You guys are making it out to be that they bought the team solely because Kovalchuk was off the books. Or that they don't have to pay anyone else to replace Kovalchuk. They don't save $75 million, they save $75 milllion minus players they have to pay over the life of the contract to replace him (Jagr, for example, or Cammaleri followed by other FA signings down the road).
And Lou could give two hoots about making the team more palatable for new ownership to buy, he lost his job at the hands of those same owners because the team stunk the last two years.