So Roberto Luongo's contract is now under investigation by the National Hockey League, along with the deals signed by Pronger, Hossa and Savard.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Luongo+year+Canuck+deal+under+investigation/3378778/story.html

11 months ago the league declared this a valid contract under the terms of the CBA and approved it. Now they're "investigating" it on the premise that it may violate the terms of the CBA. Question: what changed?

I'm pretty sure this is nothing but scare tactics - the NHLPA dared to question the original decision, saying that the Kovalchuk contract was comparable to those other 3 contracts which had already been approved, so now the NHL is just throwing that back in their face. It's still pretty ridiculous though. To even suggest that they might consider voiding a contract that they approved almost a year ago tells you all you need to know about how this league is run.

It's not a bad thing for the league to step in and, I don't know... enforce their own rules? But when you don't enforce those rules for several years, you're opening up a can of worms when you suddenly decide to start. What about Zetterberg and Franzen? Or even Depietro?

Where do you draw the line? How does anyone know how the phrase "circumventing the salary cap" is interpreted when the league can't even figure it out themselves? The sensible solution would have been to define the criteria right from the beginning and judge every contract based on that. But sensible solutions have never been a part of Gary Bettman's NHL, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

Conclusion: NHL = joke league.