The National Hockey League has rejected a 17-year, $102 million contract between Russia's Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils over salary cap regulations, TSN.ca sports network reported.
The 27-year-old NHL star, who managed 41 goals and 44 assists last season, signed a new contract with the Devils on Tuesday that gave Kovalchuk a salary of $95 million over the first 10 years and $7 million for the remaining seven years.
"TSN insider Darren Dreger explains that the deal was rejected due to the fact that the NHL does not believe that neither Kovalchuk nor the Devils expected the 2004 Rocket Richard trophy winner would be playing near end of the contract and that it is a case of artificially lowering the annual average value of the contract," the website said.
In his blog Dreger wrote that the NHL will continue talks both with the Russian player and with the hockey club.
"The two sides can re-file, which means that they would have to go into yet another negotiation and come up with a package that the NHL can accept," he said.
On the other hand, he said, the Player's Association might interfere, submit a grievance and in that case the process would considerably slow down and an arbitrator would be called to intervene.
The NHL's decision was made only hours after Kovalchuk's "welcome back" press conference with the New Jersey Devils.
When asked why the term of the contract was 17 in particular, Kovalchuk said it is his lucky number, the decision to sign the contract was made on July 17 and his jersey number in NHL is 17 and in the Russian team 71.
"I'm very excited to be part of the New Jersey Devils. I'll be a Devil for life," Kovalchuk, who is expected to fly back to Russia at the end of this month, said.
The 17-year contract would have been the longest in NHL history, beating the 13-year contract between Kovalchuk's compatriot Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals and a 15-year deal between goaltender Rick DiPietro and the New York Islanders.
MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)
