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NHL Off-Season 2013 |OT| Celebrate Good Times Come On

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BWAHAHAHA!
 

Socreges

Banned
Woooahhh doesn't this completely fuck the Devils? They'll have his cap hit for years?

Also as funny as that would be, this sucks for the NHL. Kovalchuk is a great player.
 

Alucard

Banned
Kovalchuk just announced his retirement! WTF.

LOOOOOOOOOOL. HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE? HE'S 30!

Sounds like he's going to play in Russia. From NHL.com:

New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk on Thursday announced his retirement from the NHL.

"This decision was something I have thought about for a long time going back to the lockout and spending the year in Russia," Kovalchuk said in a statement released by the team. "Though I decided to return this past season, Lou [Lamoriello, general manager] was aware of my desire to go back home and have my family there with me. The most difficult thing for me is to leave the New Jersey Devils, a great organization that I have a lot of respect for, and our fans that have been great to me."

"After many conversations with Ilya over the past year on his desire to retire from the National Hockey League, Ilya's decision became official today," Lamoriello said in a statement. "On behalf of the entire organization, I wish Ilya and his family all the best in their future endeavors."
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It's the top story on NHL.com at the moment.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
The fuck!?!

So just when the new rules regarding retirements and cap hits goes into effect he decides to call it quits? Not to mention NJ are forfeiting their draft pick this season as well.
 

Red_Man

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Devils forfeit their 2014 1st rounder, somewhere Yankeehater is furiously masturbating to this news
 

Alucard

Banned
That's not as bad as I thought it might be, but still, having a quarter million less cap space for TWELVE YEARS is crazy. LOL Devils.

What a fucking asshole. Couldn't he figure out that he missed his home BEFORE committing a bunch of years of his life to the Devils?

And are they going to continue paying him while he plays in Russia?
 

Red_Man

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Anyone who had money on Kovalchuck retiring before Brodeur just made a killing.

They could have kept Parise if they knew he was going to pull this, unbelievable.....
 

Red_Man

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
This is karma for all the fucking awful boring trap games the rest of the league has had to endured while playing against the Devils.
 

Tabris

Member
I think the only thing that really sucks about this is:

1) They lost their 2014 pick.
2) They could have signed Parise and/or Clarkson without Kovalchuk's contract.

I don't think they're screwed for years though. If it was last year or next year they would have been fine, but very hard to rebuild this year without that 2014 pick.

Who does the 2014 pick go to? Or is there now just only 29 picks for the first round?
 

Samyy

Member
Are they a bottom 5 team now? I don't even know. I guess Schneider/Brodeur can win them enough games to be bottom 10 again :lol
 

Socreges

Banned
250k is nothing.

If Luongo retires at the age of, say, 39 years old, the Canucks get a $4.1m penalty for three seasons. If he retires NOW it's about 800k.... until the end of time.
 

Merguson

Banned
What a fucking asshole. Couldn't he figure out that he missed his home BEFORE committing a bunch of years of his life to the Devils?

And are they going to continue paying him while he plays in Russia?

No, he's retired. No money is coming to Kovalchuk. He's leaving $77 million on the table.
 
I think the only thing that really sucks about this is:

1) They lost their 2014 pick.
2) They could have signed Parise and/or Clarkson without Kovalchuk's contract.

I don't think they're screwed for years though. If it was last year or next year they would have been fine, but very hard to rebuild this year without that 2014 pick.

Who does the 2014 pick go to? Or is there now just only 29 picks for the first round?

It's this
 

Red_Man

I Was There! Official L Receiver 2/12/2016
Reportedly Lou knew this 2 weeks ago, and still let Clarkson walk? Good thing grabbed Schneider or they'd be royally fucked for years to come.
 
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