National Hockey League: Kovalchuk looking for $100 million, LA Kings out of the running
As more and more teams sign more and more contracts with players, in the process they keep closing in on the National Hockey League’s salary cap. The odds that Ilya Kovalchuk would land the deal he is holding out for seem increasingly unrealistic. There is still time and room though. According to estimates, the average that has already been spent by teams is 47.9 million of the 59.4 million dollars Salary Cap.
Newly out of the running for Kovalchuk are the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings General Manager, Dean Lombardi told the Los Angeles Times that he did all he could to come to an arrangement that met both the team’s and Kovalchuk’s needs, but failed. The Kings badly wanted the Russian sniper on their roster but the asking price, not exactly known yet, was something they were either unwilling or unable to come up with.
Unconfirmed reports say that the 27 year old Kovalchuk would settle for nothing short of a long term, 100 million dollar deal. Something more enticing than the 12 year 101 million dollars deal the Atlanta Thrashers already offered Kovalchuk. Nothing but silence from his agent who said that he would make no comments until some agreement is reached.
This has been a slow year for Free Agency and Kovalchuk is the only one among the top 30 scorers in the NHL to surf the free agency waves this year. That makes Kovalchuk a valued asset as 18 of the remaining top 30 scorers have signed contracts until and beyond 2013-14. Kovalchuk would be the most high profile signing for whichever team ends up signing him, for the years to come.
The Kings appear to have given up, or maybe it’s just a ploy to get the Russian to reconsider, we can’t know. If it is just a ploy the King’s GM won’t be at all pleased with rumours that the New York Islanders have offered Kovalchuk a 100 million dollar deal over 10 years. The Islanders General Manager Garth Snow confirmed that they have made an attempt to lure Kovalchuk. The New York Islander stand an estimated 9 million dollars below the NHL’s salary cap. The Islanders have made expensive deals before. They offered goaltender Rick DiPietro a 67.5 million dollars contract spread out over 15 seasons and Alexei Yashin, a 10 year 87.5 million deal. The Kovalchuk deal, though in a league of its own, wouldn’t be entirely out of character for the Islanders.
Another possible destination for the pricey Russian could be the St. Luis Blues, who also have about as much room as the New York Islanders in their cap. The Devils too might still be in the game. The Devils General manger Lou Lamoriello said that they are keeping an eye on where Kovalchuk is and haven’t abandoned a possible deal with the Russian, though with only 4.5 million in their cap, Lamoriello would have to make some major changes to accommodate Kovalchuk. He said that the Devils will continue to make improvement however they could and if that meant making trades, then, the Devils wouldn’t shy away. The question though still remains if Kovalchuk would be agreeable or not.
It’s the fifth day of free agency and nothing definitive on Kovalchuk yet.
Kovalchuk undoubtedly is one of the greatest athletes in the NHL. God gifted talent and an almost supernatural knack for scoring, in his 466 NHL games (621 total) he has 269 goal (338 total) and 252 assists. He has scored over 40 goals in four seasons, including the past two years consecutively and over 50 in two other seasons. Those are the credentials that force teams to consider Kovalchuk’s price and what gives the Russian the stubbornness he has displayed. Valuable, Kovalchuk without a doubt is. How many millions is he worth, we’ll find out soon enough.
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