Is the Kovalchuk Saga finally nearing its end?

On July 19, 2010 Free Agent Forward Ilya Kovalchuk signed one of the largest contracts in professional sports. It was a 17 year deal worth $102 million dollars annually to remain with the New Jersey Devils hockey club. However, later that night the National Hockey League decided to reject the contract citing that it circumvents the NHL Salary Cap. What is Cap Circumvention? Well the Devils signed him to that lengthy contract to avoid a large cap hit. The hit would only be $6 million, however Kovalchuk would have made $95 million in the first 11 years of the deal and only $7 million in the final 6. So, the years in which he was only to make $750,000, the cap hit would remain $6 million. The NHL also felt that Kovalchuk would retire long before the contract would expire leaving the Devils liable for a $6 million dollar cap hit once he turns 35 years old. The deal would expire when Kovalchuk would be 44 years old.

This rejection set off a battle between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA), where the PA filed a grievance against the NHL for rejecting the contract, where if a system arbitrator that being Richard Bloch had to either rule in favor of it or against it. He ended up upholding the league's rejection making Kovalchuk a free agent once again. Now the New Jersey Devils with the very limited cap space they have left have to rework the contract for a less favorable cap hit or risk losing him for good to either another NHL team, possibly the Los Angeles Kings or the KHL or Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. It seems that the Saga is nearing an end and looks like Kovalchuk will still end up remaining a Devil, but it is definitely not a slam dunk. Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello has coined the phrase "Status Quo" when referring to the Kovalchuk negotiations, which did him well when he signed the initial rejected 17 year deal with New Jersey. But it appears that this week a new deal could be agreed upon. The NHL is currently investigating other contracts like Marian Hossa, Chris Pronger, Marc Savard and Roberto Luongo along with others who also might be circumventing the salary cap or go to an age beyond 40.

In this saga you can ask one question:

Does the NHL have a bias against the Devils?

-Maybe they do, since the Devils play a very defensive style of hockey and that might not bode well for a player of Kovalchuk's caliber and might hurt the NHL's marketing department since they are focused on stars like Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kane and Toews as well as Zetterberg and Datsyuk along with Kovalchuk. But this new NHL after the canceled season in 2004-2005 is all about trying to put some of those names on the cup and they already did with Crosby and Malkin in 2009, Zetterberg and Datsyuk in 2008, and Kane and Toews this season. Ovechkin and Kovalchuk remain in limbo, but the question is does the NHL want Kovy to win it with the Devils or a team that has a hotter marketing commodity? We shall see.