If a contract does not include throwaway years that are designed to artificially lower the cap hit, then that contract may not be seen as a circumvention of the salary cap.
You would look at things like whether the player is even expected to play out his contract. If not, circumvention becomes part of the conversation. Number of years is also important to consider.
In the case of Ilya Bryzgalov, he's 31 (as of today - happy birthday) and his contract runs through to the age of 40. The deal is worth $51 million, which translates into a cap hit of $5.67 million a year. We haven't seen the yearly distribution yet, but I would be surprised to see circumvention as an issue. Bryzgalov will be 40 when the contract is done, and goalies can play into their 40s. Dwayne Roloson is 41 and Hasek is 108.
As well, 9 years is not unusually long.
However, other factors are relevant when determining whether a circumvention has occurred since the analysis takes into account all factors.
We will know more when the yearly distribution of money is released.
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