NHL

Devils had clues Kovalchuk deal would be nixed

It was just a sham, a show, and the Devils’ credibility has taken another hit.

The Devils weren’t officially notified of the rejection of Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract until Tuesday night, but a high source told The Post yesterday that the NHL had contacted the Devils — before Tuesday afternoon’s press conference — to alert them to the likelihood that the league was going to void the 17-year, $102 million contract.

Another source said the Devils “absolutely” knew, confirming an ESPN report.

The Devils apparently went through with their press conference in order to seal their position and set in motion the chain of events that likely will lead to arbitration, which is expected to force the NHL to accept and register the deal.

“We certainly had conversations, but nothing was official until late [Tuesday] night,” Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said yesterday.

Failure to reveal that their press conference was for a contract that already was being rejected would be a failure at transparency, the sort of shenanigans that has long enraged fans and followers of the team.

On the other hand, the NHL knew it was rejecting the deal by the 1 p.m. press conference Tuesday and didn’t announce it until yesterday morning, after it was leaked to Canadian TV Tuesday night. Announcing the rejection is the league’s responsibility, but a source indicates the decision was not final by the time of the press conference.

In the end, however, both sides’ failures at public relations stand to have little impact on whether Kovalchuk’s league-rejected contract of $102 million over 17 years is eventually upheld.

“We are extremely disappointed that the NHL has decided to reject the contract of Ilya Kovalchuk. The contract complies with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement,” Lamoriello said in a statement. “We will have no further comment until the process outlined in the CBA is complete.”

The Players Association was mulling its options yesterday, and is expected to file for arbitration by next Tuesday. It is up to the PA — not the Devils — to file a grievance and ask for arbitration. The PA is believed to think it has a very strong case to force the league to accept and register the contract. If denied, the Devils still would have the opportunity to revamp the contract to the league’s liking.

“I can’t comment on the Kovalchuk stuff,” Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek said.

It does not seem likely that circumvention penalties, such as suspensions or hefty fines, $1M-5M for the team and $250K-$1M for the player, would be levied in this case of an initial contract submission voided over a previously-unspecified issue.

Before the case gets anywhere, though, the sides will have to agree on a “systems arbitrator,” never having selected nor needed one in the five years of the CBA, since there hasn’t been a voided contract like this sent to arbitration. The league apparently doesn’t believe Kovalchuk is going to play until age 44, and that the final low-paid years of the deal are subterfuge to lower the average salary and cap hit of the entire package.

“The contract has been rejected by the League as a circumvention of the Collective Bargaining Agreement,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said yesterday in a statement.

The PA will have five business days, starting yesterday, to file a grievance demanding that the contract be registered.

Kovalchuk’s rejected contract calls for $98.5 million in salary over its first 11 years, and only $3.5 million total in its final six seasons.

Those seasons after Kovalchuk turns 38 cut the average from $8.9 million to $6 million in annual cap hit. But the CBA requires only that salaries decrease from year-to-year no more than 50 percent of the average of the first two years, $3 million in this case. A $3 million drop between Year 10 ($6.5 million) and Year 11 ($3.5 million) is the largest decrease in the contract.

mark.everson@nypost.com