Ilya Kovalchuk Retires

Word is his KHL deal will be announced tomorrow at up to $20 million per season. It'll only take him 3-4 years to make up for the $77 million he gave up in the NHL, probably less as I'm sure he's going to be showered with bonuses and other perks.

Get ready for the floodgates to open, this won't be the last time a high-profile Russian "retires" out of an NHL contract for the KHL. Malkin, Ovechkin, Bobrovski, anybody could up and go regardless of contract status because Kovy proved it can be easily done.
 
What a dilemma for Devils' management with the cap space involvement - buyout, trade OR weather it out hoping Kovy is back in September!!!!
 
FrozenInferno said:
Word is his KHL deal will be announced tomorrow at up to $20 million per season. It'll only take him 3-4 years to make up for the $77 million he gave up in the NHL, probably less as I'm sure he's going to be showered with bonuses and other perks.

Get ready for the floodgates to open, this won't be the last time a high-profile Russian "retires" out of an NHL contract for the KHL. Malkin, Ovechkin, Bobrovski, anybody could up and go regardless of contract status because Kovy proved it can be easily done.
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It was easily done because the Devils put up no fight whatsoever. This was an opportunity for them to get out from under that ridiculous contract they gave him so don't feel to bad for them. I would assume the Pens, Caps, and Jackets would put up a much harder fight to stop this from happening with the players you listed.
 
I never saw this one coming and shame on Ilya if the KHL rumor is true.... that is the ultimate low for a player of his calibre and a real slap in the face to NHL/hockey fans.

I have so many nice Kovy high-end items that I'd love to move, but I'm not sure ebay is the way to go with this news.
 
sanintarious said:
Devils lost a first round pick and had cap penalties when signing Kovy, and now he just retires?! at the age of 30?!
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For whatever strange reason, the Devils decided to pass on giving up the 29th pick last year, kept this year's b/c the draft was being held in NJ, now they have to give up next year's with no Kovy helping.

NJ fans, welcome back to the 1-0, 2-1 games.
 
At a cap hit of $250K per year I can see why Lou provided no resistance and possibly encouraged this move to get out from under that contract. Frees up almost $7 Mil per for them.

Darren
 
This is NJ fault all around. I think they did get screwed over the contract penalty as other teams did similar or worse and no penalty. I read they didn't give up the pick because they were going to appeal it during the lock out and use it as a condition to sign the agreement but guess it didn't work. They get cap room but with Brodeur retiring this year,they are looking like a rebuild is coming quick.
 
Not sure why people are so shocked and outraged by this.

New Jersey gets (essentially) a free pass from a player they overpaid and clearly weren't built for and Kovy gets to go home for at least one year and make a boatload of cash. Kind of sounds like a win/win to me.

Do you think the Canucks would balk at a Luongo "retirement" similar to this one? I kind of doubt it.

Watch Lou sign him back in a year or two for half the money and giggle in the face of the new CBA.
 
FrozenInferno said:
Word is his KHL deal will be announced tomorrow at up to $20 million per season. It'll only take him 3-4 years to make up for the $77 million he gave up in the NHL, probably less as I'm sure he's going to be showered with bonuses and other perks.
Click to expand...

I would assume that just as some of the others before him have been given, Kovalchuk's contract will be tax free, meaning he'll probably make it up in 2 years.
 
I never was a big fan of him, he was always whiner. Could not play defense. The Devils should be happy to take his salary of the books for the future. Russia can have him back as far as I am concerned. But boy I will tell ya what a very selfish player and rude thing to do to the Devils fans and management because they lost a lot of draft picks too.
 
I think he retired because he knew he could never match Phil Kessel's playoff performance, no matter how much longer he played.
 
CKcardtrader said:
They get cap room but with Brodeur retiring this year,they are looking like a rebuild is coming quick.
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Would have been nice to have found out about the retirement 2 weeks ago, before the draft and unrestricted free agency.

Most likely NJ doesn't pull the deal for Schneider. What's the likeliness of Schneider signing an extension within 2 years? When your top line will be Zajac, Elias and Clowe.

Sure, he was overpaid, but he was a top scoring winger. Can't replace those guys that easily. Now what does NJ do? Overpay for Jagr? Grabovski?
 
Easy to move on from. He didn't want to play in the NHL as he clearly wanted to stay home after the lockout.
 
Good for Ilya - its about time somebody told the NHL to stuff it. Maybe they'll finally wake up and start treating the national hockey federations fairly and compensating them for developing players. If they had a fair deal on the table for the Russian Federation, there would have been transfer agreements in place and this never would have happened. The fact this could happen is all due to the arrogance of the NHL.

Cory
 
If he wants to go then let him. I don't think Lou will care, jump start a rebuild for the organization which seems to be needed. The NJ Devils always seem to land on their feet and within a few years will be back strong as ever. I wouldn't be surprised if Ovy didn't pull the same thing.
 


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