Kovalchuk retires from the NHL/Signs with KHL team

[chippa13 1844]

Ummmmmmm...........sarcasm.

[chk hrd 164]

I'll have to agree with Roenick on his twitter post, he pretty much sums up the situation

[chippa13 1844]

For those of us not following Roenick, how about a brief synopsis.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Roenick

Basically, he feels bad for the Devils and their fans. And he feels Kovy's being selfish.

[chk hrd 164]

From SI

Ilya Kovalchuk's retirement left many speechless -- but that's not Jeremy Roenick's strong suit. [@Jeremy_Roenick:] Uwill all see now why I have talked negatively about kovalchuk !!! He doesn't want to play for the devils and he'll end up in the KHL!!! ... Kovalchuk is as selfish as they come!!!! I'm appalled. I feel bad for all u devils fans. U deserve better than that!! ... 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 !!!! ... 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! ... 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 don't Twitter but went to JR's feed, https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Roenick. He does not pull any punches on how he feels.

[chippa13 1844]

The downside for the Devils is that the top free agent tree has been picked clean already. Had Kovalchuk made this decision 8 days ago then the Devils would have been in a much better position.

I'm not sure how JR's comments on Kovalchuk have anything to do with how JR acted during the lost season but I'll take your word for it.

[ktang 34]

Smart move by Kovalchuk, to take the higher pay from the front-end-loaded contract before "retiring". If Lamoriello really only wanted Kovalchuk for the short term, then it worked out for him too.

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

The downside for the Devils is that the top free agent tree has been picked clean already. Had Kovalchuk made this decision 8 days ago then the Devils would have been in a much better position.

That's my concern. Sure, he's a loss, but it's not so much personal attachment, but what do the Devils do to fill the void. And does this negate all the good moves Lou made the past few weeks?

Granted, the Devils, up until the Kovy saga, have always done a great job of acquiring and cultivating young talent and running a team system. Maybe they'll gravitate more toward their roots.

Available UFA's

http://capgeek.com/ufa-finder

[mack 44]

I'd rather they wait it out until there are better names available in the future. They're just going to have to face the very likely scenario that they're going to be, at best, "in contention" of a final playoff spot. Or they just go all-in for being awful and start for the McDavid '15 sweepstakes.

[bagsbie 8]

The article said he was retiring from NHL, not hockey. He's got a deal with SKA St.Petersburg.

[chippa13 1844]

Wait, he's going to the KHL? What now?

[dsjunior1388 81]

This works out way too perfectly for the franchise for me to believe they were the least bit surprised by this. I could concievably see this day being discussed in 2010 before the 17 year deal was agreed upon.

[hamstercaster 2]

Yes I know KHL bla bla bla. To my defense, when the news broke , all that was mentioned is that he had retired, nothing about the KHL.

[JR Boucicaut 3797]

JR needs to shut it down a bit. All this hot air coming from the guy who turned his back on the union in 2004 during the lockout...

Appreciate the words and don't disagree, but, probably coming from the wrong guy...

Agreed.

[Chadd 916]

The downside for the Devils is that the top free agent tree has been picked clean already. Had Kovalchuk made this decision 8 days ago then the Devils would have been in a much better position.

I'm not sure how JR's comments on Kovalchuk have anything to do with how JR acted during the lost season but I'll take your word for it.

Yeah, Lou would have gone out and signed a couple top flight free agents, just like he usually does.

[chippa13 1844]

He did trade for Schneider, overpay for Clowe and bring in Ryder. It looks like he would have done something with the money.

[stick9 890]

Retiring as in retiring from the NHL, not hockey. He'll sign a massive deal with his former KHL club.

Hard to begrudge a guy for wanting to go home.

[bagsbie 8]

Let's face it, this was a mutually beneficial move, for Kovy and the Devils organization: Kovy goes to SKA and makes his millions and the Devils get the cap space to attract some talent. Had anybody really believed that Kovalchuk would have stuck around for another 12 years with the club or could have been successfully traded to another team? Chances are, his contract would have been bought out or he would have just defected to the KHL anyway, except it would have been left in more bitterness.

Home is a relative term. He lives in Miami in offseason. In fact, he is there now. His kids are going to go to an American school in St. Petersburg. He will be close to his mom, though, as Tver is probably a couple hours drive from St. Petersburg.

[DLK 0]

It's also worth pointing out that this move doesn't just benefit the Devil's organisation and Kovy himself, it also potentially benefits the league as a whole.

Yes, they lose a superstar, a name-brand player in his prime, to a rival league...but one of their most financially-troubled franchises looks a fair bit more financially attractive to potential new ownership. That contract was just entering the massive salary years and there was simply no way that Kovy was realistically going to provide $77m worth of value at this point in his career.

No one (other than the fans) is going to be too upset by this decision.

[Fury of One 6]

I had him pegged at leaving at 35. This will hurt ticket sales as well - I mean what's the selling point now? Attendance numbers were up. He could be a modern day Bobby Hull, defecting to a rival league. What's to stop others from doing the same? And Jokerit is joining in 2014, so potentially an even bigger draw for Euros.

[Souldriver 64]

He could of waited a year and went to the isles when they start playing in Brooklyn. With the amount of russians there it would of been like home.

But seriously, we all know he just wanted to be in Russia where they allow bumperstickers on the front of your helmet. I really hope that European ads on everything nonsense never makes it over the lake.

[bagsbie 8]

With all said, the title of this topic is quite misleading. He might be skating as early as end of July/ early August when the KHL training camp starts, although SKA had not announced the deal yet...

[215BroadStBullies610 435]

Will any of this affect his relationship with Warrior hockey?

[MyBoxersSayJoe 133]

I think most of the outrage is just knowing how hard it'll be to find available talent on that level when the Devils are already having trouble finishing. Otherwise, the only real outrage left is giving up the first round pick next draft. Which we could assume will be a very high spot given the current predicament.

There's some buzz about Brunner going around on the interwebz.

[ktang 34]

Smart move by Kovalchuk, to take the higher pay from the front-end-loaded contract before "retiring". If Lamoriello really only wanted Kovalchuk for the short term, then it worked out for him too.

This works out way too perfectly for the franchise for me to believe they were the least bit surprised by this. I could concievably see this day being discussed in 2010 before the 17 year deal was agreed upon.

Let's face it, this was a mutually beneficial move, for Kovy and the Devils organization: Kovy goes to SKA and makes his millions and the Devils get the cap space to attract some talent. Had anybody really believed that Kovalchuk would have stuck around for another 12 years with the club or could have been successfully traded to another team? Chances are, his contract would have been bought out or he would have just defected to the KHL anyway, except it would have been left in more bitterness.

Home is a relative term. He lives in Miami in offseason. In fact, he is there now. His kids are going to go to an American school in St. Petersburg. He will be close to his mom, though, as Tver is probably a couple hours drive from St. Petersburg.

This might also be good for the NHL, too. It will get the Devils get out of cap problems.

Win + Win + Win!