Ding Dong, the witch is retired: Ilya Kovalchuk says goodbye to the game of hockey

New Jersey Devils superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk "retired" on July 11, 2013. He still had 11 more seasons on his current contract, which would have paid him until this season, actually. With the retirement, Lou Lamoriello, then New Jersey Devils GM, was able to void the contract and move on from the Russian sniper. He ended up playing in the KHL, and he would eventually return to the NHL as a member of the Kings, Canadiens, and Capitals.

That brings us to Friday, March 14th. Ilya Kovalchuk retired, this time without the quotation marks. After more than two decades as a professional, Kovalchuk will no longer play the game of hockey. The news was first reported by Hockey News Hub on Twitter.

Kovalchuk was an enigma in New Jersey. He was a sign of the changing times for Lamoriello. An executive who often prioritized the team concept and demanded players do what was right for the team over themselves, he broke all the rules to get one of the best scorers in the game. He made a huge trade deadline move, something that was not known as a method for Lamoriello. He also did it for a player who was essentially a rental with no contract guarantee in the making. Then, he gave Kovalchuk two $100 million deals (with the first being voided by the NHL).

Ilya Kovalchuk's retirement marks the end of an era of pain for the New Jersey Devils

The 2013 retirement felt sudden, but there were rumors that something wasn't right. When the NHL went into a lockout after the 2011-12 season, Kovalchuk played for SKA St. Petersburg, one of the best teams in the KHL. That taste of playing at home likely didn't help the Devils keep him around, and some were skeptical he would even return when the lockout ended.

Still, the retirement pushed the Devils further into the abyss. They just lost their star and captain Zach Parise. More young scorers were heading elsewhere, including David Clarkson. Patrik Elias and Martin Brodeur were hitting the wall at the end of their careers. It felt like the Devils were in quicksand after the Kovalchuk retirement, and every time they made a move to get out of it (Michael Cammalleri, Michael Ryder, Ryane Clowe, etc.), it only made things worse.

But now, 12 years after Kovalchuk retired for the first time, we will get an official look back at his career. His retrospective will be interesting, as his main NHL impacts are distance memories. We haven't had a chance to continue our appreciation as we have for other older players like Patrick Kane and Alexander Ovechkin.

We don't expect a lot of celebration from Kovalchuk. We're also not sure how the Hall of Fame will treat his case. He was one of the best for an entire era, but the way he cut away from the NHL might be too much to get in.

For the sake of Devils fans, we hope this is the last we hear of Kovalchuk. It's been so dramatic, to the point of it being unnecessary. It was a terrible time when he retired and it makes it hard to appreciate the 2012 Stanley Cup Final run. He did what he did. The Devils finally rebuilt because of it, and we're in a better spot now. Now that Kovalchuk is retired for good, we can all move on.