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Q: With Sergei Gonchar's contract up after this year, I'm wondering if the Penguins would do one of those deals that is so popular and gets around the salary cap. He's 35. If they signed him to a six-year deal taking him through age 41, they could pay him $5 million the first 3 years, followed by $2.5 million, $1 million and $500,000. This would give the Pens a cap hit of just over $3 million while giving Gonchar the money he wants and deserves. I doubt he would play all six years of that contract. The league has certainly let a lot of teams (especially Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia) do this. Do you think the Pens would do this for somebody like Gonchar -- somebody so important, yet near enough to the end of his career to take advantage of this loophole?

-- Michael Zielinski, Chicago

MOLINARI: The Penguins certainly don't have a philosophical problem with taking advantage of this loophole in the collective bargaining agreement, but it wouldn't work in this particular instance.

Gonchar is, as you noted, 35, and the CBA says that if a player signs a multi-year contract when he is 35 or older, his average salary for the life of the deal -- that's the annual salary-cap hit -- counts against his team's cap figure for the life of the agreement, even if the player retires before it runs out. If the player is sent to the minor leagues, his cap hit is reduced by $100,000, but that's a relatively minor figure if you're talking about a guy who has a seven-figure salary.

Also, the CBA spells out how a player's salary can be reduced over the life of his contract, although it's worth noting that the example you gave would fall within the regulations. The formula: Take the lowest salary from the first two years of the contract, and in subsequent years, the player's salary can be reduced by 50 percent of that amount. For example, if a player gets $6 million in the first year and $8 million in the second, his earnings could drop by up to $3 million in each season that follows. (In this example, it could go as low as $5 million in the third year, and $2 million in the fourth.)

Gonchar's camp and the Penguins should be getting started on serious negotiations in the very near future. It seems unlikely that they will be able to match the $5 million annual salary he's getting under the deal that expires this summer, but they would like to keep him around for at least a few more years, if possible.

Q: Do you know if and how the NHL players will be tested for illegal, performance-enhancing drugs at the Olympics? The Olympics seem to be pretty effective at detecting "cheaters," more effective than our major sports leagues. I ask because there are a couple of players in this year's hockey Olympics that I have suspicions about.

-- Chris Craig, Raleigh, N.C.

MOLINARI: Several players who were candidates to play for their national teams have mentioned in casual conversation that they've been undergoing drug-testing for a while, and they certainly will face it again in Vancouver.

That testing is separate from what the NHL conducts, and will be handled by the same people who do it for every other sport. While there will be NHL players competing in the Games, the Olympics are not an NHL event and the league neither establishes nor enforces the drug rules employed during them.

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