(Courtesy of Faceoff.com)
While the off the ice stories have been piling up this summer with signings, rejected contracts, and KHL poaching’s it was revealed on Friday that Edmonton Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was found guilty on two of three DUI charges in Phoenix, Arizona. The 37-year-old Yekaterinburg native was pulled over back on February 8 where he was charged with speeding, driving while intoxicated, and impaired to a slight degree.
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(Courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Like a never-ending nightmare, the Ilya Kovalchuk summer has yet to find a resolution as a new proposed contract has been denied by the NHL according to reports earlier today. Sources claim that the framework is still not up to the league’s standards as the team is still pushing for the 27-year-old Russian to get at least 15 years.
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(Courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
You might as well write “sike” across the picture above as it appears the summer of Kovalchuk is far from over with confirmed reports surfacing that arbitrator and New Jersey native Richard Bloch has ruled in favor of the National Hockey League to uphold the rejection of the 17-year contract the winger signed that would pay him $102 million thus making null and void.
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While introducing new signings Evgeni Nabokov and Denis Grebeshkov, KHL and SKA St.Petersburg president Alexander Medvedev announced that long-time NHL winger Maxim Afinogenov planned to join his club for the upcoming season. Afinogenov agreed to join the club for the next five years after the Atlanta Thrashers wouldn’t meet his demands.
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(Courtesy of John Russell/Getty Image)
For the second time in a decade Denis Grebeshkov has left the NHL for the motherland signing a two-year contract with the KHL’s SKA St.Petersburg. While the terms have not been released, it appears it is more than $3.15 million he made last year with the Nashville Predators. You may recall Grebeshkov first left the NHL and the New York Islanders in 2006-2007 opting to play for his hometown Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the now defunct Russian Super League.
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(Courtesy of Jamie Sabau/Getty Images North America)
On the same day the Los Angeles Kings lost a Russian-speaking player they gained another by signing free agent and Ukrainian-born Alexei Ponikarovsky to a one-year deal worth $3 million. Known as Poni, the 30-year-old winger who spent most of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins last year comes to LA with 266 points in 493 games.
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(Courtesy of The Hockey News)
Minutes ago the New York Rangers have announced the signing of winger Alexander Frolov on the team’s website. The 28-year-old Moscow native comes to the Big Apple after spending his entire NHL career with the Los Angeles Kings where he recorded 381 points in 536 games. The contract is said to be one year for $3 million compared to the $2.9 he made last season.
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(Courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
After reintroducing Ilya Kovalchuk to the media on Tuesday afternoon the New Jersey Devils discovered his 17-year $102 million dollar contract was rejected the NHL. Hours following the press conference TSN broke the news that the league claimed Kovy’s contract, that would keep him with the Devils until he was 44, was a circumvention of the collective bargaining agreement.
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Courtesy of the AP Press
The NHL’s most prized free agent has finally found himself a home. Tver native Ilya Kovalchuk has announced that he will not be moving anywhere, but instead remaining with the New Jersey Devils. Despite receiving lucrative offers from multiple other clubs, from the NHL to the KHL, Kovalchuk may have taken the grandest of them all.
No. 17 signed a 17-year deal worth a reported $107 million that will keep him with the Newark-based club until 2028. For those wondering, Ilya will be 45 years old by that time. To put that titanic number into perspective, his contract will span longer than the term of a Supreme Court Justice, longer than the Devils arena deal at the Prudential Center, longer than the state of New Jersey has existed and yes, longer than the half-life of Uranium-238.
As we slowly approach week two of Kovy watch 2010 the most sought after free agent of this summer not named Lebron James has yet to pick a team. As much as VERSUS or the NHL network would probably love to air his decision live, I can’t see that happening. It would mean hockey being recognized as a legit sport in this country by those who can only pay attention once a week to their beloved team but I digress.
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