[trackercowe]

Well original Kovalchuk's contract had him signed til he was like 43, right? Luongo's at least ends a few years earlier then that (I think?). So you can make a case that Luongo will indeed play out the remainder of his contract, but how many players play until they're 43? So Kovalchuk's was obviously done up to get around the cap, while Luongo's wasn't necessarily.

Edit: Never mind, both contracts end when they're 43. I guess the only real difference is that the Devils tried to sign Kovalchuk for 17 years, while Luongo's is only 12 years.

Although didn't Kovalchuk's originally have five $1,000,000 dollar years at the end of the deal? There's obvious cap circumvention in the those years. Whereas Luongo's only has two years at that salary.