Brad Richards' nine-year/$58.5 million contract will reportedly be heavily frontloaded. Richards will make $12 million in each of the next two seasons, $9 million in 2013-14, $8.5 million annually in 2014-15 and 2015-16, $7 million in 2016-17, and $1 million annually for the final three years of the contract. Frontloaded contracts like that are the norm for star players and although NHL's fight over the Ilya Kovalchuk contract resulted in some rule changes, it didn't stop the trend.