The Devils’ persistence and patience paid off — for them and Ilya Kovalchuk.

The NHL finally agreed Friday to approve the 15-year, $100 million contract Kovalchuk signed with the Devils eight days ago, according to multiple sources. The decision came after lengthy negotiations between the league and the NHL Players’ Association resulted in an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement that outlines new guidelines for long-term contracts.

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As part of the agreement, the NHL will register the contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk that was filed with the League on Aug. 27, 2010. The NHL also will terminate its circumvention investigations into the contracts signed in 2009 by Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins and Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Under the terms of the agreement, the new rules will apply only to long-term contracts, defined as those with terms of five years or longer, and only to contracts executed after Sept.  4, 2010. The new rules apply to contracts signed between now and the end of the CBA, as well as all contracts signed that begin in the 2012-13 season. The parties have agreed that the new rules do not automatically carry over into a new CBA.

For the purpose of Salary Cap calculations, any long-term contract that extends past a player’s 41st birthday will be valued and accounted for in two ways: The compensation for all seasons that do not include or succeed the player’s 41st birthday will be totaled and divided by the number of those seasons to determine the annual average value (AAV) charged against the team’s Cap for those seasons. In all subsequent seasons, the team’s Cap charge will be the actual compensation paid to the player in that season (or seasons, as appropriate).

Additionally, in any long-term contract that averages more than $5.75 million for the three highest-compensation seasons, the following rule shall apply: Solely to determine its value for purposes of the Salary Cap, a player’s compensation for any season in which he is age 36, 37, 38, 39 and/or 40 shall be valued at a minimum of $1 million.

“We’re pleased to be able to establish clearly-defined rules for these types of contracts going forward and just as happy we can turn the page on uncertainties relating to several other existing contracts,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “From start to finish of this multi-week process we were able to work closely and cooperatively with representatives of the Players’ Association, who shared our belief that the creation of definitive rules and guidelines in this area would be beneficial to everyone – clubs and players alike.”

“We are pleased to finalize an agreement which ends the League’s circumvention investigations and also establishes rules on long-term contracts that will provide players, their certified agents and general managers clarity for the negotiation of new contracts,” said Roland Lee, Director of Salary Cap/Marketplace & Associate Counsel for the NHLPA. “Turning the page on this process is something that will benefit all parties involved.”

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Well, now for something as stupid and wonderful as owning a pet elephant. Something as outlandish as Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator who was rumoured to have people walk in front of him painting the leaves on trees green — in the fall.

That’s right, Vancouver Canucks winger Mikael Samuelsson is ditching the tried-and-true golf tournaments, softball games and signed jerseys and rewriting all the rules. The 33-year-old is auctioning off an all-expenses-paid trip for two to Vancouver — including a pair of tickets to two home games and access to the team’s locker-room — with the proceeds going to support minor hockey in his hometown of Mariefred, Sweden.

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With two young children, Vancouver Canucks winger Mikael Samuelsson doesn’t get to play quite as much golf as he would like. But when he does play, he performs quite well, telling The Sun’s Brad Ziemer he has already shot a 76 this summer.

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Johan Hedberg, Devils — New Jersey doesn’t figure to struggle in shootouts this season even when coach John MacLean gives Brodeur a night off. Hedberg, who played with Dallas in 2005-06 and Atlanta the last four seasons, is a combined 16-5 with an .805 save percentage that leads all goaltenders who have taken part in 20 or more shootouts. He never has lost a shootout at home, going 8-0 with the Stars and Thrashers.

Pekka Rinne, Predators — When your team struggles to score, you’d better have a goaltender who’s good at shootouts, and Nashville has one in Rinne. He’s 11-5 in his two NHL seasons while posting a .768 save percentage. For whatever reason, Rinne gets in a lot more shootouts when playing at home; he’s 12-3 at Bridgestone Arena but just 1-2 on the road.

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The best news John MacLean received this summer was getting hired to coach the Devils.

However, the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk today ranks a close second.

“I have a smile on my face,” MacLean told The Star-Ledger.

Now it will be MacLean’s job to fit a talented individual into the Devils’ team concept.

“We all know that, even looking at him on another team, that he’s an exceptional talent,” MacLean said. “As I’ve stated before, I have not heard from anybody throughout the organization a bad word about him. He’s a tremendous teammate and addition. He’ll have no issuses playing for the team.

“Hew signed here for a reason, to try to win a championship. This organization has a good history of that, so you know he wants to be part of the team. That’s what I’m excited about.”

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Big decisions take time, but Ilya Kovalchuk has made up his mind: he’s coming back to the Devils.

Since the free agent signing period began on July 1, almost every day brought new speculation on where the two-time 50-goal scorer might be headed. One of the most coveted unrestricteds in history, Kovalchuk finally ended the suspense Monday, following the Devils’ announcement that he’s staying in the Garden State. A 1 p.m. press conference will be held Tuesday at Prudential Center.

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PuckAgency is proud to announce that All-Star left wing Ilya Kovalchuk has come to terms to re-sign with the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. Ilya was the most highly coveted free agent on the market and had several options with teams all over the globe. “Ilya is excited to be continuing his career with New Jersey and knows first-hand the team’s dedication and commitment to winning.” said Jay Grossman, President of PuckAgency.

Kovalchuk, 27, spent the beginning of the 2009-2010 with the Atlanta Thrashers, the team who selected Kovalchuk number one overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, and was later traded to New Jersey in February of this year. The Tver, Russian native, was the premiere free agent in the 2010 crop after posting his sixth 40 goal season, scoring 41 goals split between Atlanta and New Jersey.  The three time NHL All –Star has scored the second most goals in the NHL since 2001 and is the 2004 co-recipient of the NHL’s Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard Trophy which honors the top scorer in the NHL. Recently named to Sports Illustrated’s “All Decade Team” and Business Week’s 100 Top Athletes, Kovalchuk has emerged as one of the game’s most powerful athletes.

The scrimmage also featured a pair of goals from invitee Sean Wiles (Alaska-Anchorage), a fight between 6-8 defenseman Joe Finley and Anthony Pisano and a serious-looking knee injury to Hershey defenseman Zach Miskovic.

Miskovic will miss the remainder of camp, according to GM George McPhee, who didn’t say much more about the injury. Miskovic told me it’s “just a sprain” as he limped out wearing a brace.

“He should be okay,” McPhee said. “Hopefully it’s something that won’t require surgery.”

Miskovic was injured when he was hit by Finley near the side boards. Finley, skating for the Kuznetsov’s Red team, was immediately challenged by Pisano, a fighter who was born in Elkton, Md. The scrap featured a lot of grappling and Finley ending up on top.

“I didn’t mind one scrap,” McPhee said. “If you’re going to have confrontations, drop the sticks and get it over with. I didn’t want them to go again. It looked like they wanted to do it again. They were a little frisky today and wanted to blow off some steam. That’s fine.”

The big story, though, was Kuznetsov’s impressive debut. The 26th overall pick scored on a redirection and by finishing off a crossing pass and also set up Wiles’s first goal with a nifty play.

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