Larry Brooks: Rangers must target Ilya Kovalchuk

[haveandare]

If he's going to bolt, why would he come back?

He just didn't want to play for the Devils.

Nobody forced him to sign a 17 year 100M dollar deal with them

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Nobody forced him to sign a 17 year 100M dollar deal with them

And nobody forced me to sign with my employer 5 years ago. And nobody forced me to relocate to Vienna last summer.

Mario Lemieux retired after putting up 100+ points and nobody blamed him. Sure, the reason behind the retirement was different, but in the end it's the same thing. They retire for personal reasons. Kovalchuk, by retiring, lost tens of millions in salary and at the same time it helped the Devils out by not being penalized by the league for cap circumvention.

 

[Hire Sather]

Certainly not against Kovalchuk as the organization should be looking at this year as our bottoming out and starting the climb back to contender status next season

That said 2 years is my max. This guy was legitimately my favorite player when he was a Thrasher so it'd be pretty cool to see him in blue

 

[SML2]

I still don't understand how the league penalized the Devils for that contract. Doesn't the league have to approve the contract? Isn't that the chance to shoot it down? Say Rasmus Dahlin is all he's rumored to be. Could the owner sign a deal where he would pay him one dollar a season but gave him 2% ownership each season so his actual cap hit was one dollar? No. The league wouldn't allow it. How they can hand out a penalty for a contract I assume was reviewed and approved by league officials is still baffling but since it's the Devils, I kind of am ok with it. They got away with a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Hire Sather]

They didn't get punished anyway, the league ended up giving them their pick back while the Devils benefitted from a couple years of a low cap hit without having to pay the long term contract price

it actually worked out perfect for them if you ask me

 

[Brief Candle]

I mean if we could get him at a discount, sure! It'd be nice to have a skilled veteran. However, if he comes at any real cost, not a damn chance.

 

[Thirty One]

I understand your point. It's not a risk I take with a 35+ contract for a team that's supposedly rebuilding.

(Edit) I'd like to couple this with the thought: what if (likely) this guy can't play at the level he did five years ago and signs, let's say, a three year deal? Then your stuck with a guy who's a shadow of himself with a pretty much immovable contract unless he actually wants to retire. I get that he just won a gold medal against a bunch teams without NHL players but the whole scenario is just a huge pass for me. The Rangers don't need Kovalchuk.

And that's fair. I'm definitely not on any "sign Kovalchuk at all costs" trains. They should approach a 3 year deal with him very cautiously. I just don't think it would likely be costly if he bolted.

 

[Thirty One]

They didn't get punished anyway, the league ended up giving them their pick back while the Devils benefitted from a couple years of a low cap hit without having to pay the long term contract price

it actually worked out perfect for them if you ask me

The cap hit wasn't that superficially low for the years he played for them, and they're paying it all back in recapture (though over 12 years). The pick they got was 30th, when they should have gotten around the 11th pick.

 

[haveandare]

And nobody forced me to sign with my employer 5 years ago. And nobody forced me to relocate to Vienna last summer.

Mario Lemieux retired after putting up 100+ points and nobody blamed him. Sure, the reason behind the retirement was different, but in the end it's the same thing. They retire for personal reasons. Kovalchuk, by retiring, lost tens of millions in salary and at the same time it helped the Devils out by not being penalized by the league for cap circumvention.

I was quoting that argument that he didn’t want to play for the Devils specifically. He chose to play with them when he could have went anywhere.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Kreider Zibb Andersson
Kovy Chytil Buchnevich
Names Hayes Zuccarello

Tavares is going to be your fourth line Center?

 

[sabremike]

My question is that since he is on record as wanting to go for a cup why would he sign with a team that is clearly in a rebuild? If he's willing to sign than of course go for it but it just doesn't make sense from what he's said. A humorous irony is that a team that would make a good deal of sense is.... The Devils (and that's obviously not going to happen).

 

[Alluckks]

My question is that since he is on record as wanting to go for a cup why would he sign with a team that is clearly in a rebuild? If he's willing to sign than of course go for it but it just doesn't make sense from what he's said. A humorous irony is that a team that would make a good deal of sense is.... The Devils (and that's obviously not going to happen).

Because this is still saving face in Russia. He can't just say he wants to live in New York and play with other Russians there and enjoy his time in the States. Also, I'm sure the Rangers could put together a very good presentation that could convince him they would be competing for the cup within the next 2 years.

 

[One Winged Angel]

Ok Larry. I remember when you said we had to offer sheet Joe Sakic at the cost of five first rounders, had to go after Jeremy Roenick, etc. He's been talking crazy for years and none of these "must" moves ever happen. I wonder why?

Sakic was the right move to make. If they would have landed him, the franchise would have altered drastically for the better.

 

[One Winged Angel]

Kremline is still my favorite

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

Sakic was the right move to make. If they would have landed him, the franchise would have altered drastically for the better.

The 97 miscalculation by Neil Smith and David Checketts group on whether Lacroix would match them was really what set the dark ages in motion, and the 1999 draft sealed the coffin.

The plan to go for Sakic instead of focus on Messier led to his departure and drastic culture change of that team, Gretzky still had 90 points in 97-98, and iirc, the Gary Roberts deal also failed because of the Sakic miss.

 

[Vitto79]

Dont see many changes upfront next year

I figure LW is Kreider , Namestnikov , Spooner , Vesey next year

Rw , Zuc, Buch , Fast , Lettieri

C, Zib , Hayes , 2 of Howden , Andersson , Chytil

Yea they may deal Zuc and sign a ufa like Kovalchuk but nyr doesn’t fit the win now comment

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Tavares is going to be your fourth line Center?

First line with Vesey and Fast

 

[One Winged Angel]

The 97 miscalculation by Neil Smith and David Checketts group on whether Lacroix would match them was really what set the dark ages in motion, and the 1999 draft sealed the coffin.

The miscalculation was not offering Sakic enough. They miscalculated how much Colorado actually had in resources. At that time with Lemieux's retirement, Sakic was widely considered the best player in the world. If they would have landed him, it would have been a heist.

The dark ages were set in motion because of Neil Smith's refusal to acknowledge that the team needed to rebuild and that they needed help on defense. Richter was hurt more often than not and after Beukeboom got sucker punched by Matt Johnson in December 98 in LA, the team was extremely thin on defense.

Yes, the 99 draft busts hurt them, but they weren't trying to rebuild at that time. If they were, you could attribute that to a larger portion of their failures.

The plan to go for Sakic instead of focus on Messier led to his departure and drastic culture change of that team, Gretzky still had 90 points in 97-98, and iirc, the Gary Roberts deal also failed because of the Sakic miss.

You're right about that.

The Zigmund Palffy deal they had in place at the 1999 trade deadline fell through as well and that also hurt the team.

I've also heard from people that worked at the garden at that time that if they would have nabbed Pavel Bure at the trade deadline that Gretzky might have reconsidered retiring.

 

[kovazub94]

In the context of ongoing rebuild would you rather have Kovalchuk for 2 years or JVR for 5-6? Their annual salary should be pretty close.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I wonder if Larry hopes Kovy will be his next Holik/Avery.

 

[n8]

If Kovy really wants a cup, signing a cheap 1 year with 1) Pittsburgh to team up with Crosby or Malkin 2) Tampa to join the Stamkos-Kucherov line are his best options. I don't think Nashville is his best option as he probably ends up playing with Kyle Turris who isn't terrible but who also isn't a generational talent.

 

[RGY]

This is going to be a rebuild on the fly. The Rangers will compete next year. Heck theyre competing right now. Add in Kovalchuk and bring back Nash and you have a very, very strong forward group. Keep all of your 1st round picks. Add talent. Add depth to the farm system.

 

[Ghost of jas]

They’re competing now against non-playoff teams. They’ve played three playoff teams, two of which kicked their butts. Yes, they beat the Penguins, but they were outclassed for two periods, thanks to Georgiev. Plus, they faced the Penguind backup. They’re shouting for the best non-playoff team. There are still more players likely to be moved. The defense is not very good. This is not a rebuild on the fly.

 

[Ori]

Yes, this rebuild will take 2-3 years minimum and that if Gorton hit on Libor H. - and I include him in that evaluation otherwise we are looking for 3-4 years since we need to draft another top 4 D talent defender who is good to defend like Ryan Mc used to be. 2018-19 draft and new players are 17-18 years old, 3-4 years those future D prospects are around 21-22 years old when they are NHL ready.

And consider that it make sense to move our 4 pts C. Kreider since he will be about 31 years old when we start to compete concerning our future D core.
Only Kreider & Zucc have a 4 pts game this season by the way.

 

[Larrybiv]

We'll see how badly when he signs here or somewhere else and we get the numbers. I've never seen anything from him that makes me think he's going to get less than the max money offered.

People can change. After enjoying some of his already millions.....maybe he now realizes that money isn't EVERYTHNG, and now just wants what he wants. If everything said about him is true in the LR, then I see no big problem there, money isn't an issue either on Rangers behalf now.....but what IS, is improving too quickly. Being a bubble team gets us nowhere. We need to be bad again for at least another year. Right now, this is a mirage (our latest winning).