Ilya Kovalchuk: returning home at the peak of his powers
KHL.ru continues its series about the players and coaches who became legends of the league. Today we’re looking at an Olympic champion and two-time World Champion. Ilya Kovalchuk quit the NHL at the age of 30 to come home and play in Russia.
Debut goal
Kovi first hit the headlines in early 2000. There was a newspaper report about how representatives of the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto collected a stick from a 16-year-old Russian guy after a junior tournament in Canada. That was one for the future after this talented prospect compiled 14 (10+4) points in six games. The kid was Ilya Kovalchuk.
At the time he was already part of Spartak’s first team, although in his debut season he was wearing #9, not the more familiar #17 or #71. Kovalchuk scored a goal in his first game in adult hockey. Spartak had been relegated from the top division in the previous season; Kovalchuk played on the fourth line in the opening game against Voronezh and scored in the second period.
It didn’t take him long to become a fan favorite. His hockey smarts and attacking instincts wowed the crowds, and he wasn’t overawed by any opponent. During the championship final against Neftyanik, he won a fight against a bigger, older opponent. True, he was in enviable shape for a guy of his age – but let’s not forget that age was still only 16.
5-time KHL All-Star: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
World Junior Champion 2001
World Champion 2008, 2009
Playoff MVP 2015
KHL leading scorer 2018
3-time Gagarin Cup winner 2015, 2017, 2021
Spartak could not win promotion back to the elite. That had much to do with the strange format of the championship. Team’s in the second league played 58 games, compared with 38 in the Superleague. After the season, the promotion playoff was cancelled and it took another year for Spartak to return to the Superleague. Kovalchuk, who bulked out in the summer and gained maturity, was a big part of that team. Although he was still on the fourth line, he graduated to a leading role on a much stronger team.
Kovi was due to return for 2001-2002. In pre-season he worked on a line with Sergei Arekayev and Dmitry Upper and looked set for a top six role. However, not long before the start of the season he decided to go to North America.
From last place to the Stanley Cup final
Throughout the 2001-2002 season, the hockey world debated whether Kovalchuk would beat Jason Spezza to the #1 draft pick. In the event, Kovi was the first Russian to be the first draft pick, followed by Alexander Ovechkin (2004) and Nail Yakupov (2012).
That put Kovalchuk on an under-achieving team. He played seven-and-a-half years with Atlanta, but only once made the playoffs. That was in 2007, when future Gagarin Cup winner Bob Hartley led the team to post season, only to suffer a first-round sweep at the hands of the Rangers.
It’s possible that Atlanta, which finished last in the league in Kovalchuk’s rookie season, could have improved further. Kovi formed a great partnership with Danny Heatley and that might have been the foundation of a winning team. But the Canadian did not stay with Atlanta. In the fall of 2003 he was driving a car with his team mate Dan Snyder when he crashed into a wall and was seriously injured. Snyder was killed in the accident. Heatley missed most of the season and received a suspended jail sentence for speeding and vehicular homicide. Then came the lockout. After that, Heatley asked for a trade and went to Ottawa.
Without his colleague, Kovalchuk led Atlanta almost on his own in the 2003-2004 season and tied Jerome Iginla and Rick Nash as the leading goalscorer of the regular season with 41 tallies. During his time with the Thrashers, Kovalchuk only once failed to reach 30 goals, and that was in his rookie campaign when he missed 16 games due to injury. His worst return in his other full seasons was 38 goals, his best was 52.
For a time, Kovalchuk was captain of Atlanta. But in the end he could not agree a new contract. Rather than see a prize asset leave for nothing in the summer, the Thrashers traded him to New Jersey in Feb. 2010. When he left the club, he held Atlanta’s all-time records for games (594), goals (328), assists (287) and points (615).
Meanwhile, the trade was a mixed opportunity for Kovalchuk. In New Jersey he was on a team that regularly made the playoffs. With the Devils, he was much closer to winning a Stanley Cup. However, he was also on a team that traditionally favored defensive play. Nonetheless, Kovalchuk finally had a real chance to win the big prize. In 2021, the Devils got to the final. The Russian was the leading scorer on the team in regular and post season. However, in the final series the team lost in six to Los Angeles.
Back home at 30
Kovalchuk signed a new contract in 2010. Initially he agreed a blockbuster 17-year, $102 million deal with New Jersey. However, the NHL would not ratify the longest ever contract in the league, citing a breach of the salary cap. So he signed a new 15-year, $100 million deal. Kovalchuk should have stayed with New Jersey until 2025.
However, in the summer of 2013 there was a bombshell. Kovalchuk, aged 30 and at the height of his powers, tore up his contract with New Jersey in order to move to SKA, where he played during the previous season’s lock-out.
On Aug. 29, 2013, Kovalchuk was unveiled as a new signing in Petersburg. The forward said that he was very happy with the move.
“After last season, I wanted to come back to Piter,” he said. “The KHL is growing and developing. Right now, I want to be part of this league.”
11.11.2016-25.12.2016 Scored points in 13 consecutive games 6+14
8.04.2018 Scored his 161st goal for SKA, still a club record
0.42 goals per game – third highest average among players with more than 200 KHL games
By historical standards, five-and-a-half seasons isn’t such a long time. Nonetheless, it was long enough for Kovalchuk to become SKA’s all-time leading scorer with 370 (161+209) points in 367 games. In November 2022, Nikita Gusev overtook that mark. Kovi helped SKA win its first Gagarin Cup in 2015, finishing the season as playoff MVP. He won the cup in Petersburg again in 2017.
The following year, Kovalchuk returned to the NHL for two more seasons. Then he returned to Russia, signing a contract with Avangard in Dec. 2020. He went on to win his third Gagarin Cup before hanging up his skates.
Nine medals for his country
Kovalchuk was a key figure in changing the relationship between NHL players and Russia’s national team. In the 1990s and early 2000s, many players were reluctant to come home and represent their country at the end of the NHL season. However, Kovalchuk, along with Ovechkin and Evgeny Malkin, changed that script. Kovi played 11 World Championships, and only once while he was at SKA. One other appearance came after a lockdown season with Ak Bars. Therefore, on nine occasions he joined the national team directly from the NHL. It’s no coincidence that he holds a collection of records similar to the ones he has at Atlanta: most games (94), goals (36), assists (50) and points (86) for Russia in World Championship play. The forward played under Viktor Tikhonov at the end of that legend’s coaching career. Kovi finished with seven medals: two gold, two silver and three bronze.
Those gold medals were special. In 2008 in Quebec, Kovalchuk had failed to score during the tournament. In the final, that changed. He grabbed a late tying goal, then potted the overtime winner as Russia won its first championship since 1993. A year later in Switzerland, Kovalchuk was an undisputed leader with 5+9 points in nine games making him the team’s top scorer and placing him second in the tournament overall. In Bern, Russia successfully defended its title.
18.05.2008 Tied the game late and scored the winner in OT in the World Championship final
15.07.2013 Signed a sensational contract with SKA
19.04.2015 Scored the goals that proved decisive in two separate Gagarin Cup final series
Kovalchuk made his international debut aged 18, playing for Vyacheslav Fetisov’s team at the 2002 Olympics. In that first tournament he won a bronze medal, but he would have to wait 16 years for the greatest success of his career – winning gold in PyeongChang in 2018. That was Russia’s first Olympic triumph since 1992.
Dossier
Ilya Valerevich Kovalchuk
Born April 15, 1983 in Kalinin (now Tver)
Playing career: Spartak 1999-2001, Atlanta 2001-2010, Ak Bars 2004-2005, Khimik 2005-2006, New Jersey 2010-2013, SKA 2012-2013, 2013-18, Los Angeles 2019-2020, Montreal 2019-2020, Washington 2019-2020, Avangard 2020-2021.
Honors: Olympic gold (2018) and bronze (2002), World Championship gold (2008, 2009), silver (2010, 2015) and bronze (2005, 2007, 2019). Gagarin Cup winner (2015, 2017, 2021).
