New Jersey Devils star forward Ilya Kovalchuk, of Russia, smiles during a news conference in Newark, N.J., Tuesday, July 20, 2010. Kovalchuk is staying with the Devils after agreeing to a staggering 17-year, $102 million deal with the team. (AP Photo/ Mel Evans)
AP
Over the weekend, rumors abounded that the Devils and Ilya Kovalchuk were coming close to an agreement on a new contract, one that ideally wouldn’t be shot down by the NHL like their previous effort on a 17-year, $102 million deal that was nixed by the league. Today, ESPN’s EJ Hradek tweeted something of a not-so blind item about a handful of characters that had a meeting at the NHL home offices in Manhattan today.
NJ owner Jeff Vanderbeek, NJ GM Lou Lamoriello and Ilya Kovalchuk’s agent Jay Grossman met with NHL execs at league’s NY office today. Hmmm?
That’s an infamous crew if we’ve ever seen one and one whose intentions are pretty clear if they’re going to the NHL home office. As it turns out, everything is as it appears as Yahoo’s Dmitry Chesnokov finds out and a deal has been made.
A decision on the newly submitted deal -- no details are being leaked on its value or length -- is expected in the next 24 hours.
Buckle up everyone, the next day could prove to be a busy one. Get your calculators and abacuses out because the comparisons between the old, nixed deal and a possible new deal are going to prove to be interesting.
