King Kovalchuk Watch 2010: Inconceivable! Ilya's a Devil!



Matt: It has been a brutal week for all the Kings fans that have been following the drama surrounding the Illya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. And there's no better place that to start at the beginning...

O.K., to sum up...Coming into the week, it sounded like Kovalchuk and the Kings were finally close to a deal, and all that was left was the final details. There were no more late entrants to the race, it seemed we were in the final stretch.

And instead of wondering where Ilya would sign, Kings fans were debating which number he should wear.

Then on Monday, Jay Grossman tweeted that Kovalchuk was indeed ready to make his decision. Right, we've heard that before.

Then the bombshell: despite all the analysts from alleged insiders, so-called experts, nerdy number crunchers and talking heads, Kovalchuk chose the Devils.

It was announced that Ilya Kovalchuk agreed to sign a 17-year deal worth $102 million with the New Jersey Devils. 17 years? $102 million?

Later on, it was revealed that the Kings' offer was only $80 million at 15 years. That being said, you can honestly say it was indeed all about the money.

Matt: Which is fine. You can't fault a man for making what someone is willing to pay. Hell, I'd like to have the kind of job security a 17-year contract would bring. Working in the newspaper industry? Where can I get that kind of deal?

Anyway, Monday left many Kings fans scratching their heads wondering "What Now?" After all, this had been an 18-day ordeal that finally seemed to go the Kings way. And in the blink of an eye, he was gone...(Usual Suspects)

On Tuesday, salt was applied to the wound when the Devils rolled their newest prize possession out for a press conference. Kovalchuk smiled uncomfortably, smirked about playing when he's 44, and everything you'd expect from a player that just got PAID.

Matt: But then, some things started to come to light. Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello later admitted that he thinks the type of contract he just doled out shouldn't be part of the NHL.

When asked why DID he sign Kovalchuk if he felt that way, Uncle Lou responded: “You’d have to speak to ownership about that.” Implying that basically it was ownership was the driving force here and not common sense.

Matt: It was a bitter pill to swallow, as he was so tantalizingly close. Turns out the two sides weren't as close as was believed. Later Tuesday night, Kings fans did get a little retribution.

A report came out that the league had rejected the contract claiming it circumvented the collective bargaining agreement.

It seems the league didn't buy the thought that this 27-year-old Russian would be playing until he was 44.

Matt: Never mind the fact that they had approved of similar lengths of contracts with Marian Hossa, Chris Pronger and Alexander Ovechkin.

So now, the contract has been voided and both sides may be forced to renegotiate. The team says they have no plans on challenging the league's ruling, leaving it to the player's association to fight for Kovalchuk.

Matt: What does this have to do with the Kings, you might ask?

Well, turns out Rich Hammond reported that Dean Lombardi said "the Kings would remain interested in signing Kovalchuk should the opportunity present itself." He does go on to say that the PA would probably get involved.

Matt: I don't want to come off sounding bitter, so allow me to say this: Kovalchuk is not coming to Los Angeles and I'm fine with that.

In my opinion, the Kings now have the flexibility to lock up their other core pieces, such as Doughty, Johnson and Simmonds. Even though the $80 M contract sounds like chump change compared to the Devils' end game, that's still a lot of scratch that would have seriously hindered the Kings in the long term. And who knows, maybe the league would've stepped in and voided Lombardi's contract?

Matt: So now, we sit and wait to see what Lombardi's plan will be. For the most part, I'm glad this is over. I can go back to what's important, like trying to figure out how I'm going to try and convice the wife on letting me go to Las Vegas for Frozen Fury.
Posted by Matt at July 24, 2010 1:09 PM
Categories: Musings of Mateo, Breaking News

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  • July 24, 2010 6:50 PM sandy redding wrote:
    Frozen Fury was an easy decision for my wife. I bought her a ticket. ;)
    Reply to this
  • July 25, 2010 7:23 PM Travis wrote:
    I agree on pretty much everything. Except I won't completely rule out Kovalchuk being a King, before you laugh, call me a homer, whatever. think about it, If the PA loses(likely) and in that event Commissioner Bettman deicides to issue a $3M penalty to NJ, they would have roughly $2M in cap space. Obviously the re-negotiated deal would have a higher cap hit, let's say $7M. In that case, NJ would have to move $5M minimum, more likely $8M. Which will be tough considering everybody on that team is either a 'core' player or has a NTC. So, in the event that NJ has to walk away due to penalties, it's anybody's guess where he ends up.
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