Roberto Luongo Could Be Contract-Less by Tomorrow

As the NHL continues to toil over Ilya Kovalchuk's massive $100 million, 15-year contract, Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo is now waiting to see if his contract will be de-registered, the Montreal Gazette is reporting.

The deadline for the NHL to decide has been set for tomorrow, after being pushed back from Wednesday.

The NHL says that it will only register Kovalchuk's contract with the Devils if the NHLPA agrees to change some CBA rules, mainly closing a hole which allows teams to get around the salary cap with long-term, front-loaded deals.

Should the union not agree by tomorrow, Kovalchuk's deal will again be declined, as will Luongo's (which doesn't go in effect until the beginning of next season), and the league says they will formally investigate Marian Hossa's.

As the Gazette reports, there are two demands that the NHL wants met.

The first is to no longer use contract years after 40 when calculating the average cap hit on long-term deals.

The second is to increase the cap hit on the five years that the player is paid the most in a long-term contract.

If the two sides can agree, both deals will be grandfathered in. If not, both deals will be voided, though the Canucks were aware of that. When the deal was accepted, it was only done conditionally so by the NHL, and was investigated by a third-party legal firm. Now that the possibility is just a day away, the Canucks will likely be more opinionated on the matter.

Should Luongo's deal be voided, it's not as though the Canucks need to go into panic mode. It's likely that the team will just sign him to a shorter contract, and all will be well.

There are now 11 long-term deals that have the player making less than $2 million in the final year of their contract. A win for the NHL could cause even more contracts to be investigated.

Only time will tell.