Niemi Joining Sharks On $2 Million Deal

The loss off the Chicago Blackhawks is now the gain of the team they eliminated in the Western Conference Finals during last year's playoffs. It is being reported that the San Jose Sharks have inked 27-year old Finnish netminder Antti Niemi to a one year deal worth $2 million.

Niemi was let go by the Blackhawks after months of contract negotiations gone awry and a salary arbitration award of $2.75 million that was deemed too much for an organization with limited cap flexibility. General Manager Stan Bowman chose to cut ties with Chicago's Stanley Cup winning goaltender and instead signed Marty Turco for $1.3 million next season. Niemi instantly became an unrestricted free agent a year earlier than he normally would have and was free to seek the best offer from teams still in need of a No. 1 goalie.

The San Jose Sharks was one of the most logically landing spots for Niemi. While General Manager Doug Wilson wanted people to believe that a combination of recently signed Antero Niittymaki and still unproven Tomas Greiss was a suitable, cheap replacement for Evgeni Nabokov, that 1-2 punch left a ton to be desired. No official decision has been made with regard to the goaltending depth chart in San Jose. But it's safe to assume that Niemi will sport the crease as the top option while Niittymaki will receive the first crack at No. 2 duties.

Niemi will now have the perfect opportunity to prove his true value in the NHL as a top-tier goaltender. While he did win the Cup last season and placed a crucial role in Chicago obtaining its first hockey championship in 49 years, there were also doubts looming over the head of a one year veteran with 42 regular season games of experience and some flawed postseason performances. In San Jose, he will play for a perennial contender that is constantly looking to get past poor playoff showings. Now that the Sharks managed to make it to the Western Conference Finals, they will look to move on from getting swept by the Blackhawks during that round and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011. The onus of backstopping the Sharks there will rest on the shoulder of Niemi.

A solid season topped by the ability to do just that in San Jose will likely land Niemi more than the $4 million a season he was seeking earlier on this offseason when he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent yet again next summer.

Failure to do so, however, could just render the decision made by Chicago the right one.

The Kovalchuk Contract Saga Continues On

If patience wasn’t already wearing thin with regard to the Ilya Kovalchuk and New Jersey Devils contract situation, the NHL and NHLPA have allotted two more days of frustration before rendering their decision regarding the deal's legality under the collective bargaining agreement. An originally set deadline of 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening was extended just prior to that cutoff time by both parties, opting instead to mull over this decision until 5 p.m. on Friday.

"We remain confident that the terms of this contract comply, in every respect, with the CBA and meet both the NHL’s concerns and the principles of arbitrator Bloch’s decision," Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello said in a statement released by the team. "We remain optimistic that this extension will result in an approval of the contract and that Ilya Kovalchuk will remain a valuable member of the Devils for the balance of his career."

The Devils and Kovalchuk were forced back to the drawing board when a $102 million over 17 years was challenged by the NHL and rendered null and void by Arbitrator Richard Bloch. The deal was deemed a “retirement contract” that would never reach its conclusion, artificially lowered the salary cap hit with just $3.5 million set to be paid out in the final six years of the contract, and included a no-movement/no-trade clause shifting that would have given the Devils an “out” of the contract.

What General Manager Lou Lamoriello and Kovalchuk’s representatives came up with was a deal two years shorter and worth $2 million less than the original. According to sportsnet.ca’s Nick Kypreos, the new deal submitted to the NHL on Friday consists of $100 million over 15 seasons and includes a salary cap hit of $6.67 million, as opposed to the $6 million in the original offer. Additionally, the contract would expire when Kovalchuk is 42 years old instead of the 44-year old concluding age in the original.

The year-by-year breakdown of the new proposal is as follows:

2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11 million
2013-14: $11.3 million
2014-15: $11.3 million
2015-16: $11.6 million
2016-17: $11.8 million
2017-18: $10 million
2018-19: $7 million
2019-20: $4 million
2020-21: $1 million
2021-22: $1 million
2022-23: $1 million
2023-24: $3 million
2024-25: $4 million

While the point of this contract is essentially the same as the first one - get Kovalchuk under contract for the money he wants at an affordable cap hit to the team, it is more in line with other approved deals of this nature, does not go under $1 million in any given season and pays out reasonable salaries in the final few years. There is no word yet on any kind of no-movement or no-trade clause, which was a pretty big sticking point to Bloch in the old offer.

If the NHL chooses to challenge this contract, as well, and either the NHLPA does not file another grievance or fails in doing so, there is a strong chance the 27-year old sniper will return to his native country of Russia and play in the Kontinental Hockey League next season. Kovalchuk's Russian agent Yuri Nikolaev has already stated that Kovalchuk will spend at least one full season in Russia if he signs a deal in the KHL, meaning there will be no out-clause in his deal to return to the NHL at some point during the 2010-11 campaign. SKA St. Petersburgh is the most likely team to sign Kovalchuk and is believed to already have a big offer on the table for Kovalchuk's services.

If the deal is approved, then the Devils will need to act quickly in shedding just under $4 million in salary to become cap compliant for next season. They can remain 10 percent over the $59.4 million ceiling ahead of the start of the regular season on Oct. 7, giving them just over a month to clear salary.

Teams That Can Benefit Most From Adding Antti Niemi

It’s not common for a player to go from Stanley Cup Champion to unrestricted free agent in the fashion that 26-year old Finnish goaltender Antti Niemi did. Though he sought a salary believed to be in the range of $3-4 million a season on a long-term deal with the Chicago Blackhawks, he also filed for salary arbitration and accepted the possibility of making less. Unfortunately for him, General Manager Stan Bowman did not accept the very fair offer of $2.75 million given to Niemi by the arbitrator because of the ‘Hawks’ tight salary cap situation. Instead, they signed Marty Turco to a one year, $1.3 million deal and sent Niemi to the unrestricted free agent market one year earlier than he otherwise would have been eligible.

Now it is time to see if the offseason spent playing hardball by Niemi and his agent, Bill Zito, will result in a more fruitful situation for the 42-regular season game NHL “veteran.” Although no exact list of interested teams has come to light, let’s take a look at some teams that could most benefit from adding Niemi into their goaltending corp.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Over the years, the Columbus Blue Jackets have worked hard to get out of the basement and actually become a playoff contender. Two years ago, they realized that goal by making the postseason for the first time in the franchise’s 10–year history. The team’s ability to get there was due, in large part, to the play of then-rookie goaltender Steve Mason, who received the Calder Memorial Trophy for his phenomenal play throughout the season.

Unfortunately, Mason’s sophomore season included a slump and he didn’t play near to the level of his first year in the league. As a result, the Blue Jackets went back to the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Some doubt now exists over Mason’s ability to backstop this club into a perennial contender.

Of course, there is hope that he can find his game next season. That would truly be the best case scenario for Columbus, since his rookie play was far better than anything Niemi will offer. But if Mason’s career goes the way of Andrew Raycroft, it’ll be hard to hand over the keys to the car to him too much longer. The Blue Jackets may need to seek a more consistent net presence, which will be not Mathieu Garon either.

Niemi would provide an upgrade from what Mason offered a season ago and would be a suitable replacement. The Blue Jackets likely wouldn’t get rid of Mason and would figure out a way to work Niemi’s playing time around spotting Mason 20-25 games through the season, as well. It would just leave Garon as the odd man out. And his $1.2 million salary can either be dealt or very easily buried in the AHL, where he would spend a season in Syracuse before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch disagrees with this notion, and feels that Columbus is pretty well set with Mason and Garon. But as Bruce Ciskie of Fanhouse points out, it all depends on the confidence the Blue Jackets have in Mason. After last year, you have to wonder …

40-Year Old Selanne Returning To Ducks For Another Season

Not yet ready to follow the lead of Scott Niedermayer and call it a career, Teemu Selanne has decided to return for his 12th season with the Anaheim Ducks and 18th overall in the NHL. An official announcement was made by the Ducks on Monday that Selanne put pen to paper on a new one year contract. The 40-year old Finnish Flash will earn a base salary of $3.25 million with the possibility of making another $1.25 million in bonuses for a total cap hit of $4.5 million, according to CapGeek. He also has a no-movement clause.

“After thinking about it for the last few months, I’ve decided to return to play for the Ducks,” Selanne said in a statement. “I’m excited about the summer additions the team has made. I know this team can win.”

While Selanne is up there in age, and a mixture of injuries and retirement contemplation have forced him to miss plenty of games over the past three seasons, it’s very hard to argue that his productivity is not worth the Ducks bringing him back into the fold. In 54 games last season, he buried 27 goals and added 21 helpers for 48 points – 27 of which were on the power play.

Kovalchuk, Devils Get Contract "Bloch"ed



It took several weeks for Ilya Kovalchuk to finally reach a decision on a contract this summer, and it now appears as if he will need to spend a few more finding a new one. On Monday, independent arbitrator Richard Bloch handed down his ruling in the case between the NHL and the NHLPA/Kovalchuk with regard to the 17-year, $102 million contract the 27-year old Russian winger inked with the New Jersey Devils on July 20. That ruling was in favor of the NHL.

Kovalchuk’s contract is now null and void, meaning he re-enters the unrestricted free agency pool with the option of yet against exploring offers from all NHL (and KHL) teams. The possibility exists that the Devils and he may return to the drawing board and re-structure the contract to be less circumventive. The Los Angeles Kings may also get back into the mix.

To many, this was a surprise decision by Bloch considering the numerous contracts prior to Kovalchuk’s that abused the same loophole as Devils GM Lou Lamoriello to reduce salary cap hits. Marian Hossa, Roberto Luongo and others all have "lifetime" deals that pay them far more money during their prime playing days than those when they are far less likely to even be playing at all.

Bloch, however, found this type of "retirement contract" (as Nick Kypreos puts it) to be the most egregious and agreed with the NHL's agrument, according to Sports Business Journal's Liz Mullen, that the contract is unlikely to reach its conclusion. Even if playing until 44 years of age is possibe,  it is "well beyond the typical retirement age of NHL players," Bloch said, according to Kypreos.