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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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.”
“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.”
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.