Kings: What the Ilya Kovalchuk situation means for KHL players

Ilya Kovalchuk may have played his last game with the Los Angeles Kings. After his failed return attempt, what does this mean for KHL players who might want to take a second chance at the NHL?

At one point in time, Ilya Kovalchuk was one of the NHL’s most dynamic scorers. Nowadays been relegated to the garbage heap of one of the NHL’s worst teams. With the news that Los Angeles Kings are pretty much breaking up with Kovalchuk, his fall from grace is outstanding.

No matter what happened in Los Angeles, Kovalchuk was always going to be remembered for his ill-fated contract with the New Jersey Devils and his stunning “retirement” to go home and play for the KHL. For the longest time, Kovalchuk was the only example of a player who left North America for a more illustrious and higher-paying career in his native Russia. His ill-fated return might be the thing that keeps fellow players from making similar returns to the NHL.

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There have been a few notable success stories of players leaving the NHL to go to the KHL and then returning with considerable success. Jaromir Jagr and Alexander Radulov rank among the best-known examples. Kovalchuk obviously won’t be added to the list, but there are a few players overseas who might want to make the jump.

Former first overall pick and noted draft bust Nail Yakupov is still young enough than an NHL return might be ion the cards. Don’t forget there’s always lingering rumors that Pavel Datsyuk might return. And just to make things interesting, maybe Vadim Shipachyov might make a return after this less than successful Vegas Golden Knights cameo.

Usually, when a player deflects from the NHL to the KHL, it’s because no other North American options are available. Most North American born and bred players would take an AHL contract over a KHL contract. Kovalchuk and Jagr were rare examples of players good enough to play in the NHL, and had NHL offers, but chose the Russian league instead.

Every season, they are plenty of names that either go over to the KHL or come over to the NHL. If they’re a returning import to North America, Kovalchuk 2.0 most likely hurt their value. Players returning from the KHL already had their own risks, such as older age and fear they could re-adapt to the North American game, o they already were discounted goods.

Take, for example, Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk’s’ infamous contract with the Devils had him paid between $7-11 million dollars each year during the prime of his career. The contract he signed with Los Angeles last season had him paid $8.5 million, with a drop to six million this year.

That looks like it’s going to be $6 million wasted unless a buyout is arranged. It also means if Nail Yakupov ever wants to come back he could expect way less than the $2.5 million he made in 2016 and 2017. Radulov bucked the trend by upping his value during his eight-year Russian vacation (minus a short return to his original Nashville Predators team in 2011-2012).

With a big name, big money player like Kovalchuk seemingly being a failure in his NHL encore, this paints returning KHL players as a liability at best, damaged goods at worse. While people tend to think the KHL and NHL are in competition for players, according to the KHL President Dmitry Chernyshenko, while at one-time bidding wars existed, they are no longer part of the league’s business model.

The KHL and NHL have what is described as a “cordial” relationship in honoring player contracts. Compare that to the contentious relationship between the NHL and World Hockey association in the 1970s.

While it hasn’t touched hockey yet, declining player salaries and lack of contracts have become somewhat of a concern. This was a hotly contested issue in Major League Baseball this year. Teams that weren’t expected to win elected to use cheaper minor league players to fill their rosters to keep a non-winning payroll at a minimum.

While we shouldn’t expect NHL teams to start tanking the widespread way we’ve seen with Major League Baseball, this isn’t encouraging news for prospective NHL players out of the KHL talent pool. With so many home-based options between the AHL and free agents, why would a team want to take a chance on a Russian reclamation project?

Not only are teams and general managers less likely to seek out KHL players now, but if they have a minor leaguer who can do half as good a job his stock rises, and Russian players stock falls.

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Obviously each player is taken on a case by case basis. Last year Kovalchuk underperformed, but that didn’t stop the New Jersey Devils from betting big on fellow Russian import Nikita Gusev. The NHL is still the top hockey league in the world. Kovalchuk’s set back just shows sometimes it’s a harder league to break in.

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