No, I didn’t make that up. The deal is for 17 years and $102 million.
Kovalchuk, 27, is arguably one of the best 8 players in the NHL and he was an attractive free agent to many teams, including New Jersey and the Los Angeles Kings. In the end, however, it was all about signing with a team that was closer to winning a Stanley Cup, even though no one is saying that (especially not his agent, Jay Grossman).
As we’ve learned in recent years (Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, Mike Richards), many teams in the NHL, operating under a salary cap structure, will make deals with superstar players longer so that the annual cap hit is lower. For instance, the cap hit for Kovalchuk is $6 million/season over the duration of the deal. Now, Kovie ain’t gonna play until he’s 44, but he helps the Devils get some salary relief over the course of the deal and cashes in because the deal, like all deals of this nature, is front-loaded.
From ESPN.com:
“Kovalchuk will earn $6 million each of the next two seasons, $11.5 million for the following five seasons, $10.5 million in the 2017-18 season, $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season, $6.5 million in 2019-20, $3.5 million in 2020-21, $750,000 the following season and $550,000 for the final five years of the unprecedented deal.”
And a comparison, just so you understand more completely, also from ESPN:
“Last offseason’s star free agent Marian Hossa, for example, signed a 12-year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks before the start of the 2009-10 season. Hossa made $7.9 million this past season and will continue to take in that same annual salary for the next six years of the deal. However, for the 2016-17 season, his salary will drop to $4 million. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, Hossa will make $1 million, and in the final two years of the deal, he will make just $750,000 each year.”
The winner in all this is clearly anyone who has any kind of vested interest in New Jersey winning Stanley Cups. Maybe Martin Brodeur isn’t what he used to be, but any team with a nucleus that includes Kovie, Marty and Zach Parise is clearly a team that can compete for a while.
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