DropkickMurphy8 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Didn't Lemieux comeback after retiring and everything was ok? Because anyone would really block Mario from playing lol. I didn't know that was actually a rule though. Still, if Kovi waits more than a year, shouldn't he be fine? I still have a feeling this is all just to get out of having to play for a mediocre team with guys who can't contribute, and by the time they're ready to contend again he's at the tail end of his career. Retiring voids the contract, gets him out of having to stay with the Devils for 12 years and lets him come back whenever he wants and sign with a contender. Works out for both sides because the Devils don't owe him a dime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYIJM29 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Kovy had a lot of fun in the KHL. I don't think it's to get out of the NJ, but the NHL. One of the articles I read said he wants to play in the less physically demanding KHL. If Kovy waits 1+ year to comeback, I think he should be fine. Just don't hold me to anything. I doubt he comes back though. His family is there and he is set for life. Plus he'll continue making stupid money in Russia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DropkickMurphy8 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Well, as a Rangers fan, good riddance. That makes the Devils meaningless to us for the next few years and gives us one less team to go through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastadutchie Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 Bah. As talented as he is, I never liked him. He has magic hands but a block head. Personally I think it was the Bratva. They have some say in the KHL, and who knows if they have a deal with him, or they got nasty and threatened him or his family or whatever to extort money from him. Extortion is almost cultural there! Or, maybe it's just that the KHL will throw some serious coin at him too. If Radulov made $9 million a season, surely Kovalchuk will command $12-14 million. And if that's tax free, he might be better off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsl135 Posted July 12, 2013 Report Share Posted July 12, 2013 I think it is if you retire and want to come back less than a year later the 30 NHL teams need to vote. Though, Im not 100% sure. Not even 50% sure. Didn't Lemieux comeback after retiring and everything was ok? I remember Brandon Sugden, a fighter, retired because his father was sick, and then the Isles invited him to the 07-08 or 08-09 camp. He needed all 30 teams to vote Yes so he could comeback and the RANGERS blocked it, eventually they worked it out and Sugden was invited to camp. The Isles cut/released him from the tryout and the rangers signed him. Nabby is a completely different animal. He didn't retire from the NHL. He just signed in the KHL. In the CBA, if you play overseas and try to comeback during a NHL season, you are subject to re-entry waivers. Same thing happened with Ryan O'Reily in Colorado. He was playing in the KHL and the NHL season started and he was still playing. If Colorado didn't match Calgary's offer sheet, ROR would have been subject to re-entry waivers. But since he remained on his same NHL team, he was not subject to waivers You summed up very well the difference between Nabokov and Kovalchuk that I was going to point out. However, your thoughts on Kovalchuk are apparently not correct (I thought they were too, so good job anyway!). The Devils beat writer just tweeted out the following... If Kovalchuk were to change his mind and want to return to the NHL at some point, in simplest form there are two options: One Kovalchuk must sit out an entire year without playing in any league anywhere. If Kovalchuk didn't want to sit out the year, he would have to get the approval of all 30 NHL teams to come back. It seems unlikely that either of those would happen, but if either did the Devils would maintain Kovalchuk's NHL rights. All 30 teams are not approving his return. And unless he had a serious injury, very unlikely Kovalchuk would not play hockey for a year. So there we have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oiler99 Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Just goes to show how much these big 10+ years contracts sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guam64 Posted July 13, 2013 Report Share Posted July 13, 2013 Some Devils fans may be upset now and of course the anti-Russian xenophobes are going ape, but this is the best thing that could have possibly happened to the Devils. That contract was an increasingly heavy weight around their neck between the new CBA, the cap lowering, their individual financial situation and Kovalchuk's performance. Tremendous break for the Devs. Did it even really affect their plans this offseason? Perhaps they would have shelled out for Clarkson and not signed Clowe. I doubt it though, I mean they gave Danius Zubrus an extension that chewed up more than the annual gap between Clarkson and Clowe. We can't be the only ones getting it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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