[DevsFan7545]

TIMELINE:

9/3: (actually on 9/4 at 3am EDT) NHL and NHLPA reach an agreement and the Kovalchuk contract is approved LINK 

KOVALCHUK IS A DEVIL FOR LIFE!!!

9/1: NHL and NHLPA agree to extend Kovalchuk deadline to 5 p.m. Friday LINK

8/27: Devils Submit new contract to league for approval LINK

8/9: Arbitrator Bloch upholds NHL’s rejection of Kovalchuk’s contract; Kovalchuk a UFA again LINK

8/4-8/5: Arbitration Hearing is conducted in Boston LINK

7/30: NHL and NHLPA Agree on Arbitrator Richard Block LINK

7/26: NHLPA Files Grievance on NHL rejection of contract LINK

7/20: NHL REJECTS CONTRACT ON 7/20/2010 LINK

7/19: On Day 19 of the Ilya Kovalchuk fan hostage crisis, He SIGNS WITH THE NJ DEVILS for 17 Years @ $102 Million LINK

7/4-7/16: 7/1 Kings In, 7/4 Kings Out, 7/7 Kings In, 7/8 Kings Out, 7/11 Kings In

7/12-7/16: Kovalchuk vists LA in person (with wife) culminating in wide reports of his imminent signing LINK

7/10: Brooks NY Post Reports Devils Offer is 17+ years @ Front Loaded $100M LINK

7/5: Jay Grossman Twitter: Ilya Kovalchuk choices have been narrowed down, details to be finalized but no announcement tonight. LINK

7/2: Reported widely Islanders offer $100M to lure Kovy to Island LINK

7/1: FREE AGENCY Begins Kings and Devils rumored favorites to sign Kovalchuk

_________________
Per Mckenzie

http://twitter.com/tsnbobmckenzie

Quote

Word I'm getting, and this can change in a heartbeat, is that if Ilya Kovalchuk is going to sign in Los Angeles, it will NOT happen tonight.

Do it Lou tonight

This post has been edited by RowdyFan42: 04 September 2010 - 04:13 PM
Reason for edit:: Timeline Update & Links

[MantaRay]

Mckenzie is a little off.

The Kings aren't as interested as people were lead to believe. They aren't offering anywhere close to what Grossman wants and Dean Lombardi GM of Kings doesn't even know if he is still in the biddging (per Lebrun).


Since there isn't really a market for Kovy based on his assumed market value, he will probably take a few days/weeks and see if a market actually comes into play.

[ben00rs]

MantaRay, on 01 July 2010 - 08:10 PM, said:

Since there isn't really a market for Kovy based on his assumed market value, he will probably take a few days/weeks and see if a market actually comes into play.

Certainly possible Manta.

[robdeselich88]

am i wrong to think that the devils outcome this post-season effected his value?

[sundstrom]

robdeselich88, on 01 July 2010 - 10:18 PM, said:

am i wrong to think that the devils outcome this post-season effected his value?

certainly didn't help it - but i think there were only a few teams that could actually pay a winger the salary he wanted. and perhaps his reputation as a me-first guy is more true than we wanted to believe.

when you read Dater say that he's overplayed his hand, it shows that there's only LA and NJD anywhere near the salary he's looking for and it's obviously in the $6M-$7M range from both - likely not long on years either. both LA and NJ know what the other has on the table and likely aren't bidding against eachother anymore - i think what's going to be surprising is that he ends up with like a 5/35 deal when he had 12/100 from atlanta.

[newarkdev01]

sundstrom, on 01 July 2010 - 09:24 PM, said:

certainly didn't help it - but i think there were only a few teams that could actually pay a winger the salary he wanted. and perhaps his reputation as a me-first guy is more true than we wanted to believe.

when you read Dater say that he's overplayed his hand, it shows that there's only LA and NJD anywhere near the salary he's looking for and it's obviously in the $6M-$7M range from both - likely not long on years either. both LA and NJ know what the other has on the table and likely aren't bidding against eachother anymore - i think what's going to be surprising is that he ends up with like a 5/35 deal when he had 12/100 from atlanta.

Certainly his performance indicated he isn't a plug and everything is fixed solution. I think he never gelled and anyone that watched him was aware that its alot to spend and could create imbalance

[maxpower]

he never had 12/$100M. that was a calculated PR move. if there was any chance of him accepting, it wouldn't have been offered.

I still think he has a concrete offer from us, which hopefully is in line with what the Devils normally do, and he's stuck.
waiting around to see what he gets offered. in March it was a 2 team race, if it's still a 2 team race now, he's really screwed. where's the money coming from? Colorado says they aren't playing. Wang?

teams can be stupid, but there's a limit to the stupidity. alot of teams are relatively tight to the cap, have other needs, have young players that need to be signed. they're just not going to throw Crosby/Ovechkin money at this guy when he is neither.

[sundstrom]

if you listen to jester (puck daddy) - he thinks that kovy wants LA and is just trying to get the $ as high as possible, using the devils for leverage.

whatever - i would be 100 times happier if lou traded for one of the vancouver d (bieksa, erfhoff, salo) rather than signed kovalchuk at this point - even if he was able to move rolston and salvador to make kovalchuk possible.

[maxpower]

sundstrom, on 01 July 2010 - 11:02 PM, said:

if you listen to jester (puck daddy) - he thinks that kovy wants LA and is just trying to get the $ as high as possible, using the devils for leverage.

whatever - i would be 100 times happier if lou traded for one of the vancouver d (bieksa, erfhoff, salo) rather than signed kovalchuk at this point - even if he was able to move rolston and salvador to make kovalchuk possible.

I don't think anyone really knows. Jester is just another voice howling in the wind. There's like a spectrum out there between "he's all but signed" to "Lombardi threw his papers up in the air and walked off."

the common theme between now and March is that the Devils are not in the discussion. I don't know if Jester would dare mention the Devils as a front-runner. not worth the angry tweets

This post has been edited by maxpower: 01 July 2010 - 10:05 PM

[iamtheprodigy]

sundstrom, on 01 July 2010 - 11:02 PM, said:

if you listen to jester (puck daddy) - he thinks that kovy wants LA and is just trying to get the $ as high as possible, using the devils for leverage.

whatever - i would be 100 times happier if lou traded for one of the vancouver d (bieksa, erfhoff, salo) rather than signed kovalchuk at this point - even if he was able to move rolston and salvador to make kovalchuk possible.

Ehrhoff would be nice...

[devlman]

Reasons Kovy can give us a home team discount over LA:

1. Despite our recent playoff failures we are still not many pieces away from a true cup contender. Yes, LA have some good youngsters but they havent proven anything. They had a decent season last year but almost choked away their playoff spot in the second half of the season. The Devils are guaranteed a playoff spot every single season practically.

2. NJ is closer to Mother Russia capital city than LA, which is better for his mother or family to come over.

3. The NY metro area has more Russians than does LA - by far.

4. Kovy is a family man. He can spend much more time with his two small children playing in our division. Away games in our division dont mean staying in that city over night. He can be home with the fam after each game. Cant do that in LA.

5. Kovy is also a competitor. You can see his enthusiasm when we played the Rags. You can tell he would love games at MSG, Philly. Hes also got games agst Crosby, Ovechkin...games at Mtl, Toronto, and Atlanta (where he still has a home and many friends). LA cannot offer that. The Atlantic Division is the most exciting division to be in.

6. He knows our organization already and has played with Volchenkov and Hedberg. He raved about Lemaire and his wealth of knowledge. Well, Larry Robinson (altho a defensive coach) can offer mental advice to Kovy. Hes also got an offensive minded coach in Johnny Mac.


You can argue LA has a brighter future but id disagree. Afterall, we have the young Parise, who is in the upper class of NHL talent. LA cant say they have a player in his class. Lou just had to tell Kovy he will lock Zach up asap and shed dead weight salary later. So, i just dont see what LA offers except more money lol...but i dont think Kovy is that type of guy.

[NJDevs26]

maxpower, on 01 July 2010 - 10:44 PM, said:

he never had 12/$100M. that was a calculated PR move. if there was any chance of him accepting, it wouldn't have been offered.

I still think he has a concrete offer from us, which hopefully is in line with what the Devils normally do, and he's stuck.
waiting around to see what he gets offered. in March it was a 2 team race, if it's still a 2 team race now, he's really screwed. where's the money coming from? Colorado says they aren't playing. Wang?

The Islanders are like $12 million under the salary floor and can't get anyone to sign there, unless taking on someone's bad contracts appeal to them I don't understand why they don't take a stab at Kovalchuk for the heck of it.

[sundstrom]

la has doughty who quite likely will be the best defenseman in the league over the next 10 years. they've got jack johnson who's another very good young defenseman. kopitar and brown are really very good. that team is in great shape for the future and kovalchuk would be a fantastic fit there.

[newarkdev01]

devlman, on 01 July 2010 - 10:22 PM, said:

Reasons Kovy can give us a home team discount over LA:

1. Despite our recent playoff failures we are still not many pieces away from a true cup contender. Yes, LA have some good youngsters but they havent proven anything. They had a decent season last year but almost choked away their playoff spot in the second half of the season. The Devils are guaranteed a playoff spot every single season practically.

2. NJ is closer to Mother Russia capital city than LA, which is better for his mother or family to come over.

3. The NY metro area has more Russians than does LA - by far.

4. Kovy is a family man. He can spend much more time with his two small children playing in our division. Away games in our division dont mean staying in that city over night. He can be home with the fam after each game. Cant do that in LA.

5. Kovy is also a competitor. You can see his enthusiasm when we played the Rags. You can tell he would love games at MSG, Philly. Hes also got games agst Crosby, Ovechkin...games at Mtl, Toronto, and Atlanta (where he still has a home and many friends). LA cannot offer that. The Atlantic Division is the most exciting division to be in.

6. He knows our organization already and has played with Volchenkov and Hedberg. He raved about Lemaire and his wealth of knowledge. Well, Larry Robinson (altho a defensive coach) can offer mental advice to Kovy. Hes also got an offensive minded coach in Johnny Mac.


You can argue LA has a brighter future but id disagree. Afterall, we have the young Parise, who is in the upper class of NHL talent. LA cant say they have a player in his class. Lou just had to tell Kovy he will lock Zach up asap and shed dead weight salary later. So, i just dont see what LA offers except more money lol...but i dont think Kovy is that type of guy.

While those are all great points who knows what the money difference is and I don't think a drawn out process favors the devils, I just don't think Lou likes being used as a bargaining chip

[mdsieve]

devlman, on 01 July 2010 - 11:22 PM, said:

Reasons Kovy can give us a home team discount over LA:

1. Despite our recent playoff failures we are still not many pieces away from a true cup contender. Yes, LA have some good youngsters but they havent proven anything. They had a decent season last year but almost choked away their playoff spot in the second half of the season. The Devils are guaranteed a playoff spot every single season practically.

2. NJ is closer to Mother Russia capital city than LA, which is better for his mother or family to come over.

3. The NY metro area has more Russians than does LA - by far.

4. Kovy is a family man. He can spend much more time with his two small children playing in our division. Away games in our division dont mean staying in that city over night. He can be home with the fam after each game. Cant do that in LA.

5. Kovy is also a competitor. You can see his enthusiasm when we played the Rags. You can tell he would love games at MSG, Philly. Hes also got games agst Crosby, Ovechkin...games at Mtl, Toronto, and Atlanta (where he still has a home and many friends). LA cannot offer that. The Atlantic Division is the most exciting division to be in.

6. He knows our organization already and has played with Volchenkov and Hedberg. He raved about Lemaire and his wealth of knowledge. Well, Larry Robinson (altho a defensive coach) can offer mental advice to Kovy. Hes also got an offensive minded coach in Johnny Mac.


You can argue LA has a brighter future but id disagree. Afterall, we have the young Parise, who is in the upper class of NHL talent. LA cant say they have a player in his class. Lou just had to tell Kovy he will lock Zach up asap and shed dead weight salary later. So, i just dont see what LA offers except more money lol...but i dont think Kovy is that type of guy.

In LA its 85 degrees year-round versus 25 degrees/snowing in New Jersey.

[sundstrom]

NJDevs26, on 01 July 2010 - 11:25 PM, said:

The Islanders are like $12 million under the salary floor and can't get anyone to sign there, unless taking on someone's bad contracts appeal to them I don't understand why they don't take a stab at Kovalchuk for the heck of it.

Daniel?

he's not going to the islanders - he's had enough of losing. he'd sooner go back to atlanta. the isles are so far under that they may be where lou trades rolston - rolston might actually agree because he can still live in his house in short hills and just deal with the 2 hour commute.

[SatansDevils]

The longer this goes I think the better the chances of Lou re-signing Kovy. It will give time for Lou to talk to Jay Grossman and Kovy to work out a deal and for Lou to make the cap space room although he is close to having it already IMO.

The additions of Volchenkov and Hedberg believe it or not may make Kovy take the offer that Lou is giving him if there is one right now.

All the more I don't think Kovy is going to LA. Mckenzie maybe off on this one.

This post has been edited by SatansDevils: 01 July 2010 - 10:31 PM

[NJDevs26]

sundstrom, on 01 July 2010 - 11:29 PM, said:

Daniel?

he's not going to the islanders - he's had enough of losing. he'd sooner go back to atlanta. the isles are so far under that they may be where lou trades rolston - rolston might actually agree because he can still live in his house in short hills and just deal with the 2 hour commute.

I wouldn't have thought the Isles had a chance in you know what before today but given both the flat market for Kovalchuk and seeing on Hockey Night Live that they have all that salary they need to fill in makes it plausible they give him the highest offer moneywise just as they gave Martin the highest offer.

Whether that'd be enough to lure him there who knows, he's probably having sellers' remorse of turning down all that money in Atlanta and might not want to play for any more less than he already is.

Quote

he's not going to the islanders - he's had enough of losing. he'd sooner go back to atlanta. the isles are so far under that they may be where lou trades rolston - rolston might actually agree because he can still live in his house in short hills and just deal with the 2 hour commute.

If the Isles would rather take on Rolston's deal over giving Kovalchuk an offer than they're even dumber than I think. Of course there is a sucker born every minute.

This post has been edited by NJDevs26: 01 July 2010 - 10:37 PM

[maxpower]

sundstrom, on 01 July 2010 - 11:26 PM, said:

la has doughty who quite likely will be the best defenseman in the league over the next 10 years. they've got jack johnson who's another very good young defenseman. kopitar and brown are really very good. that team is in great shape for the future and kovalchuk would be a fantastic fit there.

by that same token, they don't need him, and they may have witnessed a lab experiment last spring they didn't like. it's possibly the hockey people don't want this as much as the brass/fans.

[Neutral Zone Trap]

mdsieve, on 01 July 2010 - 11:29 PM, said:

In LA its 85 degrees year-round versus 25 degrees/snowing in New Jersey.

Nope, On the average high it gets to just below 85 degrees in LA and that's for one month only (August) The other eleven months are colder, especially Jan where the avg high is 68 degrees.


http://en.wikipedia....iki/Los_angeles