Speculation: Much Ado About Kovy: Staying in Russia

[mtnet]

In modern day Russia, deal turns YOU down (Kovy)

 

[JimEIV]

I have to be honest, I was really hoping to recoup some asessts.

I just kinda thought it would've brought closure to this whole episode?

 

[devilsblood]

I somewhat agree, the article said the rags were heavily interested, yet Ray didnt receive a single offer ? from any GM?

Did they say if he ever received a call?

An offer is one thing, but did someone call and ask "how much will you retain" Shero said, "not much", and thus it never made it to offer stage?

 

[The 29th Pick]

Did they say if he ever received a call?

An offer is one thing, but did someone call and ask "how much will you retain" Shero said, "not much", and thus it never made it to offer stage?

they were texting each other and Shero said "I was never presented a deal"

 

[devilsblood]

they were texting each other and Shero said "I was never presented a deal"

ya, so they discussed some things, but it never got to deal stage. Why? My guess is Shero's unwillingness to retain salary. Or perhaps better put whatever teams unwillingness to meet Kovy's contract demands.

 

[NJDevs26]

I somewhat agree, the article said the rags were heavily interested, yet Ray didnt receive a single offer ? from any GM?

A) Bleed was being sarcastic
B) The only mention the article made of the Rangers' supposed interest was citing the Post piece. Clearly 'heavily interested' didn't mean giving into his contract demands since they never even made an offer to us.

 

[The 29th Pick]

ya, so they discussed some things, but it never got to deal stage. Why? My guess is Shero's unwillingness to retain salary. Or perhaps better put whatever teams unwillingness to meet Kovy's contract demands.

We'll never know the whole story with all the parties involved.
We'll find out more about Amelia Earhart than this Kovi situation

 

[Edmonton East]

Meh. Only thing that really doesn't make sense to me is why wouldn't Shero be more than just a passive party, and actively advocate salary retention to boost demand/return?

 

[None Shall Pass]

Meh. Only thing that really doesn't make sense to me is why wouldn't Shero be more than just a passive party, and actively advocate salary retention to boost demand/return?

Because the return probably wasn't going to be anything significant, and ownership probably isn't too keen to pay 2 or 3 million a year for a few years for a good player to play for the Rangers while we get like one 2nd round draft pick.

 

[The 29th Pick]

A) Bleed was being sarcastic
B) The only mention the article made of the Rangers' supposed interest was citing the Post piece. Clearly 'heavily interested' didn't mean giving into his contract demands since they never even made an offer to us.

Bleed is space-junk as a poster
and he must be new around here because he doesnt know about the sarcasm smiley

 

[Emperoreddy]

Or more likely no one wanted to give him term no matter how much was retained and there was literally no deal to be made.

 

[Edmonton East]

Because the return probably wasn't going to be anything significant, and ownership probably isn't too keen to pay 2 or 3 million a year for a few years for a good player to play for the Rangers while we get like one 2nd round draft pick.

Eh, I just had one team in mind. Chicago. I feel like they should have been all over this and doing whatever they could to get Kovy at 3 years/6 @ 50% retained.

That's the only landing spot that made sense to me once the 3 years at 6+ crap leaked.

 

[Classic Devil]

Meh. Only thing that really doesn't make sense to me is why wouldn't Shero be more than just a passive party, and actively advocate salary retention to boost demand/return?

Shero only has the opportunity to become an active party once Kovalchuk and a possible team have a contract. Being involved in that stage of the process would've just complicated it, although he could have communicated to teams how much cap he was willing to retain over how many years to give them a bit more of an idea of their flexibility.

What I take from this was the interest in Kovalchuk was actually pretty small, which given the league's overall cap problems isn't that surprising.

 

[Classic Devil]

Eh, I just had one team in mind. Chicago. I feel like they should have been all over this and doing whatever they could to get Kovy at 3 years/6 @ 50% retained.

That's the only landing spot that made sense to me once the 3 years at 6+ crap leaked.

The problem is if you're Chicago and Kovy doesn't work out, even at just $3M/year that's a pretty hefty chunk of cap you're using for a pretty long time. And you'll have to pay New Jersey through the nose to get us to eat that cap hit.

From the sounds of things, any team signing Kovy would've had to take a three year contract, and pay New Jersey to take three years of cap hit (which there is a premium for these days), not to mention whatever we would've wanted for Kovalchuk baseline. Teams around the NHL decided it just wasn't worth it to seriously pursue Kovalchuk.

 

[MadDevil]

Kovy basically priced himself out of an NHL return this year.

 

[Triumph]

Lawton is not a reliable source. I don't know why people are quoting that 3 year contract stuff as accurate.

 

[HBK27]

Meh. Only thing that really doesn't make sense to me is why wouldn't Shero be more than just a passive party, and actively advocate salary retention to boost demand/return?

He's got enough other things to do than get involved in contract negotiations between a player and another team.

And I don't think the Devils should've had any interest in retaining salary unless the return was significant. Teams usually only do that when they have to in order to move a player or are only taking on a cap hit. If the Devils were to retain 50% of a 3 year, $18MM deal that $9MM of real money and (less importantly) cap space better bring back a very good player.

 

[Balance]

lol The reason there weren't many offers were because teams realized they would have to trade something the Devils to sign him

They instead reasoned out it was more worth it to wait a year, guarantee you Kovy will get some great offers next season.

I think its funny that people cannot see the simplicity of that statement and turn it to around to say "LOOK NOBODYS INTERESTED LOL". Like are you serious? Teams are interested in Ilya freaking Kovalchuk.

 

[Emperoreddy]

If teams were interested he would have a NHL contract.

 

[The Wumpus]

The one thing I don't get about this is: if no teams were biting on a 3-year deal, why not sign a 1-year deal? Same result as returning to the KHL: he's a free agent in 2018. If he played in the NHL in '17-'18 he'd be less of an unknown and more likely to land a bigger deal than coming over from Russia as a 35+.

We have no idea what kind of deals were being discussed, but it seems like a one year deal would be a better solution than going back to Russia.

 

[njdevils19]

Eh, I just had one team in mind. Chicago. I feel like they should have been all over this and doing whatever they could to get Kovy at 3 years/6 @ 50% retained.

That's the only landing spot that made sense to me once the 3 years at 6+ crap leaked.

Chicago would have been a team I would have literally taken anything from plus retained a little.

He's got enough other things to do than get involved in contract negotiations between a player and another team.

And I don't think the Devils should've had any interest in retaining salary unless the return was significant. Teams usually only do that when they have to in order to move a player or are only taking on a cap hit. If the Devils were to retain 50% of a 3 year, $18MM deal that $9MM of real money and (less importantly) cap space better bring back a very good player.

I don't blame shero all. I trust his judgement. However I'm not sure he had better things to do is a good reason. Gaining assets is part of his job. I figure if he didn't get involved it's because he didn't think it would help. Sending some emails or texts to get things rolling wouldn't shut his other responsibilities down.

 

[Triumph]

lol The reason there weren't many offers were because teams realized they would have to trade something the Devils to sign him

They instead reasoned out it was more worth it to wait a year, guarantee you Kovy will get some great offers next season.

I think its funny that people cannot see the simplicity of that statement and turn it to around to say "LOOK NOBODYS INTERESTED LOL". Like are you serious? Teams are interested in Ilya freaking Kovalchuk.

I look forward to your excuses next year when Kovalchuk gets a 1 year deal or better yet doesn't even come back at all.

 

[Edmonton East]

Lawton is not a reliable source. I don't know why people are quoting that 3 year contract stuff as accurate.

No other figures were floated. Based on the outcome, I think it's pretty safe to say 3 years at 6 was at least what he wanted. Especially looking at the contracts handed to Radulov and Marleau.

 

[New Jack City]

I somewhat agree, the article said the rags were heavily interested, yet Ray didnt receive a single offer ? from any GM?

well he said there was no offer to accept. He could have laid out the asking price and the rags (or other team) was not in the same boat

 

[MadDevil]

I look forward to your excuses next year when Kovalchuk gets a 1 year deal or better yet doesn't even come back at all.

I would laugh if he asks for a multi-year deal at 6+ million per year next summer and nobody bites.