New Jersey Devils: Ilya Kovalchuk Not The Craziest Russian Story
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils was involved in an even weirder Russian controversy years before Ilya Kovalchuk left the team high and dry. We look into the forgotten story of Alexander Korolyuk.
The New Jersey Devils are tied to a pretty crazy story that kind of falls under the rug of NHL lore. It’s likely because Ilya Kovalchuk is a more recent story of a Russian bolting the NHL, and he was a bonafide star when he left. However, the story of Alexander Korolyuk may be crazier than Kovy’s story.
Korolyuk bounced back and forth between Russian and the San Jose Sharks because he had major issues with then Sharks coach Darryl Sutter. It got so bad that he left the country and the NHL until he was fired. When the Sharks brought in Ron Wilson, the Korolyuk decided to return to the NHL.
Then, similar to what happened with Kovalchuk, a lockout spurned his desire to play in his home country. Korolyuk decided he was done with the NHL, at least until he wasn’t. The Sharks and Devils worked out a trade where the Devils would take Korolyuk while also sending them a first-round pick to trade Vladimir Malakhov. It was 100% a salary cap dump by the Devils, and we all know that mid-90s Lou Lamoriello did not covet first-round picks.
The Devils were going from a world where Lou could spend freely for whoever he wanted. to now having a cap on what he was allowed to spend. The Devils only made $62 million in revenue the year after the lockout, so things were looking about as bad as possible. They needed to shed cash and fast, so they traded for a player who didn’t want his salary and it cost them a first-round pick.
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That first-round pick ended up being David Perron, who’s coming up on 200 goals in the NHL and is enjoying his third go around with the St. Louis Blues. It’s not like they got a game changer with the pick, and Perron never played a game with the Sharks, but Perron is a fine player the Devils may have liked at some point.
Back to the Russian in question. After the Devils traded for his “rights,” he ended up having a desire to return to the NHL. However, there was only one place he wanted to go. He still had a house in San Jose (this sounds familiar), and only wanted to play for Wilson, who got the very best out of him. So, the Sharks traded a third-round pick to get the rights to Korolyuk back from the Devils.
Then-Sharks GM Doug Wilson sounded very excited to bring Korolyuk back. His team was an injured mess at the time, and this kid was NHL ready. It only cost the team a mid-round pick, which were like candy at this time. If they could get a capable scorer with intense skill at 31 years old, they were going to make that move.
"“He’s a guy that has certainly given us a spark in the past…I asked him if he wants to come back and compete for a Stanley Cup, and he said, ‘Definitely.’ ” Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson"
Then, Korolyuk didn’t show up. No, really, he just decided not to come back to the NHL. It all came down to Korolyuk talking to his owner in Russia Super League.
Apparently, at some point during that conversation he convinced him to never look back at the NHL again. There was literally no other explanation. There was not major piece in a newspaper talking to him for the first time. We didn’t get the television piece asking him what if. This was right before social media blew up, so it was able to settle in the shadows.
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So, yeah that’s the story. Obviously, this story hurts the Sharks much more than the Devils, but this lost the Devils that third-round draft pick. When Korolyuk decided to stay in Russia, the NHL voided the trade outright. It wasn’t a great draft for players after the second round. The Sharks ended up taking Timo Pielmeier. He actually played more games in the New Jersey Devils system than he did in San Jose’s. He played a couple games at goalie with the Albany Devils in 2012.
At the end of the day, this will always be a huge “what if” for Sharks fans and a really small “remember that” for Devils fans.