[News] Ilya Kovalchuk retiring

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

So only Russians retire from the NHL?

Hakan Loob had just turned 29 when he did the same thing to play in Sweden.

Jim Peplinski retired at 29 as well IIRC. They had both just won the Stanley Cup, so why not? They had more money than they could ever spend.



I expect this is a good way for the Devils to escape the albatross contract, and Kovalchuk to go home to Russia.

It'll possibly be interesting to see what happens in 3-4 years if his post career follows the "30 for 30: Broke" pattern (great documentary BTW).

Most pro athletes are in the highest tax bracket so take home only part of their announced contract. In the US those making over 400K are paying 30% tax.Link

60% of NBA players are bankrupt within 5 years of retirement.

78% of NFL players are bankrupt or under "financial stress" within 2 years of retirement.
Link

I would LOVE to know what the numbers are for players in the NHL. I tend to think not quite as high (and I would hope not as high), but nevertheless - if Kovalchuk was broke in 3 years, he would probably still be able to return to the NHL given his skill level.

Then again, he's probably going to get a boatload of cash from the KHL, so maybe it's neither here nor there.

[Vinny01]

Wonder if Cammy would be a fit there now? Had they known they were losing their 29 year old superstar and franchise player I wonder if they would have traded for a 27 year old goalie or started the rebuild by keeping the pick?

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Well in recent history high profile players leaving the NHL have almost exclusively been Russian or former Soviet countries.

If you're suggesting the current risk of a Swede going back prematurely is the same as a Russian going back then you're wrong.

Swedes are taking paycuts to stay in the NHL. See Backlund.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Didn't the Kings come close to signing Kovy to an insane deal? Dean Lombardi must be laughing today.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by The Swedish Flame

I guess "love" was too strong of a word. I've just never liked the Devils, so I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for them. I'm more indifferent with a hint of schadenfreude.

And fair enough, I've always felt the Devils to be a good organization on a downturn, even considering the SCFs.

In this case though, I kind of empathize for the fans as one player has jerked around their entire club for seemingly little gain and what gain there is seems entirely personal.

I dont know. All of the consequences to the Devils for Ilya's sake and then to have him do this, it isnt even a stab in the back, its like stabbing the whole club, staff and fanbase in the back just to spin them around and laugh in their faces.

Maybe the fact that we cant really deduce his reasons at this point are playing a role in it for me.

Iggy did what he did for obvious reasons, so you could at the very least close the book on it and move along. Here you've got Ilya bailing really early into a massive contract, leaving a ton of money on the table and screwing his franchise for a few years for no apparent reason.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

No, the decision came that year and the Flames tried hard to keep him. I remember some story about his kids being bullied in school and he said that he'd help the team win the Cup that year, and then he was leaving.

You can blame my cousin. She was in the same class as Henrik. I didn't know he got bullied. I thought Hakan just wanted his son to grow up in Sweden.

"My oldest son, Henrik, is 8 years old. He went through some pretty tough times last fall in school here. He's feeling pretty good about himself now, but we know we want to go back and live in Sweden eventually and we think that's where we want him to grow up," he said.

[Nsd1]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

When you look at how the contract is structured, makes you wonder what Lamoriello knew at the time. No other long term deals have been that way where the first two years are low, it goes up for a good chunk of the middle and then goes back down.

If Kovalchuk had played even one more year, I think the cap benefit recapture would have been closer to a million and it just went up from there.

That's why they call him loophole Lou.

I always liked kovalchuk, with Savard and Heatley they could have been such a dominate line. If it wernt for all the injuries and the general crappy-ness of the thrashers they could have been awesome.

[The Swedish Flame]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

No, the decision came that year and the Flames tried hard to keep him. I remember some story about his kids being bullied in school and he said that he'd help the team win the Cup that year, and then he was leaving.

Edit: Here you go:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...g=1248,3540428

He announced it in May 1989 (second half of the article).

Interview from last year with a Swedish news site:

"Jag ångrar ingenting, det gör andra åt mig. Många tycker att jag var dum som lämnade NHL efter bara sex år. Jag hade sagt redan innan säsongen att det skulle bli mitt sista år och var väldigt bestämd med det"

Translation:

"I don't regret a thing, others do that for me. Many think that I was stupid who left the NHL after just six years. I had said already in the beginning of the season that it was my last year and was very decisive with it."

[MissTeeks]

JR is mad!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick46m
Kovalchuk is as selfish as they come!!!! I'm appalled. I feel bad for all u devils fans. U deserve better than that!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick40m
I am shocked that kovalchuk would do this to the devils and their fan base!!! Devils lose so much w this decision it's scary!!! Selfish !!!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick38m
I'm so irate right now. I feel bad for Lou lamoriello. Gave a 100 million dollar contract to a player who has no care for the NHL!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick36m
Hey Ilya hope u live comfortably in Russia w the money u made from the 23 million u stole from the devils Again I'm right in my analysis

[The Swedish Flame]

Wow. He sounds furious.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

JR is mad!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick46m
Kovalchuk is as selfish as they come!!!! I'm appalled. I feel bad for all u devils fans. U deserve better than that!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick40m
I am shocked that kovalchuk would do this to the devils and their fan base!!! Devils lose so much w this decision it's scary!!! Selfish !!!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick38m
I'm so irate right now. I feel bad for Lou lamoriello. Gave a 100 million dollar contract to a player who has no care for the NHL!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick36m
Hey Ilya hope u live comfortably in Russia w the money u made from the 23 million u stole from the devils Again I'm right in my analysis

"Wake up, Kovalchuk, wake up. I'm bleeding like a stuck pig. It's ridiculous. Wake the eff up!"

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by kehatch

What is the list of high profile Russian players returning to Russia / Soviet countries?

Kovalchuk
Radulov twice
A. Kostsitsyn
Yashin
Zubov
Fedorov
Grebeshkov
Nabakov
Jagr (Czech)
Hasek (Czech)
Hudler (Czech)
Demitra (Slovak)
Emery (Canadian)

Those are probably the biggest ones. Then you have a ton of lower profile guys over the years like Babchuk, Morozov, S. Kostitsyn, half of the Russian 1st round picks in the last 15 years, etc.

So yeah Russians and Czechs/Slovaks seem much more willig to leave the NHL at any point

[GreenLantern]

I doubt Kovalchuk is worried about the money, he will be making well over 10 mill a season tax free in the KHL.

Plus he will have mob cronies to put a hit on anyone who crosses him.

[Flash Walken]

Can we get a definitive idea on the cap recapture penalties for this?

[Bertuzzied]

Never saw this before.

His first account, @PaulBizNasty was shut down earlier in the summer, perhaps for a string of postings related to the initial $102-million, 17-year deal Ilya Kovlachuk signed with New Jersey. In one posting, he noted that: "if a strip club was open 7 days a week for 24 hours a day. u could spend about 11 years of ur life getting lapers. amazing." Later when that deal was rejected he posted: "kovalchuk's gana have to give lap dances for 20 years instead of getting them now that he got rejected. sory communist. back to the soviet." That may have been crossing the line, so after a brief break, Bissonnette returned to Twitter as @BizNasty2point0. And thankfully, he's still walking the tightrope: "Wanna say hey to all my biznatches out there. Tomorows Friday, get ur nails & hair did, trim ur unit, look good for the weekend" followed by "And try going with the landing strip, switch it up a bit. Be creative, or maybe hit up a barber shop and get some designs. Boom."

[Locke]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

JR is mad!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick46m
Kovalchuk is as selfish as they come!!!! I'm appalled. I feel bad for all u devils fans. U deserve better than that!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick40m
I am shocked that kovalchuk would do this to the devils and their fan base!!! Devils lose so much w this decision it's scary!!! Selfish !!!!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick38m
I'm so irate right now. I feel bad for Lou lamoriello. Gave a 100 million dollar contract to a player who has no care for the NHL!

Jeremy Roenick‏@Jeremy_Roenick36m
Hey Ilya hope u live comfortably in Russia w the money u made from the 23 million u stole from the devils Again I'm right in my analysis

I usually dont side with bigmouth JR there, but hes right.

If I was a Devils fan right now I'd be absolutely gutted.

I think I'm coming at this too much from a fan's perspective though. I wonder how much this has to do with the financial instability of the Devils and them maybe wanting out of this contract themselves?

That said though, the Devils' franchise was skating on thin ice when they signed Ilya in the first place....

[nik-]

Looks like we've found the team who's going to be fighting us in the Reinhart/Ekblad sweepstakes.

[kehatch]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Can we get a definitive idea on the cap recapture penalties for this?

250K per year. Per many sources including Bob Mackenzie.

On another note, you have to wonder how much influence NJ had on this decision. Lou says none. But it is a big coincident that this is happening right before the cap penalty becomes a big deal. It is another big coincident that NJ is in financial trouble but just unloaded 77M from the books.

I bet Gillis is wishing Luongo was Russian.

[Tinordi]

Agreed kehatch. That contract was the franchise's biggest liability, convenient that it now evaporates with only a $250k cap hit in advance of a potential sale?

[Knut]

Originally Posted by nik-

Looks like we've found the team who's going to be fighting us in the Reinhart/Ekblad sweepstakes.

No we wont... Their pick will be forfeited next season.