The Official WTF Thread

[thrill]

Kovalchuk has signed a 17-year deal worth slightly more than $100 million, a source told ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, ending a three-week courtship that also included offers from the Los Angeles Kings. He was also pursued by the New York Islanders and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.

Link

17 years! He'll be 44 when the contract is up. I'm assuming they don't actually expect him to play that long.

It's a way to get around the NHL salary cap. It's very complicated and someone more into the NHL could probably explain it better, but it's become common. Marian Hossa did a similar deal with Chicago last year.

Basically it's like this. By extending the years to an unrealistic number with an understanding that the player will retire at a reasonable age, they get to pay a lower annual salary which keeps them under the salary cap while at the same time allowing the player to make a higher overall contract value than he would get signing anywhere for a normal contract length. Instead of getting a 5 year deal at 12 mil where he'd only make 60 million, he'll only play 5 years of the 100 million dollar contract but still get paid the full amount. Once a player retires, he'll still draw the salary, but it won't count against the team's yearly salary cap.

Basically it's a loophole they've found in the CBA that will probably get rectified in the next round of negotiations.

[go birds]

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15509218

Police responded early Friday to a call of shots fired at a home in Roberts and found a man apparently hallucinating an attack by clowns.

The 40-year-old man, armed with a shotgun, had fired several shots in his mother's home. It also appeared that he fired a shot at his mother and visiting father as they fled from the home in a vehicle, said St. Croix County Sheriff Dennis Hillstead.

"Pellets probably hit their windshield," Hillstead said.

Police arrived about 4 a.m. and surrounded the home. The man came to the door at one point and was "yelling at what he could see in the yard, but there was nothing there," Hillstead said.

The man went back into the home and fired more rounds, Hillstead said. In total, about 22 shotgun rounds were fired into the walls and ceiling of the home.

The man then went to the porch with the shotgun in hand and a bag of ammunition around his neck. He did not respond to police commands, but after the man slipped and fell, deputies were able to take him into custody, Hillstead said.

While being taken to a hospital for examination, the man indicated he had taken a hallucinogenic drug. He said he believed that people dressed as clowns were attacking his mother's home and that he had shot and killed a number of them, Hillstead said. He also said he had shot dogs that were attacking him and that his mother had been shot and killed.

"He was ... not in touch with reality," Hillstead said.

No one was injured in the incident.

The man, who was visiting from Arizona, is being held in a mental facility while he undergoes a psychological evaluation, Hillstead said Tuesday.
He has not been charged with a crime, and police have not released his name.

[jeffbgoofy]

http://www.twincities.com/ci_15509218

"He was ... not in touch with reality," Hillstead said.

nah really....

[sighyoung]

Kovalchuk has signed a 17-year deal worth slightly more than $100 million, a source told ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, ending a three-week courtship that also included offers from the Los Angeles Kings. He was also pursued by the New York Islanders and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.

Link

17 years! He'll be 44 when the contract is up. I'm assuming they don't actually expect him to play that long.

He'll be blocking shots with his body at that point.

[lukethedrifter]

http://www.facebook.com/apps/applicatio ... 8655764792


Really, click on the link. It's a mystery I can't solve alone.

I know you didn't click on it. Except doc and radbird.

So who did this?

[Vidor]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/i ... y_7470.jpg

[TheoSqua]

Kovalchuk has signed a 17-year deal worth slightly more than $100 million, a source told ESPN.com's Scott Burnside, ending a three-week courtship that also included offers from the Los Angeles Kings. He was also pursued by the New York Islanders and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.

Link

17 years! He'll be 44 when the contract is up. I'm assuming they don't actually expect him to play that long.

It's a way to get around the NHL salary cap. It's very complicated and someone more into the NHL could probably explain it better, but it's become common. Marian Hossa did a similar deal with Chicago last year.

Basically it's like this. By extending the years to an unrealistic number with an understanding that the player will retire at a reasonable age, they get to pay a lower annual salary which keeps them under the salary cap while at the same time allowing the player to make a higher overall contract value than he would get signing anywhere for a normal contract length. Instead of getting a 5 year deal at 12 mil where he'd only make 60 million, he'll only play 5 years of the 100 million dollar contract but still get paid the full amount. Once a player retires, he'll still draw the salary, but it won't count against the team's yearly salary cap.

Basically it's a loophole they've found in the CBA that will probably get rectified in the next round of negotiations.

Similar, but not quite.

The Salary Cap number for a player in the NHL is degined by the average annual value of the contract. So $102m over 17 years = 6, salary cap hit. But the contract will be crazy front-loaded. Kovalchuk will make $6m/season the first two seasons, 11.5m/season for years 3-8, followed by 8.5m, 6.5m, 3.5m, 750k, then 550k from seasons 13-17.

76% of the contract is paid out in the first 8 seasons....if he retires at 39 with 5 years left on the contract he'll have already earned $99m of that $102m. The last 5 years of the contract are added on just to lower the AAV and decrease his cap hit.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

A whole bunch of hockey talk stuff

And the league has nixed the deal.

The NHL rejected Russian Ilya Kovalchuk’s(notes) landmark 17-year, $102 million contract with the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night after it was deemed to circumvent the league’s salary cap.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=A ... -kovalchuk

[Radbird]

13 Of The Most Awkward Family Pet Photos

Example:

There are stranger ones, but I couldn't bring myself to post the naked couple and their cats.

[cards2468]

13 Of The Most Awkward Family Pet Photos

Example:

There are stranger ones, but I couldn't bring myself to post the naked couple and their cats.

ROFL