OT: Kovalchuk retires from the NHL

[Whiskeypete]

did anyone else just get this message from NHL GC on their phone?

Click to read more...

 

[CowMix]

We really dodged a bullet on that signing!

 

[Bandit]

April fools in July?

 

[Dave33]

Stunning, but yeah, thank goodness he didn't sign here.

 

[Whiskeypete]

its all over twitter now. GC, ESPN, etc still haven't posted anything yet

NHLDevilsPR ‏@NHLDevilsPR 4m
Kovalchuk: "This decision was something I have thought about for a long time going back to the lockout and spending the year in Russia."

Hockey Central ‏@SNHockeyCentral 4m
New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk announces his retirement from the NHL.

TSN http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=427507

NHL http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=677712&navid=DL|NHL|home

wow......and WOW!

 

[Reclamation Project]

Holy ****!!! It's legit.

 

[CTKingsFan]

We really dodged a bullet on that signing!

We dodged the atomic bomb in this one!

 

[Bandit]

Wow. Color me surprised that he's walking away from all that coin...

 

[The Butcher]

lombardis moves over the last 5 years are really becoming magnified. unreal.

i always knew kovy was a scum bag

 

[Omni Owl]

Shocker for sure, thank Cthulhu we got Richards instead of him. I can't believe how bad I wanted him on the Kings and he goes and retires at 30? Something is totally off about this whole thing...

 

[KopitarFAN]

The Devils are gonna suck so hard and won't have a first round pick.

 

[Shellz]

I just.. uhh... WHAT THE ****? I just don't understand..

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Holy ****.

 

[reset]

wow. thank god we didnt sign him

 

[Reaper45]

Don't worry about Lou's cap!!!

 

[CNS]

I feel so ****ing bad for the Devils. You decide not to give up the 29th pick, who is a complete tool and not a great player, you take a huge step in getting your future #1, but then your best player retires. Just unreal. Lose Parise and Kovalchuk. So ****ed.

 

[CowMix]

How does this effect their cap situation, isn't there a penalty? Even worse is that any money he clears up is useless after the majority of the FAs have been signed...

 

[Telos]

Wow. Ovechkin and Datsyuk resisted, but Kovy caved. Wow wow wow. Devils owned.

 

[TheSlovenian]

Hahaha.

 

[CowMix]

He was getting paid over 11 million dollars for the next 4 seasons! He skipped out on the largest part of his contract! WTF? What did the KHL offer him?!?!?

 

[CNS]

I wonder how much this has to do with his back injury. One Devils poster said there was speculation it was now chronic and really wasn't ever going to go away. If so, I guess I get it?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Unreal. Even eklund can't make up that ****.


Just wow....

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Man did we dodge a Nuke or what? holy crap. The City Of Angels turned Kovalchuk to the Devils because they knew he would retire! It all makes sense

 

[Telos]

Dean owes Lou the world for giving that contract.

I wouldn't be surprised if Lou turned around and traded for Vanek right about now.

 

[Thrice]

How is this Kings related?