Why is out of the question? If anything it would make the most sense for kovy if he can't find a partner with the devils. In fact it probably would benefit him the most signing a one year deal and playing here.
The devils will put him in all different situations giving him a greater chance to produce points and showing off his true value. Then ship him off to a contender he plays in playoffs and becomes a ufa and teams will Be more comfortable shelling out to his salary demands even more so if he contributes in the playoffs.
The Devils don't have a center that is going to help him in any way. Zajac scores goals at a 4th line rate and has for the last 4 seasons. Henrique can score goals but is weak defensively and is not a good passer. Hischier or Patrick will be good one day but that day is probably not in October 2017.
However, you must be speaking here about the idea that he could play with Taylor Hall. Implicit in this is the idea that Kovalchuk is a right wing, because that's where the Devils played him for most of his time here. That's not where he's played in Russia or at any other time in the league. He's not a right wing. He's a left wing. I'm convinced this is part of what tanked his goal-scoring numbers at even strength, and I doubt very much he's looking to switch positions again.
As it stands now he has to find a team to agreee to his demands then he still has to get the devils to sign off on it.
From a strictly business standpoint it makes sense for both the devils and kovy to agree to a one year deal and play here. Of course he runs the risk of getting hurt or him not being good anymore but those are situations out of our control on a msg board.
From a business standpoint, it is a terrible move to sign a player who costs a lot of money for a team that doesn't intend on pushing for the playoffs. You can very easily determine how much a draft pick should cost or how much value a prospect has in estimated dollars, and the return for Kovalchuk is not going to be close to the $5M you propose to pay him.
Playing in NJ can only hurt his trade value. Right now the name Kovalchuk alone is garnering interest. If he plays here, there are three scenarios:
1.) He plays better than expected, but teams trading for him only acquire him as a rental, and will not give up as much for 3 months of a guy as the would for a year of a guy. In this scenario more teams are interested but value doesn't really change.
2.) He plays as expected, but we get less than was offered during the summer because he's a rental.
3.) He plays worse than expected, and no one has any interest.
In all three scenarios, teams looking to acquire him not as a rental but looking to extend him will not be happy because the extension would be on a +35 contract. If they want a contract with escapability he will need to be signed this summer. No one will give up premium assets for a cap anchor, even if he's producing slightly more than you expect.
This is also ignoring the fact that Kovalchuk is coming back to win a Cup, and we don't offer him a chance to do that. I'm not sure why he would agree to play here in the first place.
No, I think it's pretty likely that Kovalchuk's value would be higher at the deadline than it would be now. First of all, now, the way things are working is that Grossman will bring teams to NJ and then they'll work out a deal, whereas under the Bigfoot scenario Kovalchuk has no NTC and the Devils can create an actual market for him in February/March. Second, financial restrictions may keep Kovalchuk from his dream destination now, but in March it's easier to work out deals for expensive players. It's just that it's not worth the money or the hassle to carry him all year, plus you do risk ending up with nothing, in addition to the problem of 'What if the Devils are actually in the playoff race, do you even trade him.' This in addition to the fact that Kovalchuk is very unlikely to accept this sort of scenario.
