And There It Is...

(If I was the ref, I'd hit him in the back of the head too.)

I have been trying for the life of me to figure out why this Kovalchuk mess pisses me off so much.  I didn't even blink (chuckled a little but no blinking) when the Hawks gave that kind of deal to Hossa.  I didn't even notice when the Wings gave it to the D/Z connection, for that matter.  But for some reason, this one bugs the crap out of me.  I guess it is because there is a strong case, at least in my mind, that the power players involved with making this deal were either trying to prove a point or making a mockery of the CBA.  Either way, I called shenanigans from the get go.  I saw this as a ploy to sell season tickets and generate some revenue.  Low and behold...

The New York Times has an article that you can go read here if you want but I just wanted to highlight this little morsel...

"...But the Devils benefited from last week’s news conference at Prudential Center in Newark when they announced that Kovalchuk, an unrestricted free agent, had re-signed. Vanderbeek [Jeff; the owner of the team] said there had been a spike in season-ticket sales since then."

And there it is.

You stay silent for the majority of the free agent signing period.  You come out of nowhere with a ridiculous offer that whether violation of the CBA or not, is shady at best.  You are told before hand that it was going to be rejected by the league but you go ahead and have the news conference anyway.  Season ticket sales spike.  Wow!  And I'm the conspiracy theorist?