Rumor: Ilya Kovalchuk will be signing a 2-3 year deal with NYR

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mouser

Business of Hockey
Jul 13, 2006
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True. He turns 27 after the 2019-20 season starts, which means he will be UFA in the summer of 2020, correct?

That would be the case if Gusev were eligible to become a UFA at age 27. However because there is no transfer agreement in place between the NHL and KHL/Russian Federation Gusev would not become a UFA at age 27. He is treated in the CBA as a Group 4 Restricted Free Agent with Vegas holding his rights indefinitely.
 
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GAGLine

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Sep 17, 2007
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I must've given like 20 reasons why against this signing.
Some of the main ones being,
He's 35 years old.
He hasn't been in the league in 5 years and the game has changed quite considerably since then.
Add to that the smaller rink size.

So, If I were to sum up these concerns, the overall theme here is that because of these reasons, Kovy might suck.

That is 100% true. He might suck. But you know what? Who cares? We don't need him to be good. It's a bonus if he is, but it isn't required. This team is not winning the cup in the next 2 years. They'll be lucky if they make the playoffs. Kovy playing well or poorly won't move the needle much in either direction.

His value to the team will be in filling a role the kids aren't ready to fill. Putting kids in positions they aren't ready for is a good way to ruin them. If he plays well, great. Maybe the team won't be a complete dumpster fire and we can trade Kovy down the road for more assets. In the meantime, signing him for free allows us to trade other players for more assets without completely gutting the team.

It's tying up $6M for x amount of years where that money could be used to sign long term pieces obtained via trades/UFA signing -2019.

Other players are going to be traded. Gorton isn't done. It's very likely that Zucc will be traded. It's likely that at least one of Spooner/Namestnikov will be traded. Kovy's cap hit won't stop Gorton from making other moves.

It's also a contact that's going to have a NTC attached to it.

I'm not sure that's true, but when has an NTC ever stopped us from trading someone? We signed Kotalik to a 3 year deal in 2009. He had a limited NTC with Calgary as one of the teams he wouldn't accept a trade to. We trade him to Calgary after 45 games.

Quite honestly, I'd rather just play a kid in that spot if a long term winger isn't available via trade at the moment.
These type of moves just always seem to come back and bite this team in the ass..Redden, Boyle..etc, etc..
And while you can change the description to this transaction and call it a stop gap, at the end of the day, it's exactly the same type deal the above players got.

As I said above, you want vets to insulate the kids so you aren't putting them in positions they aren't ready for. We want this team to be somewhat competitive. They don't need to make the playoffs, but being completely out of it by Halloween would be bad. We don't want to create a losing environment. We've seen how that plays out with other teams like Edmonton and Buffalo.

There's a huge, huge difference between signing Redden to a 6 year deal and expecting him to be a top pair dman on a winning team, and signing Kovy to a 2 year deal in the middle of a rebuild. There are no expectations that Kovy has to live up to. If he's good, great. If he sucks, so what. As long as he enables us to play the kids in their proper roles, he's doing his job. And if one of those kids shows that they are ready for more? Great, bump the kid up and move Kovy down. If Kovy plays himself out of the lineup, that's fine too. Go home to Russia. I don't care. His cap hit is meaningless while we are in the middle of a rebuild.

  1. We are going to be a bad team
  2. We need vets to insulate the kids
  3. It doesn't really matter if Kovy is good or not
If you just accept these truths, you will see that this is a good move for the Rangers.
 
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GAGLine

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Sep 17, 2007
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I can't imagine he will sign a deal without a full NMC

If he won't sign a deal without an NMC, I would guess he won't be signing a deal. I don't see any GM giving him multiple years on a 35+ contract with an NMC.

He can ask for it all he wants, doesn't mean he's going to get it. If the Rangers are the only ones bidding, Kovy will sign on Gorton's terms or he can stay in Russia.
 
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Captain Lindy

Formerly known as Kreider Beast
Apr 1, 2006
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If he won't sign a deal without an NMC, I would guess he won't be signing a deal. I don't see any GM giving him multiple years on a 35+ contract with an NMC.

He can ask for it all he wants, doesn't mean he's going to get it. If the Rangers are the only ones bidding, Kovy will sign on Gorton's terms or he can stay in Russia.
Hear hear!!
 

Mac n Gs

Gorton plz
Jan 17, 2014
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Can he be signed tomorrow, or do we have to wait until July 1st? I remember someone mentioning April 15th re: kovalchuk
 

Thirty One

Safe is safe.
Dec 28, 2003
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I believe tomorrow they can talk terms as much as they want, so it's not like that period before free agency. He'll likely come to an agreement and then officially sign it on July 1.
 

pld459666

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Feb 27, 2002
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If he won't sign a deal without an NMC, I would guess he won't be signing a deal. I don't see any GM giving him multiple years on a 35+ contract with an NMC.

He can ask for it all he wants, doesn't mean he's going to get it. If the Rangers are the only ones bidding, Kovy will sign on Gorton's terms or he can stay in Russia.

I think he gets two and a NMC easy.
 
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haohmaru

boomshakalaka
Aug 26, 2009
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From which team? Gorton didn't give Shatty one, and only gave him 4 years to boot.

Bad example - Shattenkirk wanted to be here, accepted less than market, and has a modified NTC.

If he has a bad year (Kovalchuk) it might as well be a NMC because no team will want a 35+ contract for 6M for a guy that the league has passed by. :P
 
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GAGLine

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Sep 17, 2007
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Bad example - Shattenkirk wanted to be here, accepted less than market, and has a modified NTC.

If he has a bad year (Kovalchuk) it might as well be a NMC because no team will want a 35+ contract for 6M for a guy that the league has passed by. :P

And as I mentioned in my other post, it doesn't matter if he sucks. We aren't winning a cup with him on the team regardless of how he plays and his cap hit won't be a big deal. It's not like he would be the only bad contract on the books those years. We've still got Staal and Smith. A bad Kovy with an NMC would still be easier to deal with than those 2, because Kovy won't get more than 2 years.
 

haohmaru

boomshakalaka
Aug 26, 2009
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And as I mentioned in my other post, it doesn't matter if he sucks. We aren't winning a cup with him on the team regardless of how he plays and his cap hit won't be a big deal. It's not like he would be the only bad contract on the books those years. We've still got Staal and Smith. A bad Kovy with an NMC would still be easier to deal with than those 2, because Kovy won't get more than 2 years.

And as I mentioned in my other post, what's the f***ing point then? Sign some younger guys, let them grow with the team/system and the teammates that surround them instead of signing some "name" dinosaur from the KHL because it'll sell a few jerseys and he'll pot a few goals. At least then we don't have to worry about the contract, or the player, AT ALL.
 
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Emptyvoid

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Apr 11, 2009
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And as I mentioned in my other post, what's the ****ing point then? Sign some younger guys, let them grow with the team/system and the teammates that surround them instead of signing some "name" dinosaur from the KHL because it'll sell a few jerseys and he'll pot a few goals. At least then we don't have to worry about the contract, or the player, AT ALL.

Not sure if GAGline was the one who mentioned this but slotting a young player into a role, that they might not be ready for, can do more harm than good. Sign Kovy, have the option for a middle six winger. If the youngster is ready for more responsibility, move them up and Kovy down. If not, then Kovy provides us with some offense and helps ease the younger player in.
 
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haohmaru

boomshakalaka
Aug 26, 2009
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Not sure if GAGline was the one who mentioned this but slotting a young player into a role, that they might not be ready for, can do more harm than good. Sign Kovy, have the option for a middle six winger. If the youngster is ready for more responsibility, move them up and Kovy down. If not, then Kovy provides us with some offense and helps ease the younger player in.

Who's not ready in our top 6/9?

Kreider / Zibs / Fast
Zucc / Hayes / Spooner (Namestnikov)
Vesey / Andersson / Chytil (?)

Who are you putting on the fourth line to play Kovalchuk at 6 or 9?

Again, no thanks. It makes ZERO sense. I'd rather see the guys above play in expanded roles than bring in an aging Russian stop-gap/bridge for a couple of years.

Like I said, too, I get the other side of this. I'm not into it.
 

YoSoyLalo

me reading HF
Oct 8, 2010
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Who's not ready in our top 6/9?

Kreider / Zibs / Fast
Zucc / Hayes / Spooner (Namestnikov)
Vesey / Andersson / Chytil (?)

Who are you putting on the fourth line to play Kovalchuk at 6 or 9?

Again, no thanks. It makes ZERO sense. I'd rather see the guys above play in expanded roles than bring in an aging Russian stop-gap/bridge for a couple of years.

Like I said, too, I get the other side of this. I'm not into it.

I think the problem here is that you’re looking at how Kovalchuk fits into the top-9 we ended the season with.

There’s a good chance that 2 or 3 of those guys aren’t here.
 
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NoQuitInNewMexico

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Jan 7, 2011
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If we sign Kovalchuk and he has a nightmare first season I'm sure I'd whine about him here, but I wouldn't actually be that mad.

Old man Jagr's game had a lot of upturns and downturns, remember that series we lost to the Bruins where they gave him Stu Bickel minutes? Old man MSL went like 20 regular season games without a point for us before turning it on in the playoffs. You're that talented, you can get it done with a crummy body (Marty's thighs still so thicc tho). And if he stays terrible, he'd be a hilarious tank commander
 

SA16

Sixstring
Aug 25, 2006
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Well just in your lineup above two of Zucc/Spooner/Namestnikov can easily not be on the team, possibly all 3, and Fast has played most of his career on the 4th line.
 
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