In What Turned Out To Be An Independence Day Miracle, Ilya Kovalchuk Is Staying In The KHL
Imagine if the biggest story of the day on the Fourth of July was hijacked by some commie Russian coming back to the NHL? Not My Independence Day. Really dodged a bullet on that one.
Out of everything that has happened so far this NHL offseason, the Ilya Kovalchuk saga has been the most confusing. People have been talking about his return to the NHL since the moment he left the Devils to go home to Russia. In order to play in the NHL this upcoming season, he would have needed to sign with the Devils and then get traded from there. The teams that sounded like they were in the running the most for Kovy were the Rangers and Blue Jackets. But either Kovalchuk’s ask was too high or the Devils’ trade demands were too much for NYR and Columbus, and now Ilya Kovalchuk will waste another year of his career playing in the KHL. And just like most things in today’s world, we have Putin to thank for this.
Does this mean that Russia will probably win the gold medal at the Olympics come February when they have all their best players on the roster? Probably. But that’s a much easier pill to swallow than having another top-level player make his way to the Metro division this year. This summer alone we’ve already seen the Devils and Flyers get the #1 and #2 overall picks in the draft. Artemi Panarin is now with the Blue Jackets. The Islanders picked up Jordan Eberle. The Hurricanes went to a Chicago Blackhawks yard sale to put together their roster for next year. Shattenkirk Metro-swapped from the Caps to the Rangers. And the Penguins are still the Penguins. So yeah, the Metro is going to be a blood bath next year and adding Kovalchuk to the mix was the last thing anybody needed.
So now what happens is Ilya Kovalchuk will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2018. So the Devils lose any remaining leverage they had in this situation and Kovalchuk can sign with whoever he wants next summer. Keep in mind that he’ll be 35-years-old next summer. He did just have his best season since 2012 last year so age isn’t slowing him down yet. But he’ll be playing a full season in the KHL plus the Olympics. At some point that’ll have to catch up to him.