Originally Posted by FlamesAndBruins
Kovalchuk is most criticised for not honouring his contract with the Devils, who expected him to be in their line-up next year, saying Kovalchuk made a commitment to the team for 15 years. But many North Americans conveniently ignore that the Devils signed this deal in bad faith, too. They never wanted him to play out his contract, it was just 15 years (originally 17) for cap circumvention. They wanted Kovy, from day one of the contract, to do just what he did now one day. Well, he did it a few years before they would have preferred. That's the risk of signing a contract where both parties know it's in bad faith. If this was a normal contract, I'd agree that Kovalchuk should play it out, but if both parties know when signing the contract that at some point the player will leave- Why should it be the team that decides upon that point in time? Kovalchuk shouldn't have announced is post draft and Free agency, but word is that Lameriello knew it a while ago. I also disagree that the Devils lost the first round pick because of Kovy. They lost it because they tried to sign him to a stupid contract. I doubt Kovalchuk was pushing for the 17yr cap circumvention. That's on the team.
The second reason why I don't get the outrage is that the breaking of a contract is a usual practice by players going to the NHL. Carl Söderberg wanted to go to Boston, so his team was basically forced to let him go and terminate his contract, just like Kovalchuk and the Devils just did. It might not be a big fish for NHL fans, but he was the leading goal scorer of the swedish league and a big loss for his club. Evgeni Malkin literally defected from Russia, after the iron curtain was long lifted, to not play out the last year of his contract. No one in North America was calling him a dishonourable guy or lost respect for him. That's hypocritical.
The counter-argument that I hear most often when bringing up my last point is that these situations are, according to many, different because these players go to the best league in the world. Well... so what? Does that make their contract any less valid? It doesn't. Just bolting from one league to another will always be possible when there's no player transfer agreement (PTA) between leagues. The NHL kind of makes their own problem here. If there was a functioning PTA between the KHL and NHL, the Devils could either stop Kovy from playing for SKA St. Petersburg or let him go and negotiate a (in Kovy's case probably massive, $25m+) transfer fee. But the NHL doesn't want an agreement like that, because it would be harder to get draft picks from europe over. At the moment, finnish and swedish teams get merely about $250k for a player that goes over. The KHL doesn't want to get ripped of like that for the players they produced, and instead want all transfer fees to be negotiated individually. That would stop situations like Kovalgate from happening, but would also mean that for example Valerie Nichushkin's club, having him under contract initially til 2015, could demand probably well over a million bucks to release him. So clearly, the NHL is having none of that.
Many say that they'd rather play in the best league rather than at home for more money. I don't want to call anyone dishonest, but that's an easy thing to say for all North Americans who aren't actually in that situation. Look at Landon Donavan. He tried to go to europe, couldn't hack it in the German Bundesliga for Leverkusen or Bayern Munich, but was decent in the english premiership for Everton. He went back to play at home. I'm sure from watching him at world cups and his stints in europe that he could probably be a contributor in the weaker dutch or portugese first divisions, and surely in England's or Germany's 2nd divisions who are still arguably more quality leagues than MLS. He makes a lot more money in MLS though and is the face of a young, aspiring league. That's literally the same thing that Kovy is doing, yet Donavan isn't widely called a quitter, loser, or whatever is being thrown at Kovalchuk at the moment. Sure, Clint Dempsey, who made it in England at Fulham is more highly regarded among football fans, but there just isn't the contempt that's there regarding Kovalchuk.
Europeans are used to the fact that there's multiple leagues players play in I guess, but it's baffling to me that so many North Americans struggle with the concept. Many seem even offended (!) that a player chooses not to play in their league. That just seems a little insecure to me.
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