Kukla's Korner Hockey
Entries with the tag: ilya kovalchuk
Early Report Say Kovalchuk Out 2-4 Weeks
by Paul on 03/24/13 at 01:19 PM ET
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from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,
Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said the initial progrnosis is that right wing Ilya Kovalchuk will miss two to four weeks with a right shoulder injury.
Kovalchuk was injured in the third period of the Devils’ 2-1 win over Florida Saturday night.
He underwent an X-ray following Saturday’s game, which Lamoriello said was “fine”, and he’s scheduled to have an MRI this afternoon. Lamoriello would not say what Kovalchuk’s exact injury is—separation, dislocation, etc—but said he will not require surgery.
continue for more on the Devils...
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Video- Kovalchuk Hurts His Right Shoulder
by Paul on 03/23/13 at 10:35 PM ET
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The Devils will no more on the condition of Kovalchuk sometime Sunday after visiting the team doctor.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Video- Kovalchuk Prepares For His NHL Return
by Paul on 01/12/13 at 03:32 PM ET
Comments (2)
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
khl
The Latest On Kovalchuk
by Paul on 01/10/13 at 02:12 PM ET
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from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,
Well, Ilya Kovalchuk said finally said something definitive today and, though it wasn’t that he isn’t coming back to New Jersey, it wasn’t exactly comforting either.
After playing again today for SKA St. Petersburg’s 4-2 win over Salavat Yulaev in Ufa, Russia, Kovalchuk expressed a desire to remain in the KHL for the remainder of the season while acknowledging his contractual obligation to the Devils.
“I want to stay in St. Petersburg but I have contractual obligations in the NHL, which will be hard to break,” Kovalchuk told Sport-Express in Russia, according to the sports daily’s U.S. correspondent, Slava Malamud.
Malamud later clarified that Kovalchuk was speaking about remaining with SKA St. Petersburg for the remainder of this season and then returning to the Devils in the fall.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Anyone Seen Kovalchuk?
by Paul on 01/08/13 at 09:36 AM ET
Comments (14)
added 9:46am,
added 10:16am,
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
All Kovalchuk
by Paul on 10/03/12 at 10:02 AM ET
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from RIANOVOSTI,
How long do you think the NHL lockout will last?
“For some reason, they’re still refusing to talk about the serious problems, but instead talk about some borderline issues. The main thing is that all the guys have now shown the team owners that they can go and play somewhere, do their favorite thing and not just stay home. If you stay home then you can start getting depressed and clearly the team owners are hoping for that, but I think that this time things will be a little different.”
How would you feel about playing a full season in the KHL?
“I really don’t care, the main thing for me is hockey. I really like it here and if there isn’t a season there, then I’d be delighted to play it out here and try to do it as well as possible.”
Why haven’t stars like Sidney Crosby or Steve Stamkos come to the KHL?
“Maybe they’re a bit worried and hesitant about coming to Russia, but it’s a personal thing. If the lockout lasts a year then I think we’ll see a few more people in the KHL.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, NHL Talk, Non-NHL Hockey, European Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
khl
Kovalchuk Can Earn His Salary
by Paul on 05/29/12 at 11:04 AM ET
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from Mark Everson of the NY Post,
If the Devils win four more games, the $100 Million Man will be proved worth every ruble. And imagine someone picking New Jersey over Los Angeles.
The Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk gamble is threatening to pay off with an early and unexpected jackpot. The Stanley Cup finals open tomorrow in Newark when the Kings visit the Devils, and Kovalchuk leads the playoff scoring list with 18 points.
With seven goals, he is tied with teammates Zach Parise and Travis Zajac and Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown, one behind eliminated leaders Claude Giroux and Danny Briere of the Flyers.
Kovalchuk has just completed the $6 million second year — no pay for playoffs — of his 15-year, $100 million deal. Not only is he justifying that paycheck, he can put an advance squelch on salary squawkers next year, when his pay leaps to $11 million.
“It’s the last series. Two weeks to go and we had a lot of rest — there’s nothing to save it for,” Kovalchuk said. “If we play our best, nobody can beat us.
“It looks like this year is my chance.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Counting On Kovalchuk
by Paul on 05/26/12 at 09:51 PM ET
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from Scott Burnside of ESPN,
Kovalchuk had waited 10 years for this moment to come, and with his team headed to the Stanley Cup finals, he was able to finally bask in the achievement.
Dogged by doubts and labels since breaking into the league as a talented 18-year-old Russian in 2001, Kovalchuk is on the verge of silencing one of his most lingering critiques.
He’s four wins away from a Stanley Cup championship.
“I think it’s the biggest event I’ve ever been in in my career, so I’m just going to enjoy it and play as hard as I can,” he said.
It’s been a renaissance year for Kovalchuk, whose 83-point regular-season reaffirmed his status as one of the league’s most potent offensive threats, but not just in terms of pure production.
His league-leading 18-point playoff contribution makes it tough for any detractor to box him into the typical labels often reserved for those with last names difficult to pronounce: enigmatic, mercurial, selfish.
He has led the team when it counts.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Video- The Relationship Between Brodeur And Kovalchuk
by Paul on 05/26/12 at 01:28 AM ET
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In his Inside Hockey segment on HNIC, Elliotte Friedman takes a look at the relationship between the two stars.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
martin+brodeur
Kovalchuk Talks World Championships And Olympics
by Paul on 05/23/12 at 11:45 AM ET
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via RT,
The two-time world champion said he couldn’t miss the final game in Helsinki, where his teammates thrashed Slovakia, 6-2.
“I admired the guys, who didn’t give a single chance to their opponents,” Kovalchuk told Sport-Express paper.
“Everyone played well, especially Aleksandr Semin and Sashka (Alex) Ovechkin, who looked solid side-by-side with Pasha (Pavel) Datsyuk. As for Malkin, without many words, he is currently the best on the planet.”
Kovalchuk admits though that the Russians were lucky to see Canada and Sweden knocked out early.
“The Canadians had a good team in Finland, made up of strong NHL players. Same can be said about the co-hosts, Sweden. When those teams were eliminated, the Russians saw a green light in front and capitalized on that in style,” he noted.
The 29-year-old specially mentioned the team’s defense and power-play teams. “It’s very important now not to rest on our laurels. In two years’ time in Sochi it will be way more difficult,” he added.
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Video- Zac Rinaldo Slew Foot Leads To A Kovalchuk/Schenn Fight
by Paul on 02/04/12 at 07:18 PM ET
Comments (9)
Kovalchuk landed a right to the face of Schenn, brining him to his knees.
No penalty on Rinaldo
. My mistake, he did get 2 for tripping.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: brayden+schenn,
ilya+kovalchuk
Can You Say Overworked
by Paul on 10/25/11 at 02:50 PM ET
Comments (1)
from E.J. Hradek of NHL.com,
DeBoer hasn’t been shy about sending Kovalchuk over the boards. In three of the club’s first six games, Kovalchuk logged more than 29 minutes. While all three went to shootout, those type of minutes are nearly unheard of for a forward.
On Friday night, against the visiting Sharks, Kovalchuk worked a season-high 32:25. In New Jersey’s previous game, on Oct. 15, in Nashville, he finished with 32:04. No other player has played more than 32 minutes in any game during the young season.
Through Monday, Kovalchuk was the clear ice-time leader among forwards, averaging 26:56—nearly full four minutes more per game than the next busiest forward, Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf.
more Tuesday notes…
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Afternoon Line
by Paul on 10/09/11 at 05:05 PM ET
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“When a team plays a game like we did last night, you’ve got to change some things. It doesn’t really matter who you play with. I think myself personally I can work a lot harder than I worked last game. I can definitely. I know it was the first game. Everybody was so excited and we got a week between the last game and opening night, but you can find any excuses you want. The end result is (what matters). Especially our line was minus-3, so we’ve got to change something and I think that’s why we had those changes.”
-Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils. More from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
It Appears Kovalchuk Wants To Stay On The Left Side
by Paul on 09/16/11 at 12:45 PM ET
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from Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger,
He hadn’t talked to new coach Pete DeBoer much. Will he be the first-line left wing?
“We’ll see. Everybody is in the same position when we start,” Kovalchuk insisted. “Last year we were very disappointed. This is a big year this year.”
And what if he is asked to move to right wing?
“We’ll see. Talk to the coach. He knows better,” Kovalchuk said. “I think there were enough experiments last year, don’t you think?”
more, mostly about the KHL tragedy…
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Looking on the Left
by Ian Gooding on 09/04/11 at 02:00 PM ET
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We continue our preview of the top players at each position with a look at the left wing. In my auction league with bidding that is taking place all month, I am currently looking for a low-cost left wing option, of which there are plenty. But here are the options that you can reasonably pay top dollar for or feel comfortable drafting with an early-round pick.
Filed in: Fantasy Hockey and Gaming, thegoods13, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: alex+ovechkin,
bobby+ryan,
daniel+sedin,
dany+heatley,
fantasy+hockey,
henrik+zetterberg,
ian+gooding,
ilya+kovalchuk,
left+wing,
patrick+marleau,
pavel+datsyuk,
the+goods,
zach+parise
Devils Featured In 30 In 30
by David Pavlak on 08/18/11 at 12:46 AM ET
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I will provide some of the highlights from the Devils portion on 30 In 30 from the NHL per Mike Morreale.
“The New Jersey Devils couldn’t catch a break in the first half of the 2010-11 season, even after the summertime re-signing of Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk to a mammoth 15-year, $100 million contract that took nearly the entire summer to complete.
Instead, they suffered subpar performances under new coach John MacLean, lost star forward Zach Parise to injury 12 games into the season, saw Kovalchuk struggle in the early going, and found themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference at 9-22-2 by the time Christmas rolled around.
It was around that time General Manager Lou Lamoriello opted to fire MacLean and rehire Jacques Lemaire in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the playoffs.”
True, the Kovy ordeal did seem to be a major distraction to the team. John MacLean also seemed lost in the shuffle of being the coach for that year. His attention was not entirely on the team as it needed to be, and the results showed on the ice. I had a lot of friends who follow the Devils point out the same thing. He wasn’t able to coach the team the way you thought he was going too. Lou made the decsion he thought he had too, and it worked to an extent. They didn’t make the playoffs, but they certainly improved. If Parise was healthy, they would have definitely contended for the eight seed that year.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, David Pavlak, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: adam+larsson,
brian+rolston,
ilya+kovalchuk,
patrik+elias,
peter+deboer,
zach+parise
Captain Anonymous
by William Morrison on 08/17/11 at 10:56 AM ET
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What is a captain? “A person who is at the head of or in authority over others; chief; leader.” What is a hockey captain? “A locker room leader, motivator; a medium between players and upper management; a primary representative of the team both on and off the ice.”
It is a unique situation this off-season that all three New York City metro area teams will be naming a new captain for the upcoming 2011-2012 season. The New York Rangers have the most candidates and are probably in the best situation with the most quality choices to choose from. So, we will start with the Rangers and then look at the Devils, who have both the easiest and hardest choices of the three, and finally we will look at the New York Islanders who have the youngest crop of candidates with the most potential.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New York Islanders, William Morrison, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: brad+richards,
brandon+dubinsky,
brian+rolston,
frans+nielsen,
ilya+kovalchuk,
john+tavares,
kyle+okposo,
marc+staal,
mark+streit,
patrick+elias,
ryan+callahan,
zach+parise
Video- Kovalchuk Goes End To End For The Game Winner In OT
by Paul on 02/11/11 at 01:09 AM ET
Comments (3)
Ilya Kovalchuk does what all great goal scorers do, get the puck to the net.
Not sure what the two Toronto dmen where doing and Reimer wasn’t at his best on the goal either.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Afternoon Line
by Paul on 12/23/10 at 06:58 PM ET
Comments (7)
“I’m not the reason (why MacLean was fired). Don’t worry. Everybody has their own opinion, but in the situation that we are, (a coach gets fired). It’s unfortunate, but we have to live with it and move forward.”
-Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils. More from Kovalchuk by Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
john+maclean
Reviewing The Kovalchuk Trade
by Paul on 12/03/10 at 04:14 PM ET
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from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,
In Kovalchuk’s first 50 regular-season games for the Devils, dating back to last year’s trade, he has scored 14 goals. In his first 49 games for the Thrashers, Niclas Bergfors, the principle forward going Atlanta’s way from New Jersey, has scored 14 goals. Officially, the deal also included Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier, plus a first-round pick that Atlanta subsequently swapped to Chicago to get all those ex-Hawks now making a difference for them this season. Not bad horse trading for a franchise not known for its bartering successes in the not-so-distant past.
more topics, including a look at the the Avalanche…
Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Kessel Or Kovalchuk?
by Paul on 11/19/10 at 02:54 PM ET
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from Mike Brophy of Sportsnet,
So why Kessel over Kovalchuk? That’s easy.
For starters, Kessel is only 23-years old compared to Kovalchuk, who is 27. Also, there is only four more years left on Kessel’s contract after this season compared to 14 more for Kovalchuk. There are kids just learning to skate who could be Kovalchuk’s teammates if he plays the entire duration of his contract.
Also, Kessel may not possess leadership qualities, but I have never heard him referred to as a dog. The same cannot be said for Kovalchuk who often seems disinterested, especially when he doesn’t have the puck.
That much was evident Thursday night. In a game that could be described as life or death for both clubs, even though it’s early in the season, Kessel thoroughly outplayed Kovalchuk.
Kovalchuk played 22:50 and had an assist to go with four shots on goal. However, he often seemed lethargic and there was no desperation in his game to get the Devils back into the contest when they fell behind. Kessel, on the other hand, played 20 minutes and finished with one goal—the game winner. He had six shots on goal and hit the goal post on another. He was engaged on virtually each and every of the 21 shifts he skated.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
phil+kessel
Video- Kovalchuk Needed To Score In The Shootout Tonight…
by Paul on 11/11/10 at 01:14 AM ET
Comments (10)
Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Afternoon Line
by Paul on 10/26/10 at 05:28 PM ET
Comments (1)
“It’s still something that doesn’t make sense. The trade at the deadline didn’t make sense, the Devils’ signing him didn’t make sense. If you want to talk about team first and everybody plays for the team, why do you sign [a] player who’s not exactly known for that?
“If I want to make my team to the next level, that’s not the player I’m going to go after.”
-Bobby Holik on Ilya Kovalchuk. Via Elliotte Friedman of CBC where you can read more and his 30 Thoughts too.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: bobby+holik,
ilya+kovalchuk
The Bolts Beat, 10/26/10: Week in Review, Rypien, Kovalchuk, NHL Surprises/Underachievers & More
by Jon Jordan on 10/26/10 at 09:44 AM ET
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In the latest episode of the show, Jon, Mike and Mark review the Lightning’s 2-1-1 record in the week just past, discuss some minor injuries currently nagging the club as well as possible recalls, analyze the recent messes with Rick Rypien in Vancouver and Ilya Kovalchuk in New Jersey and offer up their early season surprise teams and underachievers. As usual, Mike gets all emotional with his Missed Call of the Week, while Jon’s What the Hell Was That? segment features a sincere apology to the fans on behalf of the show and a call for increased responsibility in the “fan blogger” community. Finally, Mark gets his wings, debuting his new end-show segment, “Missing the Mark” - (a temporary title, as he reaches out to the show’s audience for feedback and other ideas).
Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
rick+rypien,
simon+gagne,
simon+gagne,
steven+stamkos
Devils Coach Made The Decision To Not Dress Kovlachuk
by Paul on 10/24/10 at 12:51 AM ET
Comments (2)
from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,
MacLean would not reveal the specifics behind the decision to sit Kovalchuk, but said it was his decision and no one else’s.
“That’s between him and I,” MacLean said. “That was my decision.”
When asked if it was his decision or management’s decision, MacLean, said “No, it was my decision.”
MacLean said he did not regret that decision, which he made “probably mid-day.”
“I take responsibility for all my decisions that I make. That’s including that decision and including responsibility for games.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
john+maclean
Kovlachuk A Healthy Scratch
by Paul on 10/23/10 at 09:09 PM ET
Comments (11)
via Tom Gulitti tweet,
Devils say Ilya Kovalchuk is a healthy scratch.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
JJ’s Three Cheers: 10/14/10
by Jon Jordan on 10/14/10 at 01:02 PM ET
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Today’s three cheers, in honor of outstanding performances from last night’s action:
***Cheers to Tampa Bay’s Ryan Malone, whose three-point effort was capped with an overtime winner in Montreal, leading the Lightning to their second win in as many tries on the young season.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: clarke+macarthur,
ilya+kovalchuk,
martin+brodeur,
ryan+malone,
ryan+miller
The Bolts Beat, 10/12/10: Lightning Home Opener, Road Trip Ahead, Devils Dilemmas, Wisniewski & More
by Jon Jordan on 10/12/10 at 11:45 AM ET
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In the latest episode of The Bolts Beat, Jon, Mike and Mark recap the Lightning’s successful home opener and preview their road trip ahead. The boys also discuss the current (disasterous) state of the New Jersey Devils and the James Wisniewski/Sean Avery incident (how about that? “Sean Avery” and “incident” in the same sentence? Shocker…) Finally, JJ blows his top (again) in the latest installment of “What the Hell Was THAT?”
Filed in: NHL Teams, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: dominic+moore,
ilya+kovalchuk,
james+wisniewski,
mario+lemieux,
nate+thompson,
sean+avery,
sean+bergenheim,
steve+downie,
steven+stamkos,
t.j.+brodie,
vincent+lecavalier,
wayne+gretzky
Last Night Was Datsyuk/Perry, Tonight Kovalchuk And Green Go For A Dance
by Paul on 10/10/10 at 12:47 AM ET
Comments (4)
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
mike+green
Kovalchuk Ready For The Start Of The Season
by Paul on 10/06/10 at 04:17 PM ET
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from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,
Even if the team ends up with only 20 players to start the season, Kovalchuk likes the roster.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “I think any GM or owner would like to have that kind of roster,” he said. “But, with this organization it’s not just about names. It’s about the team and it’s about hard work. We know there are a lot of examples of where a team looks really strong on paper, but they never do anything. We just have to work even harder and we’ll be fine.”
After joining the team with only two months left in last season, Kovalchuk needed some time to adjust. Now, he’s got a training camp under his belt with the team and will be here from the start of the season, which he believes will help him.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
The State of Hockey in Russia
by Phil Davies on 10/05/10 at 03:10 PM ET
Comments (1)
The Russian National Team has taken great strides towards regaining past international hockey glory in the last few years. Spurred on by back-to-back World Championship victories with two straight wins over Team Canada in 2008 and 2009 (including a win on Canada’s home ice in 2008), Russia had seemed to finally regain their duo-superpower status with their longtime Canadian rivals. That is until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, where the Russians were soundly thumped 7-3 by the home side in their quarterfinal matchup. Perhaps, Team Russia goalie; Ilya Bryzgalov, summed up the debacle best by stating that Team Canada played like “gorillas coming out of a cage.”
On the heels of their defeat in Vancouver, many of Russia’s Olympic core squad vowed to gain a measure of revenge at the 2010 World Championships in Germany three months later. Although Russia defeated a relatively undermanned Canadian squad, their efforts, once again, ended in failure with an upset loss to the Czech Republic in the championship final.
Filed in: Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: alexander+ovechkin,
alexander+radulov,
alexander+semin,
andrei+markov,
denis+grebeshkov,
evgeni+malkin,
evgeni+nabokov,
ilya+bryzgalov,
ilya+kovalchuk,
khl,
maxim+afinogenov,
nashville+predators,
pavel+datsyuk,
slava+bykov,
slava+kozlov,
vladislav+tretiak
Getting Kovalchuk off His Game
by Michael Smith on 09/26/10 at 02:49 AM ET
Comments (6)
There’s one player who seems to have Cliffs Notes on taking Ilya Kovalchuk off his game.
It’s not a top-pair defensive defenseman nor anyone who will ever have to clear space for a Selke Trophy on his shelf.
No, the one guy who can infuriate Kovalchuk to the point of ineffectiveness is none other than Sean Avery.
While the New York Rangers are going to have trouble finding answers for New Jersey’s top line—if their 4 goals and 8 assists combined in two games are any indication—Ilya will likewise lack an answer for just what it is that bothers him so much about Avery.
And that could be an issue.
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
sean+avery
Kovalchuk Gives Avery Some Advice
by Paul on 09/26/10 at 01:32 AM ET
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from Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice,
Yes, Devils wing Ilya Kovalchuk did make a gesture with his hand toward his mouth during his exchange of words with Rangers’ pest Sean Avery when the two were on their respective benches in the third period. But it was not the throat slashing gesture that earned Blackhawks defenseman Nick Boynton a one-game regular season suspension earlier this week.
“I just told him to zip it,” Kovalchuk said after the Devils’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Rangers tonight. “I didn’t tell him I will kill him, so don’t suspend me.”
Rangers coach John Tortorella confirmed that Kovalchuk made a “zip your lip” motion and Avery himself said Kovalchuk should not be suspended for whatever gesture he made.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw the whole thing,” Tortorella said. :It was just shut your mouth. There was no slash.”
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk,
sean+avery
Is Kovalchuk ‘Fixed’?
by Paul on 09/19/10 at 11:10 AM ET
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from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,
The NHL made clear its disdain for New Jersey’s attempt to circumvent the CBA with its initial offer to coveted free agent winger Ilya Kovalchuk. Yep, a $3 million fine has a way of capturing attention, not to mention the first-round pick the Devils will forfeit on or before June 2014, as well as a third-rounder next June.
In the end, the Devils, so in love with Kovy’s scoring magic, gave up all of that and . . . AND! . . . a first- and second-round pick this past June and . . . AND! . . . Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, and prospect Patrice Cormier. Amid the protracted taffy pull it took to sign Kovalchuk, one might have forgotten the original ransom the Devils paid to get him out of Atlanta.
All of that for a guy, remember, that Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said back in April needed some fixing. The things Kovalchuk does wrong, Lamoriello said in the wake of the Devils’ first-round playoff elimination, can’t be remedied in a short stay.
continued and additional hockey topics too…
Filed in: NHL Teams, New Jersey Devils, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: ilya+kovalchuk
Devils in the Details: September 18, 2010
by Michael Smith on 09/18/10 at 01:40 PM ET
Comments (5)
Devils in the Details is a daily round-up of links to all things Devils-related throughout the season.
• Tom Gulitti discusses the flexibility tryouts Marcus Nilsson and Adam Mair would give the Devils should they need to deal a forward to get under the salary cap.
• More on Mair from John Fischer at In Lou We Trust, who takes an in-depth, by-the-numbers look at the gritty Sabres forward. The numbers don’t look good.
• Lou Lamoriello likes the look of his team thus far. Mark Everson agrees and calls the defense the best since Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer left.
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Devils in the Details: September 17, 2010
by Michael Smith on 09/17/10 at 01:59 PM ET
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Devils in the Details will be a daily round-up of links to all things Devils-related throughout the season.
• Ilya Kovalchuk, who arrived in New Jersey last night for the start of training camp, met with the media. Interesting point: Kovalchuk never considered signing with another NHL team after initial contract was rejected by the League. Though the KHL was definitely an option had the same happened to the second deal.
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Post-Kovalchuk Thrashers Deep on ‘D’, Look to New Faces and Young Guns for Offense
by Jon Jordan on 09/16/10 at 02:14 PM ET
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For the Atlanta Thrashers, a team with just one playoff appearance in ten National Hockey League seasons (and not a single post-season victory to their credit), the time for a fresh start was clearly at hand.
By first turning a negative into a positive in moving on from superstar sniper Ilya Kovalchuk late last season and then raiding the cabinet of the cap-crunched Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta begins their new era, under both a new general manager and head coach in Rick Dudley and Craig Ramsay, with a wealth of promising youth and several veterans with recent championship experience.
They may no longer boast an individual showstopper but that formula wasn’t producing a consistent winner in Blueland anyway (and that alone rarely does as much anywhere). The post-Kovalchuk Thrashers appear to be headed for greener pastures, though there will be that little issue of replacing his 45+ goals, of course.
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Pointing At Kovalchuk?
by Paul on 09/15/10 at 02:33 PM ET
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from Rich Chere of the Star Ledger,
The Devils got a unique talent when they signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a 15-year, $100 million contract late this summer.
They also got more headaches than anyone could have imagined.
Kovalchuk may be worth $100 million plus the additional $3 million fine from the NHL, but was he also worth losing two draft picks, including a first-rounder some time over the next four years?
Will he prove to be worth the players the Devils must trade in order to get back under the salary cap? And what happens now to the chemistry if this team?
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All Jay Grossman
by Paul on 09/07/10 at 10:23 PM ET
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Craig Custance of The Sporting News talks with Jay Grossman, player agent for Ilya Kovalchuk among others…
Grossman on the drawn-out negotiations: “At one point in August, I looked at almost every team and they had 19 or 20 players signed and it’s like, ‘Where’s the money (for free agents) going to come from?’ That’s part of your job to understand what kind of player you’re dealing with. On July 7 or 8, there were people who said that we had blown it and missed our opportunity and they were way off the mark … When you have the Hope Diamond, you can afford to be patient.”
On getting a major deal done in a tight free-agent market: “It speaks to the value of the player more than anything. I said that to Kovy even when, as recently as last week, this was dragging on. Before we submitted the second contract to the league, the question was raised: ‘Are we going down the right path?’ I said, ‘Look, nobody is walking away from you.’ Nobody did walk away from him. Most of all, New Jersey remained absolutely steadfast and determined in the process.”
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“I Choose NHL & I Want To Win The Cup There”
by Paul on 09/07/10 at 08:48 AM ET
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So says Ilya Kovalchuk.
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What’s Kovalchuk Talking About Today?
by Paul on 09/05/10 at 06:12 PM ET
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from Dmitry Chesnokov of PuckDaddy,
Q. How worried were you that the deal won’t be worked out?
KOVALCHUK: Of course there were worries and fears. But we were hoping all along that the best outcome for us will finally be there. I am thrilled that this is the way it turned out to be.
How did you feel when your initial contract was rejected right after you held a press conference in Newark?
What feelings could I have had? I was told that a rejection was a possibility. So, I was actually ready for it. Back then we didn’t know for sure that the contract would be approved. And then there was an arbitration hearing. But of course when I was told that the contract had been rejected, it didn’t feel good. But at the same time New Jersey made another offer that ultimately satisfied everyone.
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The $100 Million Dollar Man
by Paul on 09/04/10 at 11:17 AM ET
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from Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette,
Kovalchuk’s new deal tells him he need not ever worry about whether or not he can afford the cost of a sled-load of blini at the corner store in Tver. I say good luck to any player who can get what the Devils are willing to pay him, but is he worth it?
Kovalchuk can score goals, which he did in bunches in Atlanta, but what has he won lately? He scored 10 goals in 27 games when he was acquired by the Devils at the trading deadline last season
and he didn’t exactly set the world ablaze in the playoffs. Comrade Kovalchuk scored only two goals and four assists in a first-round, five-game loss to Philadelphia for a team with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference….
There’s no reason to think he can’t continue to score important goals with the Devils, but he’ll be aboard a different horse than the one he rode in Atlanta. While Kovalchuk was scoring 328 goals in 594 games with the Thrashers in his first seven seasons, he was a minus-85. Ugh!
That’s not the game the Devils play.
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Done Deals
by Paul on 09/04/10 at 04:58 AM ET
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via Tom Gulitti tweet,
It’s official, Papework done. Kovy a Devil for next 15 years.
from Dan Rosen of NHL.com,
The Ilya Kovalchuk saga has come to an end.
Kovalchuk will be a New Jersey Devil after all, and the circumvention investigations of the contracts for Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, Chris Pronger and Marian Hossa will not be pursued.
Earlier Saturday, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association agreed to a global settlement to cease the investigations linked to cap circumvention for the above contracts while adopting regulations to govern long-term contracts of five or more years.
The regulations will be added as a supplement to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and apply to all contracts signed from today. As a result, NHL officials agreed to register the new Kovalchuk contract as it was submitted by New Jersey last week and terminate their reviews of the contracts already registered for Luongo, Savard, Pronger and Hossa.
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The Bolts Beat, 09/03/10: With Special Guests Steve Downie and Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski
by Jon Jordan on 09/03/10 at 10:47 PM ET
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In the latest episode of The Bolts Beat (and the show’s debut here at Kukla’s Korner), JJ and co-host Mike Corcoran visit with Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steve Downie to discuss last season’s individual success, off-season training with Gary Roberts, rivalries and much more. Puck Daddy editor Greg Wyshynski drops in as well and touches on Ilya Kovalchuk, the recent Mt. Blogmore series, the newly rekindled bloggers/main stream media access debate and gives his opinion on how the Lightning might fare in 2010-11. Finally, Tampabaylightning.com contributor Mark Pukalo steps into the studio to add his two cents while helping to answer questions from The Bolts Beat mailbag.
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The CBA Amendments
by Paul on 09/03/10 at 09:11 PM ET
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from Darren Dreger of TSN,
Sources tell TSN that the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have reached an agreement on an amendment to the rules that govern long-term contracts.
The two sides have also agreed to extend the 5pm et deadline to complete the paperwork involved with the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation.
The amendments addresses two specific rules which only apply to long-term contracts (contracts defined as five years or longer).
First: For long-term contracts extending beyond the age of 40, the contract’s average annual value for the years up to and including 40, are calculated by dividing total value in those years by the number of years up to and including 40. Then for the years covering ages 41 and beyond, the cap charge in each year is equal to the value of the contract in that year….
Secondly, for long-term contracts that include years in which the player is 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40; the amount used for purposes of calculating his average annual value is a minimum of $1 million in each of those years (even if his actual compensation is less during those seasons).
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Can You Believe It? A Kovalchuk Deal
by Paul on 09/03/10 at 04:33 PM ET
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via Darren Dreger tweet,
TSN says a deal between the NHL and the PA has been reached and they’re working on paper work for 5pm.
added 2:37pm, via E.J. Hradek tweet,
The NHL and NHLPA are finalize details for an announcement at or before 5 pm, according to the source
added 2:50pm, via Darren Dreger of TSN,
Sources tell TSN that the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association have reached an agreement on an amendment to the rules that govern long term contracts.
The two sides are now working on getting the paperwork done in time for the 5pm et deadline both sides agreed upon to render a verdict on the Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation.
The agreement means that Kovalchuk’s contract with the New Jersey Devils will also get approved as part of a new global settlement.
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Wait Some More?
by Paul on 09/03/10 at 10:54 AM ET
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via Darren Dreger of TSN,
An amendment to the CBA and the fate of Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract are tied together, so it’s conceivable, the NHL will postpone its decision, or flat out reject the Devils latest offer until a more concise framework of what teams, players and player agents can and cannot do is agreed on.
The NHL and the NHLPA had productive discussions on Thursday regarding potential changes to the rules that govern players contracts, however, at this point, it seems unlikely the two sides will reach a settlement, complete with a vote from the PA’s 30 player board in time for todays 5pm deadline to determine the validity of Kovalchuk’s proposed contract with the New Jersey Devils.
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Will Everyone Be Happy?
by Paul on 09/02/10 at 10:19 PM ET
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from Craig Custance of The Sporting News,
A decision will finally be made on Ilya Kovalchuk’s latest contract.
Maybe. The league and the NHLPA agreed on a 5 p.m. ET Friday deadline, one that is fast approaching, and one that will reveal whether the league will approve the 15-year, $100 million contract the New Jersey Devils have submitted.
That is unless, of course, another extension is granted. And that appears to be a possibility as the sides work to negotiate parameters in which long-term contracts will be approved moving forward.
“They’re trying to work something where everybody will win,” an NHL source told Sporting News. “It’s possible both sides are going to come out looking good.”
It’s a definite temperature change from Wednesday evening when the New York Post reported that an ultimatum was issued by the league to the players, saying it would approve the Kovalchuk deal only if specific rules were put in place regarding future long-term contracts.
The league was quick to deny issuing any ultimatum.
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Wait, And Wait Some More
by Paul on 09/01/10 at 06:18 PM ET
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from Dan Rosen of NHL.com,
The Ilya Kovalchuk contract situation expected to reach a conclusion by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday will instead continue until 5 p.m. ET Friday. The NHL and NHLPA mutually agreed to extend the deadline to accept or reject the latest contract Kovalchuk signed with the New Jersey Devils.
added 4:29pm,
TORONTO - NEW YORK (Sept. 1, 2010) - The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association today mutually agreed to extend the deadline by which the League must reach a decision on the contract between the New Jersey Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk until 5:00 p.m. ET Friday, Sept. 3.
added 4:46pm,
Newark, NJ – New Jersey Devils President/CEO/General Manager Lou Lamoriello today issued the following statement:
“We have today been advised that the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed to extend until Friday the decision on whether to approve or reject the latest contract between Ilya Kovalchuk and the New Jersey Devils.
“We remain confident that the terms of this contract comply, in every respect, with the CBA and meet both the NHL’s concerns and the principles of Arbitrator Bloch’s decision. We remain optimistic that this extension will result in an approval of the contract and that Ilya Kovalchuk will remain a valuable member of the Devils for the balance of his career.
“We will have no further comment until the decision is rendered.”
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Morning Line
by Paul on 09/01/10 at 09:27 AM ET
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A rejection of the 15-year, $100 million contract would mean the Kovalchuk saga would continue.
-Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice. More talk on Kovalchuk from Tom.
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