Contract Termination: Ilya Kovalchuk

[Choralone]

Kovy didnt quit on the Kings. The Kings quit on Kovy.

That's true. He's not a good fit for the Kings, doesn't play with structure, etc.... but by all accounts he is a hard worker and not an issue in the locker room.

 

[razor8]

Why are people surprised? I saw this coming as soon as the deal was made public.

Kovalchuk is not someone who follows a system and plays for a team. He plays for himself.

 

[hmc1987]

Its a mutual termination, meaning both parties (Kovalchuk and the Kings) have decided to void the contract. Kovalchuk no longer has an obligation to play for the Kings and the Kings no longer have an obligation to pay him. LA saves the remaining ~$4.5 Million in actual cash they would have paid him over the next year and a half and Kovalchuk is able to return to the KHL and sign a new contract to get paid to play for another team.

However, this contract was signed when Kovalchuk was over the age of 35. This means that even though LA won't be paying him any actual money, they will still be penalized by having the full $6.25 Million cap hit this year and next year. LA is ok with this, because they are well below the cap ceiling and likely will be next year as well.

The reason they don't do what you suggested, swap struggling player for struggling player, bad contract for bad contract, is that they would still have to actually pay that player and therefore wouldn't get the $4.5 million in actual cash savings.

Also most players would NOT mutually terminate. So LAK free up Roster spot and save actual cash.

Wouldnt be surprised if LAK shops Doughty in offseason

 

[Islanders4Cups]

My guess is Lou Lamoriello knows Kovi as well as just about anyone in charge of an NHL roster at this time.

If Lou thinks Kovi could contribute to the Islanders offensively and fit in Trotz’ system, he would make a move.

Lou not making a move for Kovi would speak volumes of where Lou thinks Kovi’s game is.

 

[BlueSeal]

Sharks need to be all over this

 

[ovythegiraffe]

My guess is Lou Lamoriello knows Kovi as well as just about anyone in charge of an NHL roster at this time.

If Lou thinks Kovi could contribute to the Islanders offensively and fit in Trotz’ system, he would make a move.

Lou not making a move for Kovi would speak volumes of where Lou thinks Kovi’s game is.

Everyone's probably waiting for the termination before making moves. Don't think Isles can eat his 6m cap hit next season

 

[kp61c]

dumb as a rock and can't play defense. color me shocked.

 

[Ajaton Azer]

I think Ilya Kovalchuk is a very good ice hockey forward and when available for free a very sought after commodity. There could be a nice bidding war for his services which means nice times for Ilya

 

[Deadpool8812]

This signing was odd for the Kings from the get go

 

[KingCanadain1976]

This signing was odd for the Kings from the get go

Why ? When he was signed it was after the kings were beat in the playoffs by vegas They played a tough series losing by one goal in every game. The kings needed a goal scoring player especially from the left side. Also he only cost cap space to me the signing made sense to bad he just wasnt a fit

 

[Deadpool8812]

Why ? When he was signed it was after the kings were beat in the playoffs by vegas They played a tough series losing by one goal in every game. The kings needed a goal scoring player especially from the left side. Also he only cost cap space to me the signing made sense to bad he just wasnt a fit

While the Kings had a "close series" with Vegas, it was the end of them being considered contenders. Signing 35+ player who had just spent the last few years in the KHL to a multi-year contract at a high cap hit was not a smart move for them. LA should have been focusing on re-tooling/-building instead of wasting cap space and ice-time on a old veteran.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Why are people surprised? I saw this coming as soon as the deal was made public.

Kovalchuk is not someone who follows a system and plays for a team. He plays for himself.

Like PK Subban, both out for the name on the back vs the emblem in the front

 

[razor8]

Why ? When he was signed it was after the kings were beat in the playoffs by vegas They played a tough series losing by one goal in every game. The kings needed a goal scoring player especially from the left side. Also he only cost cap space to me the signing made sense to bad he just wasnt a fit

This is why it was weird. It was apparent at the time of signing him that he wasn't a good fit for LA.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

While the Kings had a "close series" with Vegas, it was the end of them being considered contenders. Signing 35+ player who had just spent the last few years in the KHL to a multi-year contract at a high cap hit was not a smart move for them. LA should have been focusing on re-tooling/-building instead of wasting cap space and ice-time on a old veteran.

I totally disagree Kings needed scoring Kovy was point a game in the k it was a risk yes and cap hit mean little when ur not spending to the cap already He cost nothing but cap space Every other option out there to add scoring would have cost long term assets Ie the patches rumored trade at the draft

 

[KingCanadain1976]

This is why it was weird. It was apparent at the time of signing him that he wasn't a good fit for LA.

Again he was the best option out there to the kings. It cost nothing but cap space which the kings had and still have. Any other option would have hurt the kings long term ie patches rumored ttrade

 

[kilowatt]

Also most players would NOT mutually terminate. So LAK free up Roster spot and save actual cash.

Wouldnt be surprised if LAK shops Doughty in offseason

lmao no

 

[bland]

I totally disagree Kings needed scoring Kovy was point a game in the k it was a risk yes and cap hit mean little when ur not spending to the cap already He cost nothing but cap space Every other option out there to add scoring would have cost long term assets Ie the patches rumored trade at the draft

It was terrible because what happened was always the most likely scenario. Not in retrospect either, a whole lot of us told everybody that he would have no chemistry with any King centers, the team was going to rebuild regardless of their one year playoff run but had very few cost controlled young assets at the time and those that they did have absolutely did not benefit from being around a guy who wasn't going to play any kind of system. Kovalchuk simply wouldn't adhere to his coaches. You can't have that around impressionable kids.

Rob Blake made a couple of stupid decisions in wanting Phaneuf and Kovalchuk, but to his credit he cut bait on both instead of trying to shoehorn them in to justify his choices.

 

[razor8]

Again he was the best option out there to the kings. It cost nothing but cap space which the kings had and still have. Any other option would have hurt the kings long term ie patches rumored ttrade

Just a big waste of time in my opinion, but I'm not a fan of LA so if you're happy with it then all is well I suppose.

Could've been avoided all together is all I'm saying.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

It was terrible because what happened was always the most likely scenario. Not in retrospect either, a whole lot of us told everybody that he would have no chemistry with any King centers, the team was going to rebuild regardless of their one year playoff run but had very few cost controlled young assets at the time and those that they did have absolutely did not benefit from being around a guy who wasn't going to play any kind of system. Kovalchuk simply wouldn't adhere to his coaches. You can't have that around impressionable kids.

Rob Blake made a couple of stupid decisions in wanting Phaneuf and Kovalchuk, but to his credit he cut bait on both instead of trying to shoehorn them in to justify his choices.

Again what other options did he have to try and get more scoring? whatever he would have had would have cost the kings player or future pics. I will not say kovy was a great add however with the other options out there (again the patches rumored trade comes to mind) there were a lot worse options that were available to him. All the kings lost was cap space It allowed us to keep all pick and prospects. Yes it was a gamble but could have been a lot worse.

Wow do u not remember the reason we got dion was to get out of gaborik contract who was always on ir or just plain sucking. When Dion got here he at least play decent. Dion was better on the kings the Gaborik was and cheaper.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Just a big waste of time in my opinion, but I'm not a fan of LA so if you're happy with it then all is well I suppose.

Could've been avoided all together is all I'm saying.

it was a risk i was and still am fine with . 3 years was too much. However it was worth the risk.

 

[LAKings88]

I thought Kovy would boost the PP which has been dismal for a few seasons going back to the last playoffs against Vegas.

That was my biggest support of the signing. Just was a bust.

Kings are in flux. Some decent youth could turn their fortunes in a couple seasons tho.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I still don't understand what's so hard about LA adding Kovy in the first place. Yes, it blew up in faces spectacularly. But when you can add a PP scoring threat to a team who was the #1 defensive and PK team in the league with a 2-way Center coming off a hart caliber campaign, a #1 d-man coming off a norris worthy campaign, and a money goalie coming off an incredibly strong season and better playoffs than what saw him win a Conn Smythe, it's worth attempting to add depth scoring for free since that was their biggest problem. We just needed someone to finish. It was sort of akin to a possession-monster 2014 Kings team who just needed someone to turn 60% shot attempts into some actual goals so they went out and got used-car Gaborik.

You can disagree reasonably like below, but LA's thought process was above.

It was terrible because what happened was always the most likely scenario. Not in retrospect either, a whole lot of us told everybody that he would have no chemistry with any King centers, the team was going to rebuild regardless of their one year playoff run but had very few cost controlled young assets at the time and those that they did have absolutely did not benefit from being around a guy who wasn't going to play any kind of system. Kovalchuk simply wouldn't adhere to his coaches. You can't have that around impressionable kids.

Rob Blake made a couple of stupid decisions in wanting Phaneuf and Kovalchuk, but to his credit he cut bait on both instead of trying to shoehorn them in to justify his choices.

Blake has proven excellent at avoiding sunk cost fallacy and cutting bait on his mistakes when he can.

Moving forward, he needs to make less mistakes requiring that.

 

[deaderhead28]

Also most players would NOT mutually terminate. So LAK free up Roster spot and save actual cash.

Wouldnt be surprised if LAK shops Doughty in offseason

Doughty isnt being traded.

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

Kovy posting what's next, only forward

 

[Lenerdosy]

Kings are going to have a whopping $11m in cap tied up in the 20-21 season between Kovalchuk, Phaneuf, and Richards, with no LTIR magic wand available to wash any of it away.

Appparently the kings and Canucks are competing who can have the most dead/useless cap space.