Not sure it's quite that easy to return..... Not to mention he was apparantly just scratched and put on an "individual training program" as per SKA's Assistant Coach.
Quote:
Ilya Kovalchuk will be removed from the “voluntary retired list” upon reaching his 35th birthday on April 15, 2018, and thereby would become an unrestricted free agent if the winger were to pursue a return to the NHL for the 2018-19 season.
This is according to Bylaw 8.5 (c) and confirmed by deputy commissioner Bill Daly in a series of emails with The Post yesterday in which the NHL clarified Kovalchuk’s status after the Devils voided the remaining 12 years of his contract on Wednesday so he could continue his hockey career in the KHL.
Kovalchuk, who signed his retirement papers in conjunction with the nullification of the remainder of his 15-year, $100 million deal, is expected to sign a contract with the SKA St. Petersburg club for which he played during last season’s lockout.
He would not be able to return to the NHL without unanimous consent of the league’s member clubs before 2018-19 unless he were to sit out for at least one calendar year. If Kovalchuk were to sit that long within the next four years, he would then need the Devils’ permission to rejoin the NHL.
“It would require unanimous consent at any point at which the player tries to return to the League without having been out of professional hockey [anywhere in the world] for a full calendar year,” Daly wrote. “Once he sits out for a full calendar year, he can only come back with the Devils’ consent.”
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