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If you haven't heard yet, Ilya Kovalchuck's 17 year deal with the NHL was dissalowed today by arbitrator Richard Bloch. The NHL has won the grievance, making Kovalchuck a UFA for the second time in one offseason.

We're assuming that the Devils and Kovalchuck made some sort of contingency contract for this situation, meaning that it's quite possible he sticks with the Devils anyways under a restructured deal. Luckily for New Jersey, it looks like they won't be hit with a fine for cap circumvention per Globe and Mail columnist James Mirtle. They can probably shave a few years off the deal, increase the cap his marginally, and still have Ilya in the Red and Black by training camp.

However, although this may eventually work out for all parties involved, we don't like the precedent set here today. With the CBA set to expire in 2012, the NHL has effectively increased the ammunition to be used by the NHLPA in any type of negotiations. These types of contracts are going to be one of the most significant issues brought up in two years.

While Bloch's decision in a vaccuum is understandable, one issue still remains-- how can you allow the contracts of Zetterberg, Hossa, Savard and Pronger (Pronger's case is a bit different, and we'll get to that), and then turn around and disallow Kovalchuck's? It seems like a contradiction, especially when one considers that under the letter of the CBA law, this contract should be legal. It exploits a loophole, and while we don't agree with that loophole (i.e. these contracts clearly play fast and loose with expectations of how long a player will play under his contract), these contracts have been deemed legal before.

Bloch's claims that the length of the contract, specifically the age of Kovalchuck at the end of the deal, was the sticking point. Per Sportsnet.ca, Bloch stated that this "was a retirement contract," and extends "well beyond typical retirement age for NHL players." While that may be true on average, the recent efforts by former star players show that the most skilled of players are more than capable of playing into their 40's if the will to play remains.

NBC's ProHockeyTalk sums up Kovalchuck's contract very well: "Kovalchuk's deal is something of a Frankenstein Monster of the other bad contracts. It adds even more inconceivable years (basically as many as Hossa and Zetterberg probably won't play combined) to the longest contract handed out and would end with him at the oldest age.The one saving grace is that it at least drops a little less abruptly than some of the other ones, going from $11.5M to $10.5M to $8.5M then $6.5M and finally hitting that mid-range year at $3.5M."

There's an argument for either side here, but the NHL comes out looking pretty foolish in our opinion. In essence, they let this happen due to the allowance of the other contracts. It was unavoidable that a contract like this would surface, and now the NHL will take the PR hit for it.

If we had our way with the CBA, all contracts (regardless of when they were signed), would count against the cap after the player turned 35. In addition, contracts signed before a player's 35th birthday could not extend past the player's 40th birthday. In our opinion, those stipulations would close the loophole rather quickly. You could still finagle one of the deals, but it would affect the team down the road even if the player were to retire.

This is the ultimately why we don't look at Pronger's deal as a comparable to Kovalchuk's. If Pronger retires before his contract is complete, Philadelphia will be on the hook for the entirety of his $4.92MM cap hit. Although the extra years tacked on at the end allowed the Flyers to reduce his cap hit now, the fact that they will be forced to shoulder a five million dollar burden when Pronger retires serves as a cautionary tale to other League GM's who wish to pursue contract such as these.

The question now remains where does Kovalchuk end up playing during 2010-2011. As we mentioned intitally, New Jersey is still an option, and it wouldn't surprise us if a contingency deal was in place. However, the fact remains that Los Angeles Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi could be frantically working the phones right now in an attempt to take one more stab at the high profile scoring winger. If he lands in the Pacific Division, expect the Kings to be a huge powerhouse next year, with the potential to end the Sharks three year hold on the Division title.

As always, be sure to check out Mirtle at The Globe, and In Lou We Trust for more information.

Go Sharks.

Despite the last night's loss by the Sharks leaving us desperate or even hopeless, the players are moving on, and so shall we. It's the second half of May, and the Sharks are still playing. It's hard to imagine that the second best away team in the league in the regular season can't win two on the road and turn things around. Dan Boyle is pissed and wants to raise the middle finger. We all remember how it ended the last time he felt this way, as the Sharks were two games away from ending the season, and instead went on to win seven of the next eight. We'll write more on that before the series resumes on Friday, but let's take a look at what else is happening in the hockey world this week. 

• The Eastern Conference final between Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens started in a rather surprising fashion. The Flyers 3rd string goalie Michael Leighton who has to play due to injury to Brian Bouche have yet to allow a goal in the series, after two games played. His 58 saves are impressive, but is anyone else surprised that defense led by Chris Pronger is still playing late in May and is two wins away in the next five games from still playing in June? 
• One trend we're seeing once again this spring is how important goaltending have been for teams succeeding in these playoffs. What's surprising is which goalies are making the headlines. Take the four teams still playing hockey - Montreal made the Eastern Conference final due to an unbelievable play from Jaroslav Halak. Philadelphia could not be where they are today without a confident play of Brian Boucher in the backend, and now Michael Leighton. Chicago's situation in goal raised many questions during the regular season, until a rookie Antti Niemi became a starter. None of these goaltenders have been considered elite even two months ago, and yet they carry their clubs behind them. San Jose, of course, had to rely on Nabokov's confident play in the two rounds of playoffs, and with few exceptions, Nabokov have played his best post season hockey since the lockout. 

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Another confusing turn for the fans in Phoenix tonight, as Ice Edge Holdings has reportedly backed out of their talks with the city of Glendale to keep the Coyotes:

Talks have broken down between the Ice Edge Holdings group and the City of Glendale over a potential arena lease agreement for the Phoenix Coyotes, CBC Sports' Jeff Marek has learned.

Ice Edge, a consortium of Canadian and American business people that failed in a previous attempt to purchase the Coyotes, recently re-entered the picture after Chicago sports mogul Jerry Reinsdorf backed away from discussions to buy the financially struggling club from the NHL.

- CBC Sports

Ever since last offseason's circus with Jim Ballsillie there have been rumblings about the viability of keeping the franchise in the desert-- as some will remember, Kevin Compton, who serves on the five member SVSE decision making committee and is a current Sharks co-owner, called the Coyotes fiasco a "joke" and stated that the owners weren't the ones keeping Balsillie out of the league.

That of course is water under the bridge now. Jim Ballsillie and Hamilton are both non-factors in the current discussions surrounding Phoenix, with Canadian billionaire David Thomson and Winnipeg the new faces entering the fray.

Ice Edge, who confirmed the breakdown via Twitter earlier tonight, is currently looking for an exclusivity agreement with the city during their negotiations. Glendale had previously rejected their bid in favor of Jerry Reinsdorf's a month ago, but after negotiations with Reinsdorf failed to produce a solid agreement, Glendale turned to Ice Edge once again. Reinsdorf, who owns the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox, has not officially stated whether he has given up on obtaining the team.

All in all it's an unfortunate situation for Coyotes fans-- despite having a league-worst in attendance this season, they managed to sell out their last eight home games of the year and took the Detroit Red Wings to seven games in a thrilling playoff series. Inept ownership that leads to a poor on-ice product are enough to keep fans away from the gates in just about every NHL city, and the current off-ice theatrics that have surrounded the organization during the last year are doing nothing to help in this regard.

Tomorrow evening is when it all comes to a head according to AZ Central, as the City Council will vote on whether or not to cover the franchise's operating deficits. This is potentially a dealbreaker for the NHL and could determine whether or not the Coyotes remain in Phoenix next season, especially if either Reinsdorf or Ice Edge cannot come to an agreement with the city.

Until then it's just a game of wait and see.

Or, in other words, just the same old story with a different twist.

Visit Five For Howling for more information on the Phoenix Coyotes and their current ownership situation.

Per Canes Country, our Carolina Hurricanes affiliate on SBN.

Chuck Kaiton was on 99.9 The Fan late today and told Mike Maniscalco that the trade sending Niclas Wallin to San Jose was close to being completed, but was still not finalized.  The problem?  Wallin's agent was negotiating a contract extension with Sharks GM, Doug Wilson.

According to Kaiton, he believed that the Sharks wanted to sign the big defenseman for a longer term than Wallin originally wanted.  Apparently, the Swede did not want to sign a deal for longer than one year, but Wilson wants two.  Plus, there is still a small matter of dollars and cents to be agreed upon as well.

The "Hall of Fame Voice" of the Hurricanes said that the return would be a good one for the Carolina organization, reportedly a second round draft pick.  But to give up that much, Wilson wanted to make sure he could lock up "The Swede" for longer than a year.

- Canes Country

Time to kick around all the information that is out there.

David Pollak of Working The Corners reported yesterday that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford referred to San Jose giving up a young asset in exchange for Niclas Wallin. I have never heard of a draft pick being described as a young asset-- they are not synonymous with each other, at least in terms of the common verbiage used by those describing potential trades.

So, if Canes play by play announcer Chuck Kaiton and general manager Jim Rutherford are both citing facts, adding them together means San Jose is giving up a second round draft choice as well as a young player (Joslin, Mitchell etc., take your pick). That's overpayment to the nth degree, and just doesn't make sense. Someone has it wrong here, or two potential deals are in place-- one with a second round draft choice (contingent upon Wallin negotiating a contract extension), and the other with a young asset Rutherford initially alluded to.

There's a third option, and I'll get to that after the jump.

Worst case scenario-- Doug Wilson has lost his mind, like Darryl Sutter before him, and thinks that Wallin is the only missing piece to a successful San Jose Stanley Cup run. He pays accordingly and Fear The Fin shuts down for a month while we all develop drug habits.

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Courtesy of the News Observer, a Carolina based newspaper:

Canes general manager Jim Rutherford said Thursday that a trade involving veteran defenseman Niclas Wallin was in the works and should be resolved before Friday's game against the Buffalo Sabres.

"We have a pending trade for him," Rutherford said. "He has a no-trade (clause in his contract). He has to waive that, and I think at this point in time his agent is working through some things with the other team.

- News Observer

As Fear The Fin reported yesterday, TSN broke the news that Wallin would land in San Jose. No official sources have specified what players, prospects, or picks would be involved going the other way.

That being said, there has been some speculation.

TSN is reporting that Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust have been traded to the New York Rangers for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik. I chimed in with my thoughts on the (then) potential trade earlier today in the comments, but let's reiterate-- dumb, dumb deal for Calgary. On two levels.

The first is salary cap management. Jokinen, who obviously hasn't worked out for the Flames, comes off the books at the end of this season. That would have freed up $5.25 M for Sutter to work with next year. Instead of riding that contract out and eventually cutting ties, he decides to bring in Ales Kotalik for the next two seasons at $3.0 M, a player who has underperformed so vastly he's been scratched in eight of the last nine games for the mediocre Rangers. Makes absolutely no business sense, both in the fact that the outgoing contracts ($5.75 M for Jokinen/Prust) versus incoming contracts ($5.25 M for Higgins/Kotalik) free up very little space for him to make a further deal this season, as well as the fact that he is now burdened with another horrible contract on the roster in the future. This time for two more years, instead of four more months.

The second is the fact that Sutter, according to the trustworthy Darren Dreger, stalled this deal 24 hours because he wanted Jokinen and Prust to play tonight for the Flames. Bush league. You have to wonder how that is going to affect the locker room going forward, as well as how that is going to affect his opportunity to sign free agents in the upcoming offseason(s), when incoming players are well aware that they may be jerked around. Sure it's a business, and I understand that, but this is one of those situations where common sense should override the desire to try and squeeze out the last drop of whatever production Jokinen is going to give you.

I know I gave Sutter a glowing review earlier today, but this trade absolutely reeks. If he doesn't manage to parlay Kotalik into something else before the deadline it's safe to say he's lost his damn mind.

From tulips to turds. From tulips to turds.

As has been widely reported, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke made the first big splash in the 2010 trade market yesterday, acquiring Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom, prospect Keith Aulie, and Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks respectively.

There's been some discussion of Fear The Fin already (found here), but I thought I'd take the time to chime in on how the two Western Conference GM's fared yesterday, and how it changes the complexion of the playoff picture going forward.

Who's In: Jason Blake, Vesa Toskala

Who's Out: Jean-Sebastien Giguere

The Skinny: Jonas Hiller's extension on Saturday re-ignited the Giguere rumors, with nearly all sources speculating that Toronto would be his destination considering the Brian Burke and Francois Allaire connection. That speculation, as we now know, turned out to be correct.

Earl Sleek of BoC has a great post detailing why it's a win-win for both clubs from a salary management standpoint, and it's a good point to make-- both organizations were swapping contracts that didn't work with their current alignment, and with the market value of all players involved nearly zero, they were ideal trade partners. I'm surprised Anaheim didn't have to send draft picks Toronto's way, especially with the Kessel deal depleting the Leafs pool, and I think you have to commend Bob Murray for retaining those assets.

On-ice, immediately, I think the Ducks are treading water at best and took a slight step back at worst considering Blake is a middling forward who is past his prime (although, admittedly, playing top-six minutes with Anaheim offers much more opportunity than top-six minutes with Toronto), and Vesa Toskala's career has taken a nose-dive ever since leaving San Jose. The Ducks are now without a proven backup if Hiller regresses and/or goes down with an injury, but on a team that is dealing with an internal cap around $50 M, it's hard to plug all potential holes. It was a move that had to be made.

Verdict: Anaheim gets slightly better on the offensive front, but loses depth at the goaltending position. Wash.

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Congratulations to both teams, as that was one of the most exciting hockey games I have watched in a long, long time.

Jack Campbell was terrific in net, channeling his inner Dominek Hasek on countless occasions to make 32 saves after starter Mike Lee was pulled; Campbell is 17 years old and draft eligible next season. Forward Derek Stepan (NYR) received player of the game honors for the United States, with forwards Tyler Johnson (FA) and Jerry D'Amigo (TOR) joining Stepan for Head Coach Dean Blais' selection of Players of The Tournament honors.

With a 5-3 lead heading into the final ten minutes of the third, the United States was subject to a questionable goalie interference call on Ducks prospect Kyle Palmieri (Sharks fans will remember him as the pick that travelled 4,305 miles); we could make a joke here about him eventually replacing Corey Perry, but will refrain. Team Canada manages to knock two in the back of the net in the ensuing minutes, with both coming off the stick of miracle worker Jordan Eberle (EDM).

In overtime the pace was frantic, as Team USA attempted to avoid a shootout with Team Canada who has been dominant in the skills competition throughout recent history. After a save by Campbell off of Blues prospect Alex Pietrangelo roughly four minutes in, the Americans headed down the ice on a 2 on 1. John Carlson (WAS) managed to slip one through short side with a rocket of a wrister, all the while squaring up to center ice to keep Canadian goaltender Martin Jones (LAK) aware of a potential cross-ice pass.

It was a no-look shot for the ages, and yet another classic between these two teams. Peruse the FTF Live Thread if you're interested, and be sure to check Puck Daddy throughout the day as Bruce Peter has done a bang up job of covering the tournament throughout it's entire duration.

USA Hockey's home page will obviously have more.

Here's to hoping the magic continues a little over a month from now.

Go USA.