Arbitrator rules in favor of NHL, creates appearance of Kovalchuk free agency

ESPN's ubiquitous "sources" have reported than an arbitrator, Richard Bloch, ruled tonight that the New Jersey Devils' recent 17-year, $102 million contract with superstar Ilya Kovalchuk is invalid because it circumvented the league's salary cap regulations.  Apparently, the Devils had argued that there is no language in the CBA that prohibits the contract, and that the deal is therefore valid.  No such luck for Lou Lamoriello & Co.

The short-term effect of the arbitrator's decision is that Kovalchuk is hereby, technically speaking, a free agent and therefore free to sign with any team, including the Devils.

It won't be long until Kovalchuk dons a Devils uniform once again.

Realistically, however, the arbitrator's decision won't change much at all.  Kovalchuk is going to be a New Jersey Devil, no matter how much the league hated how the Devils massaged the terms of the nullified deal in order to minimize its salary cap hit.  No other team in the league offered $102 million, and Kovy is going to end up signing -- like pretty much all superstar athletes these days -- where the most money is.  In this case, it's the Devils.

Obviously, New Jersey will have to offer fewer years, which will increase Kovy's average annual salary and increase the cap hit that the Devils will suffer.  But think of this in a best case/worst case scenario.  Best case, the old deal passed muster and the Devils get their superstar and a manageable salary cap hit.  Worst case, the deal is nixed and the Devils sign Kovalchuk to a new deal, for probably the same money but with less favorable salary figures.  That's it.  Unless the Kings or some other team ponies more money, but this author hasn't heard anything to that effect.

(Photo Credit: ESPN)