Recently I have largely criticized these mammoth long-term contracts. The typical ploy is to take on some years to the end of the deal to reduce the Cap Number for the duration of the contract. There is a wink wink between team and player that they will retire before the deal is finished and when that happens there is no penalty for player or team.
Maybe the NHL read the Cannon…. probably not.
Hossa has signed a contract until he is 42. Most players retire around age 38. Only a couple over 40s play in the league each year. Through his playing years. If the final 4 years were voided, his cap hit would be 7.4125 rather than 5.233. The Hawks sure built a nice little 2 million dollar cap cushion didn’t they. They might as well have signed him until he was 50.
Zetterberg is signed until he is 40. Franzen is signed until he is 40. Zetterberg’s number until he is 38 would be 7.1 rather than the darling 6.083 he is signed to. Franzen would be 4.61 instead of 3.955.
The NHL no has decided to investigate whether this contract circumvents the cap. I read on TSN, but it seems to have been taken down that a potential penalty is a 5 million dollar fine and a loss of draft picks. No mention what types of draft picks, because honestly 5 million dollars for a 12 year deal is pennies for a market like Chicago.
Where in the hell have you been NHL?
Isn’t there a contract approval process? It took me about 10 seconds of reading the specs on the Hossa deal that it circumvented the cap, how can it take you a month? How does Detroit get a pass? Oh, of course Detroit gets a pass. This is ridiculous.
If I were the Hawks, I’d be livid. How can the NHL approve a contract, then take that back? Wouldn’t it have been easy enough to see it was a 12 year deal, add twelve to Hossa’s age and see he’d be 42 and reject the deal> It seems 40 years old has been set as somewhat of a precedent, for some reason that I will also not understand. The one-time best player in the world Jaromir Jagr left the NHL at age 35. Gretzky retired at 38.
At least it is a step in the right direction, because these parameters need to be set, but the NHL looks incredibly stupid on this one. How old would Hossa have to be for them to have rejected the deal? I’d wonder what the answer to that question would be.
In the mean time Detroit is preparing their 25 year contract extension offersheet to Brassard. Hey with the 3 million dollar cap hit, it would only cost them a first and a third. Maybe they can get it below 2 so they can only give up a second. Since it is Detroit and Columbus, I doubt anyone would even check it out.
What a summer for the Hawks.
Dare I say, fire away at the comments?