Kovalchuk Announces His Retirement

[maplesyrup]

Feels like not to long ago the Kovalchuk / Savard / Heatley line was the most dangerous line in hockey. Now there's a sixth of it left.

How do you get to 1/6'th?  Heatley is 1/4'th the player he used to be?

Well, you get what I'm saying...

 

[Kin]

Hypothetical scenario, let's say the Leafs were to do a Kessel-like trade for a young player like Yakupov.  Then a year into a 5-year deal he bolts.  Leaf fans would be pretty pissed off and I think havoc would describe their reaction pretty well.

In that scenario Leafs fans would certainly make a few more angry phone calls to sports talk radio shows but anger, even an extreme amount of it, isn't really a synonym for havoc. Such a scenario wouldn't result in confusion or destruction or fundamentally alter our experiences as a fan.

 

[Kin]

I hadn't considered that the KHL would want compensation for young players coming over, and you're right that might keep talks from getting anywhere.  Still I think if half a dozen or so big contracts turned out not to be worth the paper they were written on the league would have to do something, perhaps unilaterally.  Damages for bailing on a contract to play somewhere else?  I wonder if they'd try to push for that in the next CBA, obviously it would be tough sell.

Except the thing to keep in mind there is that the new CBA has largely eliminated contracts like Kovalchuk's so there's much less for the league to worry about in terms of cap circumvention. As for the contracts "not being worth the paper they're written on" the reality is that these contracts don't guarantee, and never have, anything other than what Kovalchuk provided. For three years Kovalchuk played hockey to the best of his ability for the agreed upon salary. That's all they could have reasonably expected.

Beyond that, I mean...everyone is allowed to retire. If a player was retiring because he just didn't want to play hockey anymore would you want him to have to either pay the team or be forced to stick around despite not wanting to do it? The reality is that once Ilya Kovalchuk retires from the NHL they have no contractual relationship with him to force him to do anything regardless of what he chooses to do next. If they want to work something out with the KHL like that they can but, again, then it comes back to the NHL having to enter into  negotiations with the KHL as a legitimate competitor.

 

[TML fan]

In a year nobody will even remember this guy played.

One of the top 3 goal scorers of the last decade? I won't forget him so easily.

At the very least, Devils fans will remember him.

Ok, so two people then.

 

[riff raff]

Hypothetical scenario, let's say the Leafs were to do a Kessel-like trade for a young player like Yakupov.  Then a year into a 5-year deal he bolts.  Leaf fans would be pretty pissed off and I think havoc would describe their reaction pretty well.

In that scenario Leafs fans would certainly make a few more angry phone calls to sports talk radio shows but anger, even an extreme amount of it, isn't really a synonym for havoc. Such a scenario wouldn't result in confusion or destruction or fundamentally alter our experiences as a fan.

I'm not sure about this, but wasn't it said that the Devils didn't 'stand in his way' - meaning they could have if they so desired. In other words, if a young Russian player - with a legitimate NHL contract - bolted for the KHL, the team he was leaving could try to stop him from playing in the KHL. That would require the KHL to recognize the NHL contract and that might not be automatic.

Actually, it doesn't even have to be a Russian player, does it? We just can't imagine anyone else preferring to play in the KHL.

 

[Leafaholic99]

as expected:

Ilya Kovalchuk signed a four-year deal with SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League on Monday, four days after the former New Jersey Devils All-Star forward abruptly retired from the National Hockey League.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the KHL but according to multiple reports the 30-year-old Russian's deal with SKA could be worth up to $15 million per season.

 

[Kin]

I'm not sure about this, but wasn't it said that the Devils didn't 'stand in his way' - meaning they could have if they so desired. In other words, if a young Russian player - with a legitimate NHL contract - bolted for the KHL, the team he was leaving could try to stop him from playing in the KHL. That would require the KHL to recognize the NHL contract and that might not be automatic.

I have to assume that there is no such mechanism otherwise I think we would have heard a little bit more directly from the Devils as to their thought process here.

I mean, really, what could the Devils do? If Kovalchuk retires what are they going to do: tell him he's not allowed?

 

[bustaheims]

I have to assume that there is no such mechanism otherwise I think we would have heard a little bit more directly from the Devils as to their thought process here.

I mean, really, what could the Devils do? If Kovalchuk retires what are they going to do: tell him he's not allowed?

The most they could have done is tolled the contract so that they'd retain his NHL rights until he either returned and fulfilled the entire remainder of the contract or they decided to relinquish those rights. They reportedly decided against that.

 

[riff raff]

I'm not sure about this, but wasn't it said that the Devils didn't 'stand in his way' - meaning they could have if they so desired. In other words, if a young Russian player - with a legitimate NHL contract - bolted for the KHL, the team he was leaving could try to stop him from playing in the KHL. That would require the KHL to recognize the NHL contract and that might not be automatic.

I have to assume that there is no such mechanism otherwise I think we would have heard a little bit more directly from the Devils as to their thought process here.

I mean, really, what could the Devils do? If Kovalchuk retires what are they going to do: tell him he's not allowed?

Okay, I found a reference to what I was thinking of in an article in SI about the 'retirement' and subsequent signing. Apparently, there is an agreement in place between the NHL and KHL to honor contracts:


"If it plays out this way, it will be interesting to see how this signing impacts the agreement between the NHL and KHL to honor the contractual obligations of players in each league.

It?s worth noting that Kovalchuk and the Devils mutually terminated his contract, which frees him up to do anything he wants with the rest of his life, including signing on with a team in another league. But if all it takes to switch from one league to the other is ?retirement,? then the current agreement will be rendered meaningless. And the ?Russian Factor? that once applied only to young players and prospects now paints a much broader stroke, covering every player, no matter his age, experience or contractual obligation."

http://nhl.si.com/2013/07/11/devils-ilya-kovalchuk-retires/

I bolded the part I was getting at. Theoretically, if the Devils had not terminated his contract, he could not have signed with any KHL team. This hasn't been tested, yet.

Yet.

 

[Joe S.]

I'm confused - I thought termination of contracts was not allowed.

 

[louisstamos]

I'm confused - I thought termination of contracts was not allowed.

Only if both the player and team consent to it (and getting a player to walk away from guaranteed money is...well...rare).

 

[bustaheims]

I'm confused - I thought termination of contracts was not allowed.

There are limited opportunities that allow it, and a player not on a 35+ contract retiring is one of them. The retirement has to be legit, though.

 

[Bullfrog]

There are limited opportunities that allow it, and a player not on a 35+ contract retiring is one of them. The retirement has to be legit, though.

And that's why I don't think it renders the agreement between the NHL and KHL meaningless. It means that Kovalchuk can not return to the NHL (except as provided by the retirement portions of the CBA.)

 

[Jolly good show chaps]

I also didn't think contracts could be terminated even mutually.

Without wanting to go off course, surely Luongo and the Canucks could have done this if he felt as strongly about his contract as he made out?

 

[bustaheims]

I also didn't think contracts could be terminated even mutually.

Without wanting to go off course, surely Luongo and the Canucks could have done this if he felt as strongly about his contract as he made out?

Only if he didn't want to play in the NHL in the near future.