It's over

By KiPA

Our long National Hockey League nightmare is over. No longer will we wonder where a certain free agent will spend his future seasons.

Yes, fans, you heard it correct.

It took quite a while, much longer than expected but we finally have an answer. And he's staying put.

I, KiPA, will continue bringing my talents to Hitting the Post. I know many people wondered where I would be blogging next season, and I will say that I fielded many several a few one or two offers from other blogs, including one from overseas. In the end, I decided to remain right here.

OK, yeah, Nick may have offered me 51 percent of the site's proceeds, making me majority partner, but so what? I think this is where I have my best chance of winning. And yeah, OK, maybe he's one of the only three people who showed any interest, but so what? I'm happy here.

Oh yeah, that Ilya dude finally signed somewhere. But whatever. He's yesterday's news.

But if you think I'm not going to take this chance to rail again against people on Twitter, you don't know me.

Kovalchuk stayed in New Jersey, despite many twits "reporting" that he and the Kings were moving closer to a deal. I'm so glad all those many tidbits of info amounted to so much substance.

Anyway. Kovalchuk's deal seems to be 17 years for $102 million. That's an annual cap hit of $6 million even though he'll be making $10 million each of the first eight years of the contract. From what I've gathered, it's a bit of a stunner that staunch league ally Lou Lamiorello signs a player to a long-term, cap-cheating contract like this one.

That puts New Jersey over the salary cap now and the Devils need to move some bodies. Most likely to be dealt: Brian Rolston and his $5 million cap hit for another two seasons for a 37-year-old who netted 35 goals and 69 points total the last two years.