Ilya Kovalchuk Retiring

[ouendan1]

so... yeah?

front page of TSN

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[davnlaguna]

So glad we didnt out bid the Devils for him.
So they lose him and next year's first round pick in order to sign him.
I wonder if he knows he can not play in the KHL ever again due to agreements with the NHL

 

[Fox4Kings]

What happens with his contract and contract hit?

 

[ouendan1]

So glad we didnt out bid the Devils for him.
So they lose him and next year's first round pick in order to sign him.
I wonder if he knows he can not play in the KHL ever again due to agreements with the NHL

These "agreements" have never been enforced. Alexander Burmistov of Winnipeg is an RFA and he just signed a 2 year deal to play in the KHL.

Now that the initial shock of this has worn off, I'm very curious to see what everybody (KHL, NHL, Kovalchuk, NJ) does about this, ESPECIALLY if Kovalchuk tries to play in the Olympics next year in Sochi.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Crazy. My cousin texted me that Kovalchuk was retiring and I seriously thought he was kidding.

The CBA was basically done in part because of the Kovalchuk contract. This is about as big as it gets.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

A little earlier than I thought but I think we all knew there was no way he would fulfill that whole contract.

Ox

 

[davnlaguna]

These "agreements" have never been enforced. Alexander Burmistov of Winnipeg is an RFA and he just signed a 2 year deal to play in the KHL.

Now that the initial shock of this has worn off, I'm very curious to see what everybody (KHL, NHL, Kovalchuk, NJ) does about this, ESPECIALLY if Kovalchuk tries to play in the Olympics next year in Sochi.

RFAs are fair game. They dont have a current contract.
Kovy is another matter.
This may have been done with the blessing of the Devils. If they dont suspend him and instead void the contract i would look at that funny. Why give up your rights to a player for nothing and let him play in Russia and the Olympics and come back in a year with another team? We know Kovy wants to play in the Olympics and if they suspend him he cant. That alone may have kept him in the NHL this year.
I smell cap fraud. I just dont know the rules

 

[Deader2818]

Devils have voided his contract. He is going to sign with the KHL tomorrow. The "recapture" on his contract means the devils have to pay around $300,000 in cap space till 2024-2025.

 

[kings90272]

Puck Daddy just reported;

Ilya Kovalchuk will join SKA, could earn $20 million per season

Y! SPORTS


So he left because he wasn't getting paid enough LOL

 

[Kings4OT]

Pretty short retirement

 

[pete6835]

He went farther than anyone thought he would go last season. (SCF)

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Puck Daddy just reported;

Ilya Kovalchuk will join SKA, could earn $20 million per season

Y! SPORTS


So he left because he wasn't getting paid enough LOL

That is an interesting link. This guy is an evil genius.

"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."

Further:

"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."

-And this did not come out nowhere...

"SovSport was told back in January that SKA would do anything to bring Kovalchuk back to the KHL. There was even speculation that some Russian oligarchs were talking about buying a share in the Devils just to get Kovalchuk out of his deal and back in Russia."

 

[davnlaguna]

It must be nice to be that loved.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Holas mooks!

=)~~

I posted on the ESPN thread this just smells like cap fraud all the way around. I think the Devils and Kovalchuk were in on this three years ago.

Just doesn't pass the smell test in any way.

 

[davnlaguna]

Holas mooks!

=)~~

I posted on the ESPN thread this just smells like cap fraud all the way around. I think the Devils and Kovalchuk were in on this three years ago.

Just doesn't pass the smell test in any way.

I agree
This could open a new can of worms. A guy signs a long term deal but finds out he could a better deal later. So he had to sit out a year or play in Europe. The cap seems to be going up. Why not? Lose or in this case make a little more or less and come back as a UFA in a year.
And the team just releases him. They could have prevented him from playing in the Olympics. He said that meant a lot to him. They could have kept him for at least this year with the threat.
Also why are other teams silent about this? Glad to see him go? Oh well he could have been a King.

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Well according to what I heard on NHL Radio, they will be taking a $250k Cap hit for the length of the contract.
Seems silly to me. I also thought that the Devils were supposed to lose a pick because of this.

 

[Deader2818]

Its only going to be cap fraud if he comes back later and tries to sign with the Devils again.

If he just leaves and not comes back or comes back and signs with anyone but the Devils, its in no way cap fraud.

If they were in on that 3 years ago it seems pretty silly to me. Why do that and lose Parise and then Clarkson if you knew he was just going to "retire"?

 

[PuckinUgly57]

If they were in on that 3 years ago it seems pretty silly to me. Why do that and lose Parise and then Clarkson if you knew he was just going to "retire"?

There were grumblings two summers ago about Parise leaving, well before his contract expired. Those types of things just don't happen overnight, they tend to stew over time. Comments (Scuderi eluded in an interview three years ago - only 1 year into this last 4 year deal with LA - that he "may" go back east after this deal was done), finances, all kinds of things come into play (didn't the Devils have BK issues a few years ago?).

Clarkson to me seems like a blip, they weren't expecting him to bolt, but they weren't expecting more than a plugger either. That's essentially what he is, he just had 1.5 good seasons out of 5 in the NHL and cashed in this summer.

Based on Brodeur's age, no incumbent goalie prospect who would be elite like Brodeur (until acquiring Schneider), aging talent on expiring contracts within the next 2-3 years and yes, I fully believe these two groups were in cahoots because the Devils' remaining window was very small. They had to get a star and they finagled this deal IMO.

Remember, Lamoriello was the first GM to move Malakhov into Sharks' hands, giving them cap relief early into the 2005 CBA, in exchange for a pick. Malakhov never played again in the NHL if I recall.

As for the 1st round pick, they will lose it next summer. This whole thing was a freaking joke and the NHL got duped.

 

[ouendan1]

(didn't the Devils have BK issues a few years ago?).

Aren't they still having money issues?

 

[blk4x499]

Personally, I think he's doing New Jersey a big favor. I also think Lou and him had a handshake deal at the time of his contract signing that this was going to happen.