Bettman Lays "The Smacketh Down" on the Devils

According to Tom Gulitti, the Devils have just received punishment for their actions for the Ilya Kovalchuk deal Cap circumvention in the First contract with Ilya Kovalchuk. The Devils will be fined upwards of $3 million, and will be stripped of a 1st round draft pick, as well as a 3rd round draft pick from the 2011 draft (the upcoming draft).

The Fine of $3 million dollars will not affect the Devils cap space at all, which is huge because dumping nearly $6 million of salary would be really tough. All the fined money goes to charity, so it's not like this money was going somewhere bad. As for the First rounder, it will be one in the next four years, and the Devils can choose which 1st rounder they're going to surrender. I think this might be in the favour of the Devils, as if they were to be stripped of the 2011 1st rounder, they would have no draft picks until the fourth round, as the 3rd rounder is being stripped and the Devils and the Devils traded their 2nd rounder to Nashville in the Jason Arnott trade. Also, because they can choose which first rounder will be stripped, they can sacrifice a really late 1st rounder (like 26-30th overall) instead of sacrificing a higher pick if things don't go well this year. So basically for 15 (and a quarter) years of Kovy's service, the Devils gave up 2 first rounders, a 3rd rounder, Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier and possibly more for Ilya Kovalchuk.

Various fallout from the hockey blogosphere (on Twitter) after the Jump

"OK Kovalchuk is settled finally. Meanwhile Rick James.... I'm seeing Cake tonight"

Joe Yerdon from Pro Hockey Talk

"Lou LamorielLOL? RT @Real_ESPNLeBru Devils lose first-round pick over next 4 yrs plus $3 M in cash plus 3rd round pick"

Chris Burton from On the Forecheck

Looks like the Devils got popped for Kovy. Not that I disagree, but how can there be no intent to circumvent, and there still be a fine?

Laura Astorian from SBNation Atlanta/Thrashing the Blues/A bunch of other sites

Wow. I'm legitimately shocked at the severity of the punishment the NHL doled out to Loophole Lou.

PPP from Pension Plan Puppets

In other words, the Devils have been fined about 800,000 jars of jam.

Don't Trade Vinny from Don't Trade Vinny

I'd have rathered a $1M cap penalty for three years, but to be perfectly honest I didn't even know a fine was pending until 10 minutes ago.

Ryan Classic from Silver Seven Sens

Penalties against Devils don't surprise me. The NHL really wanted to hammer Lamoriello for that Kovalchuk deal to discourage more of them.

James Mirtle from the Globe and Mail, and former head of SBNation hockey

If it makes Devils fans feel better, that 1st-rounder currently has as many career playoff wins as Kovalchuk.

Popular Leafs Vlogger Steve Dangle

And Last but not least, from the big man himself (Via Tom Gulitti)

Lamoriello statement: "We disagree with the decision. We acted in good faith and did nothing wrong. We will have no further comment."

And Finally, your thoughts. Vote in the Poll below and express your dismay without breaking any of the rules, like no swearing.