Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said the team acted in good faith and abided by the collective bargaining agreement in signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102 million deal in July. However, the NHL vetoed the original contract a day later because it circumvented the salary cap. The NHL Players Association appealed and an arbiter upheld the league's ruling. It wasn't until Friday that New Jersey was able to work out a new deal with Kovalchuk. "We would not have submitted if we felt it would have been rejected," Lamoriello said.