Ilya Kovalchuk Retires

[mikey287]

now does he continue to receive any compensation from that contract?

No, mutual termination (see: Petersen, Nick; LeClair, John)

[mikey287]

The NHL is worse today.

[Tomas]

Interesting info (just saw it in one Czech article): There was an agreement between NHL and KHL about mutual acknowledgement of contracts in the two leagues. That agreement expired at the end of June.

(Incidentally, almost all the Euro leagues outside KHL signed last month a new contract with the NHL allowing the NHL to take Euro players with valid Euro contract for a nominal fee - that's how, for example, Tomas Hertl got to San Jose this summer.)

[littlemoonboot]

LOL @ Devils fans that want their first rounder back. Sorry, your team tried to exploit a loophole on a toolbag that has now screwed you over.

[no name]

I almost feel bad for NJ, almost. They lose Parise to free agency and now Kovalchuk... Wonder what Lou got in store for them now. Also to lose a 1st rounder when you actually really could use one.

The Kovalshuk deal was kinda the first real bad cap circumvebtion deal if i remember correctly. Kinda serves them right for starting that trend.

[mikey287]

- Kovalchuk no longer has a valid NHL contract.
- Kovalchuk's is not the first "circumvention" deal, it was just the worst offender. IIRC, Daniel Briere's contract with Philadelphia started it.

[Idoit40fans]

I feel like they should get the first rounder back...the way the contract worked, his cap hit was higher for them than his paid salary. If they're losing a pick, the Wild, Red Wings, Hawks, Pens, Flyers, Canucks, and a handful of other teams should all be losing their first.

[littlemoonboot]

No doubt the league "made an example" of the Devils. I can't say I really care. Nor would I expect any other fans to care if that happened to us.

[meow]

I never understood why the Devils got hammered so hard with the cap circumvention while other teams got off scott free. No way can the NHL give them the pick back, right? I mean, they made a decision and should stick to it. The NHL would never go back and change a decision.

[GSdrums87]

The biggest mistake was not giving up the pick when they finished 29th overall.

[littlemoonboot]

I can't help but find it amusing that the Devils fans on HF have Rangers and Flyers fans posting and offering their condolences. Honestly that's a bit of salt in the wound right there. It will sting right now but it would probably be better for them longer term.

[AlexPKeaton]

So Kovy can go back to Russia for a year, and then his bro Geno can talk him into a 1 year deal with the Pens to win the cup haha.

[mikey287]

I never understood why the Devils got hammered so hard with the cap circumvention while other teams got off scott free. No way can the NHL give them the pick back, right? I mean, they made a decision and should stick to it. The NHL would never go back and change a decision.

Reason being is that the Devils were clearly the worst offender. A 17 year contract taking a player until he was 44. That's why. There is pushing the envelope (other deals cited) and there's tearing the envelope in half, spitting in it, crumpling it up and then putting a stamp on it like it's deliverable.

The Devils, I expect, will challenge this on the grounds of double jeopardy as I've said in the past. They get the cap recapture penalty (now, not as bad as once thought) AND they were penalized draft picks and fines. I don't expect them to win necessarily, but it's Lou Lamiorello...he's the mafia of the NHL. He needed Vladimir Malakhov off his books and he made him vanish. Now there's a tennis player that looks surprisingly like him...Lou can do some things.

[largegarlic]

I do kind of feel bad for the Devils too. I wonder if things would be better if hockey had rules for transferring players between leagues more like international soccer. It seems silly for a player to "retire" to break a contract in one league and then sign a contract in another, all while the team he retired from gets nothing (other than a lower cap hit).

It would be tricky to work transfer fees into a salary cap scenario, but MLS does it (somewhat successfully, I think).

[pittsoccer33]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hockey/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This was PBS' excellent Frontline newsmagazine story on the Soviet mobsters and hockey players.

[DontToewsMeBro]

Hopefully someone goes knee to knee(or throat) on him in the olympics and ends his career.

A few things:

1. Its time to stop chastising anyone who questions the commitment of European players.

The NHL is worse today.

[Pitt87]

- Kovalchuk no longer has a valid NHL contract.
- Kovalchuk's is not the first "circumvention" deal, it was just the worst offender. IIRC, Daniel Briere's contract with Philadelphia started it.

Was reading that, for some period of time, all 30 teams would have to ratify a return? Is that part of the new CBA? Never heard of this...

[JS©]

Back to the soviet you communist.

[AlexPKeaton]

I love it because A. I hate the devils, and B. I hate the devils.

Plus I love the hypocrisy of the hate. A good 'ol canadien boy like Clarkson leaves the devils for his hometown. He was only like ~2 hours away via plane. What a pansy. Clearly the players for the devils see it as a team with no hope of winning for a while. I would have bounced as well, especially for more money and in my home country.

[Arlow]

I feel bad for the 1,500 people that attend their home games.

[Shakes]

[Sarcastic]

That's really a dick move, similar to what Hossa did to us. If you're going to do something like this, do it before the FA period begins.

[Sarcastic]

I don't know where I read yesterday or if it's correct, but I think all NHL clubs would have to approve to let him back into the NHL? So I guess he's gone for good then? He always struck me as a head case, but I really couldn't care less about him or the Devils.

[Crankshaft]

That's really a dick move, similar to what Hossa did to us. If you're going to do something like this, do it before the FA period begins.

What? This is nothing like Hossa and the Pens.

[Sarcastic]

That's really a dick move, similar to what Hossa did to us. If you're going to do something like this, do it before the FA period begins.

What? This is nothing like Hossa and the Pens.

Similar in the way he kept us guessing until past the deadline, making us potentially miss on some FAs we would have signed. For that I will always have little respect for him. If you want to leave, leave, but don't drag your ass behind like you were the only one that mattered.