A 17-year deal!!

When I first saw this I thought it was a miss print, but I have confirmed it Kovalchuk has signed a 17-year deal worth slightly more than $100 million. Kovalchuk is currently 27 years old, with his new contract he will be playing until he is 44! Will he be the same player at that age as he is now. I doubt it. Don't get me wrong I feel he is a tremendous talent in the NHL but why would you want someone on your books for 17 years? There are just to many things which can go wrong during that time span (injury wise) which could end his career early. This is an insane amount of time for any athlete to be under contract in my opinion.