Kovalchuk: Would you accept him back? (Mod Note Post 293)

[Balance]

Kovalchuk's absence in 12-13 is all you need to know. Weren't we like 0-8 without him?

I will admit that the team was heavily unlucky too but there was such a huge void that could be noticed. Lucky or unlucky you don't go 0-10 without a player and then have him come back and finish out the season with a winning record.

ESPECIALLY, in a lockout season when the games count as double and it was during the playoff crunch where every game counted in the standings.

 

[Balance]

are we blaming Jagr for missing the playoffs last year?
how about Elias, or Henrique, or Zajac?

Nope, the offense was use to being carried by Kovalchuk so the team was terrible in the beginning of the season.

Jagr then meshed well and the team started rolling out 4 decent lines with Pete's great system and the team was a playoff team (albeit a 7th/8th seed team) but was eliminated because nobody could produce in the shootout (which once again, was heavily carried by Kovalchuk).

 

[devilsblood]

Everyone forgets this: Elias did absolutely nothing in the 2012 run, nothing at all.

He may get a pass for his past but the next time this team ends up in the playoffs they cannot depend upon him because he's simply too old against players playing at the top of their games.

But Elias has twice won the cup, including the year he put up 95 points, and then put up 23 playoff points.

So sure 36 yr old Elias is not as good as 27 year old Kovy, but that's not the discussion.

 

[Wingman77]

 

[devilsblood]

And do you see the smile on that dog's face? Having a grand ole time on that thing.

 

[The 29th Pick]

 

[tycobb]

Ha what? Parise's play never came close to Kovy's play? When Kovalchuk was with the Devils he put up a lot of points but he coasted a lot of the time. When Parise played he never coasted, it doesn't matter whether he was putting up 30 points or 94 points. Parise's 08-09 season is better than anything Kovalchuk ever did in his entire career.

Parise 2008-09 season was better than any season Kovy had, but Kovy had a WAY better career. He scored 52 goals twice, over 40 goals 6 times. He firsted 10th in the Hart in 2003-04 and was locked out of the very next season. After the lockout he came back with his highest PTS total (98).

Kovy had really bad luck getting signed by ATL. In his 2003-04 season he had 87 PTS. 2nd because on his team was McEachern with 55 PTS. He scored 21 more goals than 2nd place (Kozlov). ATL had some names but terrible coach/system.

 

[Bleedred]

Kovy had a way better career than Parise? Really?

One of them is gonna wind up playing in the NHL a lot longer than the other.

No one is gonna remember anything he did, if he spends half of his career playing in that Krappy hockey league.

 

[tycobb]

Kovy is 79th in All-Time goals. He is 6th all time out of Russian players. My biggest surprised with him leaving is that he had a good chance of being #1 in Goals, #1 in Assists, and #1 in PTS all time for a Russian (Depending on how well Ovie and Malkin age).

I have nothing against Parise even though he left and toyed with Lou. I personally would choose to live close to family 10 out of 10 times. He has had a great career so far. .39 G/.43 A/.82 PTS per game over 617 games with a 64.7 PS.

Kovy has .51 G / .49 A / 1.00 PTS per game over 816 games with a 98.5 PS.

Career wise they aren't really close as of now.

It is still possible that Kovy has more games in the NHL than Parise if Kovy comes back at 35. Not sure how well Parise is going to age, but Kovy started playing in the NHL at 18. Parise didn't play his first game until he was 21. Kovy did lose a year to the lockout but as of now he has a 199 games lead. That is like 2.5 seasons worth.

 

[StvBroDan]

No No No isn't their a thread on this. BTW NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[TheUnseenHand]

To answer the OP, yes, in a heartbeat. Absolutely.

 

[Deleted member 28548]

To answer the OP, yes, in a heartbeat. Absolutely.

Count me in for yes as well with open arms.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

The Kovalchuk hate is so unreasonable considering that 10 out of 10 people would do the same thing he did. Make more money in your home country, have everyone treat you like a hero compared to the US where it was unreasonable criticism, and play less games and spend time with your family and friends.

By the way, Lou AGREED to let him go. If Lou said no, he wouldn't be playing hockey in the KHL currently. So it was a mutual agreement, end of story. Kovalchuk didn't just leave on a plane and go to the KHL, he finished the lockout season and left.

He was not only the best forward the Devils have ever had (and his 2011-2012 season along with the second half of 2011 the best any NJ player ever produced) but he was so humble and kind. He was treated so wrongly here after the John Maclean incident and he won over the fan's hearts. There's a reason that most of the arena was filled with Kovy jerseys and it wasn't only because of how good he was but his character at the same time.

I can't wait to see what Jim has to say about this

 

[MadDevil]

I don't see it happening, but if he did want to come back, and he could still help, I wouldn't be opposed to it. Although I will say that our track record of bringing back former Devils hasn't been very good the last decade. Mogilny, Malakhov, Rolston, Holik, Arnott, Dowd, Sullivan. The only one that really worked out was Sykora.

 

[NJDevs26]

The thing is you know it's going to happen someday no matter what we say about it I mean we brought Gomez, Holik and Lemieux back, after all had contreversial/acrimonious departures themselves.

Well the caveat being Lou might not be around by the time the Russian merc's eligible to come back, and the next GM probably won't be as apt to bring in recycled ex-Devs.

 

[MadDevil]

I thought Marty and Kovy were good buddies?

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

If it was within a couple years, absolutely. Kovy is pretty much exactly what the team needs right now, a finisher. But if it was when he was much older say 5+ years from now, no thanks really.

 

[Jossipov]

I really hope in 5 years we arent still pining for a 35 year old Kovalchuk....id really hope we move on by then

 

[MadDevil]

I really hope in 5 years we arent still pining for a 35 year old Kovalchuk....id really hope we move on by then

I don't know if we're really pining for him. I think some people just wouldn't mind having that kind of scoring threat back. Even if he's lost the explosiveness he used to have, his shot and instincts should last into his mid 30's.

 

[Bcap88]

No.............Until he scores top shelf bar down...then all is forgiven

 

[Just Win]

Can someone finally lock this thread? He is making too much money in his homecountry and he cannot just return to the NHL. He either needs the consent of all 30 teams, sit out an entire year with no hockey at all or wait til he is 35. There is always a rival team that will block that move, Kovalchuk certainly won't throw the money away by sitting out and who knows if he is still any good when he is 35.

And even then, there is only one answer to the OP's question: