NHL Cap Circumvention

Cap circumvention in the NHL has been a hot issue for a while now. We had a cluster of NHL contracts that circumvented the CBA, including contracts signed by Chris Pronger, Marion Hossa, Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, Ilya Kovalchuk and now perhaps Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. There are also other suspect deals: Zetterberg, Briere, Franzen and Lecavalier.

Here are your resources for NHL cap circumventions:

1) Kovalchuk Deal: NHL Draws Line in Sand& Handicapping the Arbitration Case

When the story first broke, I assessed the merits of the case.

2) Copy of Decision & Legal Analysis of Kovalchuk Decision

The only place to find a copy of the Kovalchuk arbitration decision is right here. As well, I broke down the decision.

3) How To Structure An NHL Contract Post-Kovalchuk

After the Kovalchuk decision, I covered how to structure an NHL contract post-Kovalchuk.

4) For a more in-depth review of 58 Long-Term NHL Contracts, click here

We reviewed all long-term NHL deals in 2010 - 58 in total - and identified those that are reasonably a circumvention of the NHL CBA. As you will see, there are a whole bunch of bad contracts.

5) Parise & Suter Contracts - A Circumvention of the CBA?

We now come full circle with two more suspect deals on the eve of CBA negotiations with two other highly suspect contracts.