By Doud
From Puck Daddy: “Ilya Kovalchuk left $77 million on the table with the New Jersey Devils when he retired from the NHL on Thursday to return to Russia.
According to Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport, Kovalchuk will be making that money up as the premiere star of the KHL – and in short order.
Lysenkov reports that Kovalchuk will be joining SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, the team for which he played during the NHL lockout. There’s where he will “become the most-paid player in the world,” according to SovSport.
How much? He speculates that if it was “a $15-20 million per year (at the taxation in 13%)” it would not be a surprise. (No word if that’s on the KHL cap or some of it off the books.)
On top of that, Puck Daddy’s Dmitry Chesnokov believes SKA could front-load the contract and pay Kovalchuk an enormous sum of money up front.”
Dude wanted to be a Ranger in 2010 and now at least he’ll look like one playin in his native land. Nice little extra jab at the poor psyche of Devil fans.
Dude didnt wanna come back to the NHL after the lockout ended and stayed a little longer to participate in the KHL All Star Game and he’ll be the highest paid player in the game on this planet. Also this is his wife:
Reeeeaaaly doesn’t suck to be him. Only sucks to be a Devils fan.
