OMG he left twelve years and $77 million on the table. That's a bunch of nonsense. He knew damn well that he's going to make all that money and most likely more when he signs his KHL deal.
lol, agree. It's not like he retired to go volunteer at a non-profit. He's going to Russia to make a lot of money, probably more depending on what their tax rates are.
I heard the tax rate would be 13% there compared to 40% here. I bet he signs for something absurd like $20-$25 million a year for four years. Then at the age of 35 will come back to an NHL team.
More power to him if he's choosing his happiness over money but take what you read about what guys get paid in Russia with a grain of salt.
They have folks with a lot of money over there. Look at what the Mad Russian is doing in Brooklyn with the Nets. The KHL will certainly pay big bucks to grab a top five guy from the NHL.
Once he saw Parise and Clarkson leave, plus their financial situation, he knew they weren't going to be a SC contender for awhile. He actually did them a favor by retiring instead of waiting a year for a buyout.
There's most likely something to this. The team wasn't improving. Just scrambling to try and replace what they lost. Parise and Clarkson being replaced by Clowe and Ryder is not getting better. With no prospects to speak of they're forced to rely on either making trades or signing free agents. That was never Lou's way of doing things.
Rich people typically don't get that way by being generous. Most of these KHL teams (pretty much all non-NHL teams) don't have the income required to pay these guys over the long term so there is a lot of drugs and money laundering going on.
what i dont understand is how he can simply retire and sign a contract with another club. Doesnt the NHL and the KHL have some sought of agreement to prevent this shit? He signed a contract he should be obligated to play with that one club or he shouldnt be allowed to play at all.
If Kovalchuk wants to play in Russia this is a no brainer for him. He can make that $77m in 5 years there vs the 13 here and the taxes is 13% vs 50% The downside is its Russia but sounds like he loves it over there. See ya Ilya and yes the Devils are screwed in the short term but 5 years from now they will be glad he left
Big Al, I was wondering the same thing, but I think it's ok because the Devils voided his contract. If they wanted to fight it and hold him to the contract, I don't think he could sign in Russia, but voiding his contract freed him so to speak.
