Ilya Kovalchuk spurned the New Jersey Devils by abruptly retiring back in 2013. Now, it looks like he’ll shove it in their face from across the Hudson River.
It’s been five years since Ilya Kovalchuk stepped foot on NHL ice. When he left, he was supposed to be the cornerstone for the New Jersey Devils. He had 12 years left on a massive $100 million contract. It would still have seven years left if he was playing on it to this day. He should have been the next player to have his number retired into the rafters. Instead, he just retired.
Kovalchuk’s pain for Devils fans didn’t end there. It seemed every season he would let it leak that he was thinking of a comeback to North America. Last season, he finally confirmed the rumors. The only issue, is since he was under 35 years old he could only go to the Devils. He made it very clear to them he did not want to return to New Jersey “because he wanted to compete.”
Funny how that worked out.
Now, reports out of Russia say that Kovalchuk is signing with the New York Rangers, giving him two or three years with the Devils most hated rival.
Per source Ilya Kovalchuk is set to sign at 2-3 year deal with #NYR
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) April 9, 2018
So one more time, Kovalchuk stabs the Devils and their fans in the back. Mostly because everything he said was a lie. He made it known that he wanted to go to a winning franchise and have a chance at the Stanley Cup. Instead, he picked the team that was closest to his house that wasn’t the Devils.
Kovalchuk literally picked a team that told everyone and their mother that they were rebuilding. The Rangers ended with 77 points, 20 points behind the Devils. Sure, we’ve seen the Devils make that kind of jump, but not by signing 35 year old former snipers.
This signing doesn’t make much sense. Unless the Rangers also plan to trade for Erik Karlsson and sign John Tavares to have the shortest rebuild of all time (which is technically possible), then by the time the rebuild will be over then Kovalchuk’s contract will once again be over.
Also, I get that people will say that Kovalchuk can mentor the young talent, but what proof do we have that he has any interest in that? The only quote we have saying he was a good teammate was from Martin Brodeur, who claims he was engaged in the room. That’s great to say now, but he was contradicting himself back in 2013.
So, we have one person’s opinion going against the fact that he retired in the middle of a contract and stranded his teammates.
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Who knows if we’ll see a whole new Kovalchuk this season, but based on how he dealt with the Devils last offseason. He came in, called his own shots, asked for a ton of money and a short list of teams for which he could be traded. I understand he held all the cards because he didn’t mind going back to Russia, but still why even put everyone through that?
Honestly, the Rangers can have him. He took us to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. We will always appreciate the team from that season. However, Kovalchuk will get the worst reaction we’ve seen possibly ever. I was in the arena when Zach Parise returned as a member of the Minnesota Wild. It was an overwhelming reaction. This will blow that one out of the water.
Kovalchuk gets his wish. He will come back to the NHL, and will be able to play in the New York area. That just means we get to boo him out of the building five times a year.