TSN.ca: According to a Russian website (Sovsports) , Ilya Kovalchuk as received a 3-year, $30 million contract offer from the SKA St Petersburg. Kovalchuk would like to stay in the NHL, and will wait to see all his options on July 1st.
The same Russian website is also reporting that SKA St Petersburgh has made an offer to Kings forward Alexander Frolov. Kings GM Dean Lombardi didn’t comment on the report, and was unsure if he could re-sign Frolov at the terms he is looking for. It’s not known what SKA offered Frolov.
Now, we all expected Kovalchuk and Frolov to get some offers from the KHL, but what surprised me was how little Kovalchuk’s offer was for. Don’t get me wrong, $10 million tax free a year is a ton of money, but for months its been mentioned that he could get upwards of $20 million a season. We know that some owners/league backers have a ton of money, but are they now realizing they don’t have as much clout as they thought they had? It’s been reported in the past that all players weren’t getting paid or not getting what they were promised. The once powerful Moscow Dynamo folded last month, and were the 2nd team in the last year to cease operations.
In the end, I see Kovalchuk staying in the NHL for around $8 million a season. It’s about $2 million less than what Atlanta was offering, but I think he wanted out. If he goes to a larger market, he will be able to easily make up the difference in endorsements.