One of the longest deals I've ever seen was done in the NHL tonight as Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils agreed to a 17-year, $102 million deal.
Signing any player for that long is just mind boggling to me. So much can happen over the next 17 years.
This works from both sides. Why would Kovalchuk want to tie himself up to that team for so long. It's not like we're dealing with the Red Wings here. The Devils are usually an alright team, but there's no way I would want to be stuck with a 17-year contract if I was talented as Kovalchuk is.
These lengthy deals happen more often then you think in the NHL, but they usually don't go past 11 or 12 years. The idea behind this is the team pays the majority of their money to the player in the early part of the contract and it shrinks during the last part of the contract. For example, Kovalchuk will only be getting $550,000 a season in the last five years of the contract.
Kovalchuk played for a Thrashers team that is obviously going nowhere anytime soon, and he rejected almost the same amount of money but for five years left. Obviously he would rather spends an extra five years in New Jersey than being stuck in Atlanta.
Once again this deal just seems extremely risky for both sides. It's just crazy to think that if Kovalchuk finished out this contract it will be in the 2026-2027 season!
No comments:
Post a Comment