The NHL today announced today it "modified" the penalty for the Devils being found guilty of circumventing the salary cap on Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract in 2010.
The Devils were due to surrender their first-round pick this year to complete the penalty. Instead, the Devils will pick 30th (last) in the first round of this year’s draft regardless of where they finish in the standings. As part of the ruling, the Devils cannot trade or transfer the pick, the league said in a press release announcing the modification.
I think a lot of us (including myself) owe Lou an apology on this one. Many of us called Lou not surrendering the pick after reaching the finals the dumbest move he ever made. It certainly looked very foolish on the surface. That was a super weak draft and the Devils had the 2nd to last pick in it. It turns out he made the right call after all. It just took a very long time (almost too long) to get sorted out. This is great news. Now let's not use the pick on a defensemen!