[News] Ilya Kovalchuk retiring

[Lil Pedro]

Originally Posted by Hesla

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

What happens with this pick? Does anyone acquire it or is the first round just the first 29 picks?

[Redrum]

I'm surprised you don't see this more often. Get a few mill in the bank and just sit back. Of course I'm incredibly lazy but there must be others like me out there.

[Devils'Advocate]

As a Devils fan, I'm rather pleased by this. He was a puck hog, or at least the Devils made him into one. Our powerplay was absolutely abysmal with him out there. They would just pass the puck to him every chance they got and teams would key on that.

The Devils of the past would score by committee. No major superstars up front. Unless you call Elias a superstar, which is possible. Or Mogilny. Or Richer. Okay, maybe some people that were on the border of superstar. But last year we had all our eggs in one basket. And a basket that played poor defensively at that. I'd rather have a bad few seasons and do a real rebuild around what was REAL Devils hockey - a good all round team that can roll four lines. That is what won the cups.

And I saw that with such an amazingly long contract, I figured we were tied to the "all eggs in one basket" game for many, many, many years. And now the next few years may be brutal, but the mid-term outlook may indeed be brighter.

[GreenLantern]

Kovalchuk never struck me as a Devils type player. I have always seen their guys as heart and soul put the team first..

I was very surprised they moved mountains to get and keep him there. In the end they gave up a lot, but having the cap space moving forward may benefit them more. I guess we shall see.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by albertGQ

Bob McKenzie is saying Kovy is free to play in the KHL because Devils are not going to toll his contract

If truth be told, with my tinfoil hat on in all of its majesty....

The Devils were having trouble making their payroll and were taking on loans from the NHL....it may not be a stretch that Gary suggested they explore other avenues of cutting costs....

[dammage79]

So win/win for the organization getting out from under the albatros contract and a win for Kovi who gets to take his family home. He should be able to play for the Russians in the olympics still.

Still though. If I was a Devils fan I would be supremely choked.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Locke

If truth be told, with my tinfoil hat on in all of its majesty....

The Devils were having trouble making their payroll and were taking on loans from the NHL....it may not be a stretch that Gary suggested they explore other avenues of cutting costs....

I doubt Gary had anything to do with this. He's probably fuming, actually. But I'll bet Lou was trying to "talk" Kovalchuk into staying even as his feet were trying to kick him out the door. This is just about the best case scenario for the Devils, as it gets them out of a long, ugly contract with minimum damage that a previous owner forced onto the team. The Devils get something they likely wanted, so it does make sense that they will happilly consider the contract terminated so that Kovaclchuk can get what he wants.

Meanwhile, the league is reminded yet again why making a big committment to a Russian is dangerous.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by nik-

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL right.

Holy crap ... The Devils just got it prison shower style.

Yeah, I was coming to post the retort to your first post.

The Devils got hammered by everything Kovalchuk. He goes for the big front loaded contract and the devils get fined, lose a pick immediately and then have to lose another 1st round pick which they deferred until 2014 and because of this retirement I can easily see them at the bottom of the standings.

Devils fans will be foaming at the mouth if their team ends up finishing 30th overall with no pick.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Lil Pedro

What happens with this pick? Does anyone acquire it or is the first round just the first 29 picks?

Nobody gets the pick. The first round will have only 29 selections. Round 2 starts at 30.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Is Kovy going to get payed every cent he signed for right away? Jeez this guy will be partying hard in Russia.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

Is Kovy going to get payed every cent he signed for right away? Jeez this guy will be partying hard in Russia.

No, he is retiring and leaving the remainder of his deal on the table.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by dammage79

No, he is retiring and leaving the remainder of his deal on the table.

Ah ok. Still brutal for the Devils.

[moon]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Ask youself honestly, if you were a Canadian playing in Russia and the Calgary Flames came knocking saying that they would pay you more if you retired from the KHL and came to the NHL, would you do it?

I would do it for any NHL team whether they paid more or not the NHL is a way better league than the KHL and living in NA a thousand times better than living in Russia.

[Drake]

According to Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport, Kovalchuk will be making that money up as the premiere star of the KHL – and in short order.

Lysenkov reports that Kovalchuk will be joining SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, the team for which he played during the NHL lockout. There’s where he will “become the most-paid player in the world,” according to SovSport.
How much? He speculates that if it was “a $15-20 million per year (at the taxation in 13%)” it would not be a surprise. (No word if that's on the KHL cap or some of it off the books.)

On top of that, Puck Daddy’s Dmitry Chesnokov believes SKA could front-load the contract and pay Kovalchuk an enormous sum of money up front.

Keep in mind Alex Radulov – hardly the superstar Kovalchuk is – was making over $9 million per season with CSKA in the KHL.

Know this about Kovalchuk: His close friend is Roman Rotenberg, vice president of marketing at SKA St. Petersburg and the son of Boris Rotenberg, a friend of Vladamir Putin and a billionaire. The Rotenberg family recently bought Jokerit and Hartwall Arena in Finland.

So yeah, Kovy's getting paid.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...210237775.html

[tempz]

Originally Posted by Drake

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...210237775.html

Its about damn time he gets paid poor guy would have been starving with the meager 11 million he was going to make on this continent.

[Locke]

And theres your 'Russian Factor.'

[nightfx]

Can't blame him if he really is going to be getting 15-20 million a year in the KHL

[tempz]

Originally Posted by nightfx

Can't blame him if he really is going to be getting 15-20 million a year in the KHL

We can absolutely blame him. He signed a contract. He should honor it.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Locke

If truth be told, with my tinfoil hat on in all of its majesty....

The Devils were having trouble making their payroll and were taking on loans from the NHL....it may not be a stretch that Gary suggested they explore other avenues of cutting costs....

Personally, I think you can take the tin hat off. Even with that monster contract I think the Devils could have traded Kovalchuk and gotten some good assets out of the deal.

They didn't need him to retire to get out of the contract. (IMO)

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Personally, I think you can take the tin hat off. Even with that monster contract I think the Devils could have traded Kovalchuk and gotten some good assets out of the deal.

They didn't need him to retire to get out of the contract. (IMO)

There's no way that Kovalchuk was tradeable. The contract was toxic.