year or the twelfth year (which is the most likely scenario).

This whole article is so full of holes is had to have been written on swiss cheese.

Posted by OlderThanChelios on 07/24/10 at 11:16 AM ET

This whole article is so full of holes is had to have been written on swiss cheese.

And more than the holes, it’s just impractical to write on cheese.  Much more expensive than paper, plus you have to clean the cheese smudges off the scanner after you upload it…

Posted by Garth on 07/24/10 at 12:41 PM ET

Probably the worst hole in this article is this little gem:

Is that so bad? Would you rather he become like LeBron James and hop from one team to the next in search of championships?

So I must have a wierd memory, but I recall Kovalchuk pricing himself out of Atlanta for the sole purpose of trying to win, which landed him in New Jersey.  Just because he didn’t have a special on ESPN to announce what team he’ll play with doesn’t mean he isn’t trying to find the best situation in which to win.

I also don’t know why people think that is a bad thing.  How could Kovalchuk possibly win in Atlanta?  Don Waddell was a terrible GM who managed to get the Thrashers to the playoffs 1 time, and they got swept.  And now Rick Dudley is doing his best Waddell impersonations by trading young, valuable assets for depth players from the Blackhawks.  I feel bad for Atlanta fans, many of them would be more likely to ice a playoff team than anyone the team has hired previously.

Posted by CoolJ90 on 07/24/10 at 12:46 PM ET

And now Rick Dudley is doing his best Waddell impersonations by trading young, valuable assets for depth players from the Blackhawks.

Actually, many of us who are fans of the Thrashers expect this team to do far better than teams from years past. The prospects that have been moved either did not fit the system being built, or weren’t going to have a place on this team anytime soon. They were moved, for better or for worse, to have a better opportunity with another team.

On paper, this is the biggest and strongest team the Thrashers will have iced in their short lifespan in the NHL. A lot of us are optimistic, cautiously or otherwise, about how the team will perform. Moreover, however, the moves that have been made is to give the team the best possible chance at making the playoffs, and possibly going on a run. The owners need the team to succeed now, rather than in a few years, in an effort to attract investors.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 07/24/10 at 01:28 PM ET

@ Alan

Really?  Dudley traded a 1st, 2 2nds, Vishnevskiy and other mid-level prospects/spare parts for Byfuglien (depth player), Sopel (depth player the Hawks tried all year to trade), Ladd (possible impact player, so not as bad as the others) and other mid-level prospects/depth players.

The only reason Byfuglien was good in the playoffs was because he spent nearly half of his ice time playing with Kane and Toews.  The worst player he played a regular shift with was either Versteeg or Bolland (depending on your point of view).  That’s a pretty good recipe for success.  In the 3 full regular seasons he’s played, he hasn’t scored 20 goals or put up 40 points.  Byfuglien played with the 3rd highest QualTeam of all Blackhawks forwards (2nd if you exclude Brian Bickell who didn’t play much; only 4 games).  And if you look at their regular season numbers, Buff was in the middle of the pack for Hawks forwards at QualTeam, while his linemates (Madden and Versteeg) were 2nd last and last respectively (excluding Skille who played only 6 games).

And if you look at Versteeg, he’s got 2 - 20 goal seasons, 1 - 40 point season and 1 - 50 point season.  And it’s hard to argue that the Hawks got more value from the Versteeg trade than they did from the Buff trade.

Regular season QualTeam: http://www.behindthenet.ca/2009/new_5_on_5.php?sort=9&section=qualcomp&mingp;=&mintoi;=&team=CHI&pos=F

Post-Season QualTeam: http://www.behindthenet.ca/2009/playoffs/new_5_on_5.php?sort=9&section=qualcomp&mingp;=&mintoi;=&team=CHI&pos=F

Linemates: go to DobberHockey

Now, the Thrashers do have some very good young players like Kane, Bogosian, Enstrom, Bergfors and Little.  But if Dudley keeps making those kinds of trades (especially when he’s in the position of power), then all of that young talent could go to waste, just like it did under Waddell.

Posted by CoolJ90 on 07/24/10 at 03:33 PM ET

This is all a matter of opinion, is it not?

It’s the consensus of Atlanta fans that we needed to get bigger. Atlanta has been pushed around for YEARS, and the team has been too chickenshit to push back.

That all seems to be at an end.

One teams’ depth players can be another teams’ impact players.

In short, we’ll see what happens when the season starts.

Posted by Alan from Atlanta on 07/24/10 at 05:31 PM ET