The big news of the week in the hockey world was an arbitrator's rejection of Ilya Kovalchuk's monster 17-year, $100+ million dollar contract. But in the wake of the ruling was the announcement that other similarly structured contracts were now being reviewed by the NHL, including the 12-year $62.8 million dollar contract signed by Martin Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks last summer. Arbitrator Richard Bloch's wrote:
"The NHL has registered contracts with structures similar to" Kovalchuk's and "of these, four such agreements, with players Chris Pronger, Marc Savard, Roberto Luongo, and Marian Hossa reflect provisions that are relatively more dramatic than the others."
Of those four players whose contracts are now under investigation, only Hossa has played a year under the contract. The other three were signed this summer.
So, what will happen to Hossa moving forward? It's not yet clear. If there's any lawyers in the building who'd care to weigh in, please do so. If not, stay tuned here and at Second City Hockey for more updates as they become available in the days and weeks to come.