We have it from the horse’s mouth. Bill Daly has confirmed that the league has received a contract for Ilya Kovalchuk from the New Jersey Devils. The terms, as I write this, are not yet known but it is speculated to be a 15 year deal at $100 million. It would surprise me if such a deal were approved but much of it depends on the back end and, at this point, I am willing to say anything is possible. The NHL now has 5 days to review. To be clear, this contract was not pre-approved. There were discussions about it but the earlier rumors that it was a done deal were, in fact, wrong.
CONFIRMED: THE NHL HAS KOVALCHUK’S CONTRACT…BUT IT IS NOT YET APPROVED
August 27, 2010 By
Why do I get the nasty feeling that the league will take the full five days to review this. Maybe they should to see if he makes good on his threat to jump to the KHL. But this thing is just dragging it’s ass like a dog with worms.