All Players 18 or Older Are Eligible for NHL Greatness. Sort Of.

OMG. His deal is the devil: Kovalchuk's annual salary cap hit is going to be $6.66 million.

So I guess this just wouldn't do, then: In Article 9, Entry Level Compensation, players drafted in the 2010 Entry Draft can earn a whole $900,000 a year. But for now, let's find out how you get drafted in the first place:

Article 8, Entry Draft. Tonight, the basics:

8.2, Draft Choices. The Entry Draft shall consist of seven (7) rounds, with each round consisting of the same number of selection choices as there will be Clubs in the NHL the following League Year. Oh. So, this explains why there are 210 picks. Elementary, Dear Samantha. Since there is no hope for me when it comes to numbers, let's see if I can figure these out:

8.4, Eligibility for Claim. (a) All players 18 or older are eligible for claim in the Entry Draft, except:
(i) a Player on the Reserve List of a Club, other than as a try-out;
(ii) a Player who has been claimed in two prior Entry Drafts;
(iii) a Player who previously played in the League and became a Free Agent pursuant to this Agreement;
(iv) a Player age 21 or older who: (A) has not been selected in a previous Entry Draft and (B) played hockey for at least one season in North America when he was age 18, 19 or 20 and shall be eligible to enter the League as an Unrestricted Free Agent pursuant Article 10 (d) and;
(v) a Player age 22 who has not been selected in a previous Entry Draft and shall be eligible to enter the League as an Unrestricted Free Agent pursuant to Article 10.1 (d).

Morals of the story:

The game: So if players are keeping it simple, as they are wont to do, then I think the rule here is get drafted when you're 18 and proceed immediately to becoming an NHL superstar. But for fans here in Portland, it's a good thing it's not that simple. Two of our best draft picks this year were 20-year old Luke Walker, who went 139th to Colorado, right behind his teammate Troy Rutkowski (137th to the same team) and 19-year-old Riley Boychuk, who went 208th to Buffalo.

Life: What if corporate America had an eligibility claim rule for employees, which consisted of far more than faking your education on a resume and getting a few friends to front being a former boss who loved you, and instead required companies to hire a private investigator to check out why it is you were really let go from that fabulous VP job with a corner office and all the requisite perks? Naturally they would find out that you are a fraud, and instead of promoting employees who talk a good game without knowing how to play it, companies everywhere would be filled with happy, morally sound people who love what they do and get more done because of it. Oh right, this is America. Where, like hockey, it's not fair. And where the right thing is easier said than done. Wall Street and Toyota and BP have shown us that the easy way may last for a while, but it doesn't last forever and it's never the right way. To prevent said debacles, I say we take our cue from hockey players...keep it simple, put the pucks on net and stay out of the penalty box.

Next up: Cotinuing onward with Article 8, Entry Draft.