Ilya Kovalchuk press conference; Lamoriello makes the system work for him

Jul 20, 2010, 3:48 PM EDT

Today, the New Jersey Devils unveiled the largest re-acquisition in team history, holding a press conference to announce the official re-signing of superstar forward Ilya Kovalchuk.Craig Custance of The Sporting News assembled some of the key quotes from Kovalchuk, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello and new head coach John MacLean.

As for why Kovalchuk picked the Devils, his words ring out like a promo for movie sequel.

He said he was impressed with the professionalism of the organization and that he learned a lot about winning in his short time there. “There is unfinished business,” Kovalchuk said. “That was the biggest reason.”

When did Kovalchuk decide that New Jersey was it? A bit more recently than you’d think and the number “17″ plays into things in a rather cryptic, Jim Carrey film sort of way.

“It was a couple days ago,” He said. “Actually on July 17 too. It’s kind of weird but it is. Actually four years ago, my dad passed away on July 17, that’s maybe a little bit special for me. That where we sit with my wife and the kids and decide we’re going to go to New Jersey.”

John MacLean was asked if the Devils would be a bit more offensive in their style and with the kind of talent the Devils have stockpiled at the moment, it’d be a shame to lock it all away playing defense-first hockey, right? MacLean was happy to toe the line.

“We certainly hope so. We have a lot of talent, definitely we have to let the talent play but in saying that we’re not going to put [Marty Brodeur] in a position where we’re going to have a shootout every night.”

The most fascinating quotes of the day belonged to Lou Lamoriello as Fire & Ice’s Tom Gulitti was able to find out. One thing is for certain, Lou Lamoriello is not one to pull punches in his assessments.

I asked Lamoriello what he would think if someone brought up Kovalchuk’s contract in the next round of CBA negotiations (in two years) and pointed to it as a flaw.

“I might agree,” he said. “But there is nothing that we have done wrong. This is within the rules. This is in the CBA. There are precedents that have been set. But I would agree we shouldn’t have these. But I’m also saying that because it’s legal and this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing for the right reasons.”

As for the historic and seemingly iffy nature of the deal as far as it being for 17 years and a metric ton of money up front, Lou wasted no time telling folks where to look for the answers.

“You’d have to speak to ownership about that,” Lamoriello said. “The commitment that ownership has made here, this is a commitment and a decision they wanted to make for this type of a player and all I can do is say whether the player is a player that will fit into the team, can help the team and is not a risk as a player. As far as what the financial commitment is and that aspect of it, that was out of my hands.”

The money was out of Lou’s hand for once? Clearly, New Jersey’s investment in this came from the top and the Devils owners saw this as their opportunity to lock up a bonafide superstar for life and have him represent the organization from here on out. As for the possibility that others on the outside of the organization might find Lou to be a hypocrite for having such a mold-breaking deal happen on his watch, Lou understands.

Lamoriello said he “absolutely” rolled his eyes when the Islanders signed Rick DiPietro to a 15-year contract in 2006 and when Washington signed Alex Ovechkin to a 13-year contract in 2008. He also said he “absolutely” rolled his eyes about the Kovalchuk’s contract terms.

I said yesterday in analyzing this whole deal that it’s the most fascinating contract situation the NHL has ever seen, and reading Lamoriello’s words on this entire matter indicates that either Lou is painting a sane picture for the media and was happy to along with this (doubtful) or that the wishes of ownership overrode Lou’s plans on what to do about the situation (seemingly likely). One way or the other, however, Lamoriello will go down in history for this contract and Ilya Kovalchuk suddenly has a lot to live up to.

Skip to Comments (1)

« Newer Report: Thrashers will let Clarke MacArthur become a free agent

Older » Turns out that Jason Spezza never wanted to be traded from Ottawa

More ProHockeyTalk

Back to Homepage

One Comment (Feed for Comments)

Brent Hoven - Jul 20, 2010 at 10:39 PM

Hm. Last time they exploited the rules (note: that means they didn’t break them), a whole bunch of rules and emphasis on rules changed. Now that the NHL has rejected this contract, I expect the same. Unless it involves Cindy. He’s exempt. I’ll guarantee that.