Contract Termination: Ilya Kovalchuk

[FrozenKing18]

Kovy posting what's next, only forward

That's a $2.65 mil smile right there.

 

[bland]

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.

I do remember that it was an incredibly stupid decision because everybody knew that Gaborik was looking at a potentially career ending surgery in the offseason, that Phaneuf was having a very difficult time adjusting to the speed of the modern game, had a worse contract, wanted to live in LA more than play hockey, and at the time the Kings already had 5 left shot defensemen on their NHL roster, all of which had previously and subsequently outplayed him.

Blake WANTED Phaneuf. Blake WANTED Kovalchuk. Blake WANTED to trade more than half of his asset list to land Pacioretty.

He badly misread his team. He has made some very good decisions since then, but most definitely started off on the wrong foot. The only real cost to the team was a two year delay in starting their rebuild, but it cost ownership a whole lot of dead money. That may not interest fans who just follow the puck around, but there is a whole lot more to the GM job than making deals.

Think of the state of the Kings right now if the Pacioretty deal went thru - no Bjornfot, no Thomas, no Anderson-Dolan, no Grundstrom and no Durzi. Thats half of their top 10 prospects with yet another retirement deal on the books with no cap space. Blake got lucky that Pacioretty refused.

 

[Bandit]

I do remember that it was an incredibly stupid decision because everybody knew that Gaborik was looking at a potentially career ending surgery in the offseason, that Phaneuf was having a very difficult time adjusting to the speed of the modern game, had a worse contract, wanted to live in LA more than play hockey, and at the time the Kings already had 5 left shot defensemen on their NHL roster, all of which had previously and subsequently outplayed him.

Blake WANTED Phaneuf. Blake WANTED Kovalchuk. Blake WANTED to trade more than half of his asset list to land Pacioretty.

He badly misread his team. He has made some very good decisions since then, but most definitely started off on the wrong foot. The only real cost to the team was a two year delay in starting their rebuild, but it cost ownership a whole lot of dead money. That may not interest fans who just follow the puck around, but there is a whole lot more to the GM job than making deals.

Think of the state of the Kings right now if the Pacioretty deal went thru - no Bjornfot, no Thomas, no Anderson-Dolan, no Grundstrom and no Durzi. Thats half of their top 10 prospects with yet another retirement deal on the books with no cap space. Blake got lucky that Pacioretty refused.

Got lucky? That’s putting it mildly. I’d say he dodged an ICBM with a 25 megaton warhead attached to it.

 

[inthe6ix]

Kovy on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination:

https://www.tsn.ca/los-angeles-kings-place-ilya-kovalchuk-on-unconditional-waivers-1.1413997

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

I'm curious to see if any team gives him a cheap 1 year deal. Its possible.

 

[Vitto79]

I'm curious to see if any team gives him a cheap 1 year deal. Its possible.

hes not getting paid big bucks in the NHL so he's gonna bail to the KHL again

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

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

The main difference being that the Kings don't need the space while the Canucks do.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

hes not getting paid big bucks in the NHL so he's gonna bail to the KHL again

If he just wanted the money, I think he would have just stayed at home in LA, or asked LA to loan him to Russia, and have a team there pay part of his salary. It wouldn't have given LA cap space (outside of the usual 1mil you get from burying a player), but it would have been cheaper in real dollars.

I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed in NA to play on either a winning team or one where he'd have a bigger role.

His bank account already has a good number of zeros, so I can see his priorities as being somewhere where he can enjoy the limelight without too much responsibility/expectations. Basically, think of Jagr at the end of his career.


For example, in Boston, where he can line up on Krejci's wing on the second line with little pressure, or the NY teams, where he could also be a decent fit.

Hell, even Edmonton I could see being an easy sell: Be the top skilled RH shot on the team (a low bar), and have McDavid and Draisaitl teeing you up in the PP. Look at what they've done for Neal, who came from a similar situation.

Plus despite being a defensive coach, Tippett usually works well with 1-dimensional snipers (thinking of Vrbata here)

 

[Strakanator]

One question: Can he still one time the puck like he used to?

 

[ViD]

Kovy said he’s not going back to KHL, so I guess a cheap one year deal is a possibility for him

 

[rajuabju]

On a min. contract, he's still good enough for a top9 and PP role for a team looking to win this year.

Was never the right move for the Kings, just took them too long to figure it out.

 

[go4hockey]

Seems like the coaching system isn't working with where the Kings have been in the standings in the past 2 seasons

Clueless. They started this year with a new coach and the team is getting better as the season goes on and the learn the current coaches system. The coaches from last season had no system to put in place.

 

[Boy Hedican]

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.

Christmas came early and is gonna last a while! Ho ho ho!

 

[Boy Hedican]

Is he slow? If so go to anybody in the east not named TB...

Yes.

 

[robertocarlos]

He'd be great on the Jets 4th line.

 

[Fazkovsky]

Bergevin better step up

 

[KingsFan7824]

They were better without him than with him last year. They are better without him than with him this year. They were worse this year with him than they were last year. On average, they score more, and give up less, without him. The Kings aren't good with or without him, but in the 81 games with him they're the worst team in the league since the start of last year. They're 16-14-6 without him, and that includes the Wille D coached games, where they were 7-7-4.

I don't want to put all of it on one guy, one winger, because the Kings have been falling for years, but whatever the equation is, it worked out as poorly as it possibly could for the Kings. If there's a team that has a more solid foundation than the Kings do, a team that can either make Kovalchuk conform to a system, or that can afford a winger that will do what he wants to do when his line is called, then there's still space for him. He still has some talent. Can still shoot. Still a weapon on the PP. The Kings were clearly not that team though. I don't know if that's just what Kovalchuk is as a player, or if he had no respect for the Kings, but whatever it was, he did not fit, and the team was terrible with him on the ice, whether he scored or not.

 

[FrozenKing18]

One question: Can he still one time the puck like he used to?

Yes.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[BigKing]

One question: Can he still one time the puck like he used to?

It's just as hard but the net needs to be three feet wider all the way around.

He would be horrible on anyone's 4th line: especially on the road without last change. He is a total liability defensively and turnover-prone offensively.

If my team was a contender, I'd prefer they let someone else sign him and try to make it work.

 

[NyIander]

Capitals should give Kovalchuk a chance. Of course he would have to be put in a limited role, but I feel like he could do some damage with that skilled offense.

 

[robertocarlos]

AKA The Jets. Xmas came early.

 

[Jacob]

So his contract is mutually terminated but he still counts against the Kings cap?

 

[Balance]

Clueless. They started this year with a new coach and the team is getting better as the season goes on and the learn the current coaches system. The coaches from last season had no system to put in place.

The Kings are literally last place/2nd to last place all season. Let's not be delusional, their current coach is clueless and the team is bad/horrible.

Kovalchuk will do a lot better on a team that is actually competent and plays him fairly.

 

[Reaper45]

So his contract is mutually terminated but he still counts against the Kings cap?

I dont see how it can, 35+ or not it's a mutual termination. Guess we'll see.