PITTSBURGH – Still being tweaked, still subject to interpretation by the attorneys who drafted the document, the CBA doesn’t always mean exactly what it appears to says.

In at least one instance, the Devils had better hope that it doesn’t.

For if the team is planning on going forward with the oodles of cap space created by Vladimir Malakhov’s recent and sudden retirement, GM Lou Lamoriello will require a favorable adjudication when an inevitable challenge is raised by either the union or the league as per pesky Article 50.5d B(5) that seems to suggest that the 2006-07 Devils could well be charged the full $3.6M the reluctant defenseman is scheduled to earn next season – whether or not he officially retires.

“All player salaries and bonuses earned in a league year by a player who is in the second or later year of a multi-year SPC which was signed when the player was age 35 or older . . . but which player is not on the club’s active roster, injured reserve, injured non roster or non roster, and regardless of whether, or where, the player is playing . . . shall count towards the calculation of averaged club salary . . .”

That’s the pesky paragraph that will require interpretation as it applies to Malakhov, who signed a two-year $7.2M contract with the Devils last August at the age 36, and who has not yet signed his retirement papers. Does it matter if he does? Does it matter if he doesn’t?

“The Malakhov situation is being reviewed on several levels,” PA executive director Ted Saskin informed Slap Shots by e-mail last week. “And that includes the one pertaining to the article you cited.”

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Clubs with players on carryover contracts that contain individual bonuses no longer permitted in the triple-cap era are eligible to have additional space open, possibly during the season, but certainly at least for the playoffs, when the cap remains in force but call-ups and roster size are unlimited.

According to the CBA, clubs are charged for all of their players’ individual earnable bonuses. But Slap Shots has learned that the tariffs will be subtracted from each club’s account once applicable bonuses can no longer be earned.

“[The charge is removed] when it becomes clear that a bonus cannot be earned,” Saskin wrote. “For example, a player has a games-played bonus and there are no longer enough games in the season for him to earn it.”

And then there’s this other interesting CBA wrinkle would allow teams with cap space to make recalls from the minors for the playoffs without exposing those promoted to the dreaded re-entry waiver system. That’s because waivers are only in effect until the day after a team’s final regular season game.

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Say, that’s a quite classy welcome to the game they post on the scoreboard video screen up in civilized Ottawa, Canada’s nation’s capital, isn’t it?

I mean, you’ve got to love the local personality who incites the crowd by exhorting: “Let’s hear it for the Ontario team that doesn’t [stink]!”

Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s the attitude. That’s the environment that makes the My NHL people so proud.

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So we see that Martin Brodeur has been named the 16th-most influential and powerful person in hockey by The Hockey News.

If Brodeur weren’t so powerful, just think, the league might not have allowed him to play the puck in the crease, either, never mind the whole trapezoid thing going on behind the goal line.

In interests of full disclosure, I must confess that I am No. 88 on that list.

If I weren’t so influential, just think, the NHL might even have a hard cap by now.

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The 176 games in October produced an average of 23:38 power-play minutes per, according to calculation of the NHL game rep orts. We were told the players would learn to adjust to the new enforcement standards. Through Thursday, the 182 games in December produced an average of 20:17 of power-play time, per.

That’s either maybe a couple of calls a game or power plays working at better efficiency. But that’s hardly substantial progress though, in returning the game to a five-on-five competition.

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OK, The All-Rookie Team. Henrik Lundqvist in goal, Dion Phaneuf and Andrej Meszaros on defense, Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Petr Prucha or Marek Svatos or Thomas Vanek up front.

Chance to be greater than the 1990-91 team that featured Ed Belfour, Rob Blake, Eric Weinrich, Sergei Fedorov, Ken Hodge Jr. and Jaromir Jagr?

Discuss.

larry.brooks@nypost.com