Closing Loopholes - The NHL's Ultimatum

I made a very long winded comment in the Mock Draft thread (on the front page) about the NHL's rumored ultimatum to the NHLPA.

The comment did not get a whole lot of reaction, so I figured I would throw it in a fanpost and see if there are any ideas on the subject.

from ESPN insider, here are the 2 conditions that the NHLPA must agree to for a CBA amendment:

1. Age 40 cutoff: When a player signs a contract into his 40s, the salaries past his 40th birthday won’t be calculated into the cap number. In Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract, the Devils signed him until the age of 44, although he wasn’t expected to play that long. However, they just added years onto the end of the deal at a minimum salary, which lowered the average salary over the course of the whole deal. And that average is how cap numbers are currently calculated.

2. Weighted cap numbers: The NHL wants to take the five most expensive consecutive years of a contract and weight them. So in Kovalchuk’s first deal, there were five consecutive seasons in which he would’ve made $11.5 million. Those season’s would’ve been weighted more heavily in the average.

The first part of the amendment isn’t surprising, and it is probably fair, but could that second part be any more convoluted?

First of all, how can the NHLPA agree to a generic statement like that? The NHL doesn’t specifiy how much weight they’d put on the highest years. The PA could say, "sure, weighting the cap hit based on the max salary is fine", but then the NHL could assign whatever weight they want without the NHLPA having the chance to agree with the number.

To me, it seems like adding a magic formula to cap hit calculation is much more difficult than a statement like this:
"For players signing mult-year deals, the minimum salary for any one year of the contract can not be less than 40% of the maximum salary paid out in any year of the contract."

The downside to the 40% rule (somewhat arbitrary by the way) would be that it makes the lifetime contract for a superstar an almost impossible feat, but are these lifetime contracts really necessary? The only reason most of these 10+ year lifetime contracts are being handed out is to reduce the cap hit. If a player and an organization are committed to loyalty, then the player will more than likely be on that team for a long time, and if they aren’t, there will be a reason for it.

Under the 40% rule, current contracts would be grandfathered in, but just for kicks, let’s apply it retroactively to some "cheat" deals:

For the following deals, I calc’d the 40% min and applied it to all years that were below that minimum, and then revised the cap hit accordingly.

Kovy’s newest
proposed cap hit = 6.67
40% rule cap hit = 7.62
% inc. in cap hit = 14.3

Kovy’s original 17 yr - 102 mil
proposed cap hit = 6.0
40% rule cap hit = 7.48
% inc. in cap hit = 24.7

The 40% rule takes Kovy’s previous min salary from $550k to $4.6 mil. Obviously the devils wouldn’t sign him to this deal if the 40% rule were in effect, but you get the idea, that deal was bunk.

Hossa
current cap hit = 5.28
40% rule cap hit = 6.0
% inc. in cap hit = 13.6

Dunc
current cap hit = 5.54
40% rule cap hit = 5.8
% inc. in cap hit = 4.7

Pronger
current cap hit = 4.92
40% rule cap hit = 5.64
% inc. in cap hit = 14.6

Savard
current cap hit = 4.01
40% rule cap hit = 4.84
% inc. in cap hit = 20.9

Luongo
current cap hit = 5.33
40% rule cap hit = 6.1
% inc. in cap hit = 14.1

The quoted numbers do not include the 'over 40 years of age' provision.  Let's remove the contract years for these guys once they are over 40 (while applying the 40% rule), and then recalc the cap hit.

Kovy’s newest
proposed cap hit = 6.67
# of years removed = 2 of 15

revised cap hit = 8.07
% inc. in cap hit = 21.0

Kovy’s original 17 yr - 102 mil
proposed cap hit = 6.0
# of years removed = 4 of 17

revised cap hit = 8.37
% inc. in cap hit = 39.5

Hossa
current cap hit = 5.28
# of years removed = 2 of 12

revised cap hit = 6.56
% inc. in cap hit = 24.4

Dunc
# of years removed = 0 (Look at the wittle Bowman, all grown'd up!)

Pronger
current cap hit = 4.92
# of years removed = 3 of 7 (yeah, um, about that....)

revised cap hit = 7.35
% inc. in cap hit = 49.3 !!

Savard
# of years removed = 0

Luongo
current cap hit = 5.33
# of years removed = 3

revised cap hit = 6.78
% inc. in cap hit = 27.1

Thoughts

• There's a reason that Dunc's deal isn't mentioned as part of this whole mess, it is legit.  So go ahead Hawks' fans, get your number 2 on (yep, I meant to say it like that).
• The 40+ rule really jacks up Pronger's deal, but why void it, it'll be hilarious when he retires early and Philly is stuck with that cap hit.
• I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't see how the guy signing Reboundo's checks isn't hoping that deal gets voided.  Would any other owner pay Luongo $10 mil next year?  Sure his salary drops by 3+ mil in the following year, but considering the goalie market, you'd figure he would have to sign a cheaper deal with the Nucks. 
• Not even a homer can deny the intent with these cheat deals (excluding dunc's), but Kovy's original deal was beyond ridiculous.  In the newest pass at a deal, Kovy makes 11.5 million for 5 straight years, really?!  That's not Hart Trophy winner money, that's world beater money, and Kovy is neither of those things.
• Hey Lamoriello, you just had to go F it all up, didn't you?  Everything was going great; star players were gettin paid, GMs were keeping cap hits low, and Bettman was occupying his time by sending Bloge Salming and DGB angry emails.  If this little splash of cold water in the NHL's face leads to a certain beautiful Slovak man's contract getting voided, I'm Hjammertime is coming for you.
• Congratulations Big "Ten" Conference, you've created the only division configuration in the history of major sports that gives zero regard to geography.  It's like 2 guys were captains for a pickup football game and they picked Big "Ten" teams one by one to even things out.  It's contrived, it's ultra-subjective, and it's money driven, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  Good luck naming those 2 divisions by the way.
• Apparently the NHL officials aren't Star Wars fans.  Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

UPDATE:  Well, as my grandpa would've said, I'm 'a day late and a dollar short' on this one.  Apparently the NHL will be approving Kovy's new deal shortly.  It's still an interesting debate with regard to how the NHL will/should close this loophole.