KHL - Kovalchuk in the KHL

When the reigning champion, SKA, made its exit from the playoffs, it heralded the departure of one of the brightest stars to have graced the League, and this he did for six of its ten seasons. Less than a week before his 35th birthday, two-time Gagarin Cup winner Ilya Kovalchuk announced that he was heading back to North America to re-ignite his NHL career. In addition to wishing him all the best, KHL.ru decided to take a look back at the formidable forward's achievements during his time back in his home country. 


He came, he saw, he signed
Kovalchuk's first spell in the KHL amounted to little more than half the regular season, as he was part of the large NHL contingent which moved to the League in the 2012-13 season due to the NHL lockout. The stars were soon heading west again, after the dispute was resolved early in 2013, and Ilya's stint comprised a mere three dozen outings before moving back to North America. However, Kovalchuk crammed a great deal into those 36 games, including a stunning first 11 matches in which he took points in every game, a hat-trick against CSKA, but perhaps even more significantly, he acquired a love of the club and the city. By the time the next season was underway, Ilya's signature was on a contract with SKA.
Dancing in Chelyabinsk It was not only the inhabitants of Peter the Great's city who were delighted by Kovalchuk's arrival. All across the vast territory of the KHL, fans flocked to SKA's road games to see him play. He and Pavel Datsyuk, who was spending the lockout months with Moscow's Army Men, also deserve a special mention for their appearance at that season's All-Star Game in Chelyabinsk. There were hopes the event would be the most stellar in Russian history, packed with locked-out legends, but the dispute was resolved, NHL contracts came back into force, and the international brigade boarded their trans-Atlantic flights a matter of days before the big event. Datsyuk and Kovalchuk, however, negotiated a delay in their return, and headed off to the Urals with the best of the KHL. While the Magic Man performed his wizardry in the shootout, Kovalchuk stole the show with an unexpected display of figure-skating. This was the first of five appearances from Ilya in the All-Star Game, and he would have achieved a sixth call-up were he not ruled out of the 2016 event due to illness. 


Landmark decision On the 11th of July, 2013, came an announcement on the official website of the NHL, breaking the news that Ilya Kovalchuk had decided to call time on his North American career and would soon be returning to his homeland, and this just a month after he played for New Jersey in the Stanley Cup final. His contract with the Devils ran until 2025, but there was no denying the reality: one of the finest forwards in the game had officially accepted an offer of a four-year deal with SKA Saint Petersburg. In the short but eventful history of the KHL, this move was most the most sensational homecoming of any NHL star, even overshadowing that of Alexander Radulov from Tennessee to Bashkortostan.

A tricky beginning to an epic tale
Expectations among the burghers of the Northern Capital were sky high, and might well have become an unnecessary burden and an unwelcome distraction. The new captain made a slow start, but this was not unusual for a player fresh to the League after years in the West, and most expected Kovalchuk to gather momentum as the winter approached. Instead, Ilya suffered a wretched December, and this was followed by the bitter disappointment of Russia's early elimination at the Sochi Olympics, from which he returned to Petersburg nursing an injured knee. By the end of the regular season, there were 40 points in Kovalchuk's account – a healthy enough figure, and good enough to place him in the League's top ten – but this was still the great man's least fruitful season in the KHL.



Back with Bykov For his first couple of years in Saint Petersburg, the famous forward labored under foreign coaches – firstly, in the lockout season, the charismatic Milos Riha, and then, after his return was made permanent, the Finnish specialist Jukka Jalonen. When the management decided the team should be under the guidance of a Russian coach, Ilya started reproducing the form which had terrorized defenses on the other side of the Atlantic. The new boss, Vyacheslav  Bykov, was Kovalchuk's “old” boss when he captured his two world Championship golds, so not only did the head coach have total faith in him, but he knew full well how to use him. Bykov gave Kovalchuk the freedom he required, and he repaid the boss's faith by captaining SKA to its first Gagarin Cup triumph


A most generous MVP Among the multitude of medals and accolades to fall Kovalchuk's way in his career, there have so far been three occasions when he received the MVP award. He was recognized as the Most Valuable Player at the 2009 World Championships, at the recent Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, and in the 2015 Gagarin Cup campaign. Those playoffs, in which SKA unforgettably became champion, Ilya was immense. In the series against Dynamo Moscow, which at the time was a battle between the Petersburg Men and their most serious rivals, he scored points in every game. His dramatic overtime goal in Game 6 of the stunning Conference final comeback against CSKA was a near-knockout blow to the Muscovites, tieing a series in which CSKA had raced to a 3-0 lead. After he had lifted the trophy, the figures stated that only four players had scored more during the postseason, and three of these were on Ilya's team. It was to one of these, top sniper Evgeny Dadonov, that Kovalchuk generously handed his MVP award, a fact which should be cited whenever certain pundits across the ocean suggest the great man has an inate selfish streak.



Two golden goals If you were to ask any hockey player which of Kovalchuk's goal-scoring records they would like to match, or even surpass, it is likely they would choose his pair of Championship-winning goals. The list of those who have achieved this on one occasion contains some illustrous names – Alexei Morozov, Sergei Mozyakin, and and the battling Nikita Alexeyev, for example – but only Kovalchuk has managed to do this twice. The first came in Kazan in 2015, when a double from Kovalchuk contributed toward a resounding 6-1 victory, and the second arrived two years later in Magnitogorsk. On that occasion, the Army Men's captain limited himself to a solitary goal, nine seconds into the third period, but it was the moment that secured the title. The message to all teams is loud and clear: if you want a player for those crucial moments, Kovi's your man


Exile and return The 2015-16 season turned out to be full of twists and turns for Kovalchuk. It began smoothly enough, despite the absence of Bykov, who had moved on in search of new challenges after the previous year's triumph. Ilya was still SKA's leader, and was joined in his line by prolific sniper Anton Burdasov, but then the season began to unravel. The first negative signs came with Team Russia's unexpectedly poor showing in the Channel One Cup, with Radulov and Kovalchuk accused of lacking discipline during a defeat at the hands of the Swedes. Memories of that Moscow stage of the Eurotour seemed to be fading by the time the playoffs arrived, but a below-par performance in the Game 1 loss to Lokomotiv set more question marks over the captain's current form, and the coaching staff, deciding to take no chances, left the star forward out of the roster. In his absence, SKA managed to overcome the challenge of the Yaroslavl team, and Ilya was brought back onto the ice for the match-up with Dynamo, but by that time he had lost both the captaincy and the coach's confidence.
Salt was rubbed into Kovalchuk's wounds when Team Russia boss Oleg Znarok decided against calling him up for the World Championships, played on native Russian ice, and the fall from grace seemed complete. While many assumed that Ilya's days in Petersburg were numbered, and speculated wildly about which club would be next for the hero of the previous season, Kovalchuk reacted in the best possible way – he knuckled down, persevered, and set about proving his doubters wrong. Who could have foreseen he would soon be tasting Gagarin Cup glory yet again, and under the leadership of a certain Oleg Znarok?


Staying home to capture Olympic gold The tenth anniversary season of the KHL was also a very special year for Kovalchuk, although admittedly, his finest hour came during an extended break in the Championship. At the fifth attempt, Ilya became an Olympic gold-medalist, and it fully justified his decision to stay on in his homeland for another season. The great man had been considering a return to the NHL during the summer, but that would have ruled him out of the Winter Games, And so, instead of diving into the New Jersey contractual wrangles which a North American move would inevitably trigger, Ilya signed on for another year at SKA and thus was able to chase his Olympic dream.

Ilya Kovalchuk and Team Russia at the 2018 Olympics

A combative character
Many sportsmen retire and seamlessly move into a life as a TV pundit or commentator, broadcasting a mix of experience and diplomacy, but it is hard to imagine Kovalchuk as one of these impassive, sometimes passionless, observers. As many in the NHL can confirm, he has a long history of successfully getting under an opponent's skin with a mix of physical intimidation and finely-tuned mockery. Many opponents, from Linus Omark to Lokomotiv's Czech enforcer Jakub Nakladal, have found themselves targeted by the SKA man, who has never been shy to enter into any conflict, but who always brings a touch of creativity to his aggression.

Ilya Kovalchuk, 2017-18 playoff series, vs. Lokomotiv

For a grand finale, outscoring Mozyakin
The Olympic gold medal was one of a host of accolades and achievements in his final KHL season. He and Datsyuk both defied their advancing years and charged around the ice as if they were ten or fifteen years younger, and for Kovalchuk in particular, the results were clear for all to see. For the second time in his SKA career, and indeed, for the second season running, Ilya broke the magic 30-goal barrier, thanks in part to two hat-tricks. And even more impressively, when the regular season was over, no-one – not team-mate Nikita Gusev, not even Sergei Mozyakin – had managed to dislodge Kovalchuk from the Top Scorer position. Not a bad way to end your KHL career.




When the reigning champion SKA was eliminated from the playoffs, the club's talismanic captain, Ilya Kovalchuk, announced his that he was heading back to North America to resume his NHL career. The Olympic hero and two-time Gagarin Cup winner gave an interview to KHL.ru about his future, his past, and his good works off the ice.


On helping children
Even after he finished the SKA chapter of his career, Kovalchuk continues to make the news. After receiving a car for his exploits at the Olympics, he has sold the vehicle to Team Russia comrade Artemy Panarin for 7.1m rubles (approx. $115,000) and handed the money over to good causes, but even this has aroused some criticism. Ilya merely shrugs:
– Everyone has their own opinion. Moreover, with the coming of YouTube and Instagram a lot of the old boundaries have been erased. Anyone can broadcast whatever they want, and I don't think it is worth arguing with anyone. Actions speak louder than words. It's very easy to lie on the sofa and write unpleasant things, but to raise a bit of money and distribute it to those who need it – that is not always easy, but it's more useful and I think it deserves respect.
– When you get to the NHL, will you buy a new car there?
– I already have some wheels over there. But this was something I really wanted to do, whether it was to sell a car or just hand over the money. The idea occurred to me even before the Olympics began.
And I know a lot of guys who are doing this, at SKA and in the national team, but most of them don't want to talk about it. And I think the opposite; I think that we should, in fact, talk about it, and maybe even shout! Because we only did one minor act, leaving aside, for the moment, that we take part in the annual “From a Pure Heart” campaign, which is on a completely different scale.
So here we have a couple of guys trading a car, and you should see the volume of letters I received – so many requests for help, and they deserve attention. We need to help as many children as we can. They're not to blame for the bad situations they're in, and we should make it so that children get the chance to have a long and bright future.

Ilya Kovalchuk

On money
– You waved goodbye to $100m in New Jersey, and General Manager Lou Lamorello exclaimed, “Are you crazy?!” After five years in Russia, do you have an answer?
– There was no way I was going to earn a hundred million dollars, and I have no regrets. I'm happy doing what I love. Yes, I get paid a decent wage, but for me, money has never taken first place. I treat it very calmly. Those people who know me, know this. And those who don't know me, but nonetheless give their opinions, well, they're just reading their tea leaves.
Money for me has never been and never will be a priority. That's how I was raised by my father, by my parents. And when I terminated my contract with Devils, I did not even think for a minute about how much I might earn in Russia and what might happen.
In any case, different situations arise. For example, I was suspended from playing for SKA, but then I returned, won another Gagarin Cup, won the Olympic games... Many people bounce back from a dark episode. It's like a family: sometimes you just argue with your wife, and sometimes it spirals into a divorce. The same goes for relations within a sports team.
That's how I was raised by my father, by my parents. And when I terminated the contract with Devils, I did not even think for a minute about how much I might earn in Russia and what might happen.

Money for me has never been a priority. That's how I was raised by my father, by my parents. And when I terminated my contract with Devils, I did not even think for a minute about how much I might earn in Russia.

– One of the reasons you refused a deal with New Jersey was the situation with the NHL players' union. Has that changed now?
– Nothing has changed there, but now I have matured, I already have other interests. I want to try and win the Stanley Cup. I don't have too many years left to play hockey, in peak condition and at full fitness.
– Is it wise to go to the World Championships without a contract?
– I've played in many World Championships without a contract: back in 2010, before that. If you go onto the ice worried about getting injured, then you're sure to get injured. You have to put all such thoughts to the back of your mind. In any case, we're insured through the Russian Hockey Federation, so I've no reason to be worried about that. It is more important that the coaching staff and the management of the national team decide who to take, and who not to take.

On the KHL and the Superleague

– You said recently in an interview that it's not a good situation in the League with CSKA and SKA being so dominant, although this is mitigated by the benefits to the national team at the Olympics.
– I said it's probably not good, and in the regular season it turned out that those two clubs had far more points than all the other teams.
With the arrival of the new leadership and management, SKA has changed completely. We have a vertical structure that's sets a good example to any team in the KHL. We have fans who come to every match, there is a stadium with all the infrastructure, a new base, and a youth team. We have talented juniors, and we're attracting a great many children from other cities. They want to get into the SKA academy.
Previously, you could only say that about CSKA or Traktor Chelyabinsk, but now we have another very good organization dedicated to nurturing talented young hockey players. The talent is now spread across the League. Yes, we've had some resounding victories this year, but even during that spell where we won 20 games in a row, there were still a lot of overtimes, shootouts, and games settled by just a one-goal margin.
There were some one-sided wins, but you get those in every league. Dinamo Riga finished at the bottom of the Conference standings, but they've always given us a very tough match in my time here, and they've even beaten us in Petersburg.

We had a good team at SKA. A strong spirit, a friendly group, a great atmosphere, and we had a fantastic time together. It's just a shame that this year the Gagarin Cup was a little beyond us.

I think the League is improving. We have some great young guys coming through: look at Kaprizov, Shalunov, Shumakov, Gusev... A huge amount of guys that no one would have known about before, had there been no KHL, with that organization. Remember the Superleague. I left when I was 18, and it was in a state of ruin, just four places in all Moscow where you could play, training a seven in the morning... That's not serious.
Now we've made huge progress... and in only ten years. I must say thank you to those people who did the work when creating the League. God willing, it will continue to grow. Only where there is strong and healthy competition can you raise talented players, and for that you need star-studded teams. Look at football: in Spain you have Barcelona and Real Madrid, there's Bayern in Germany, Juventus in Italy. The same with hockey.
Merely spending a lot of money is not enough to bring you success. There are many examples: Ak Bars in the 2005 lockout, SKA for a while, Magnitogorsk, CSKA... Money doesn't solve everything. It is important to create the right atmosphere in the team, and build a strong vertical.


Best ever goal – What match do you consider was your best in the KHL?
– Probably, any of the games in the playoffs. For example, Game 6 in St. Petersburg, in 2015, when Thoresen scored in overtime. We fought back to win the series against CSKA after trailing 0-3. After that, we were sure that it was our year.
In general, the games in the regular season do not linger long in the memory. I remember we scored six against Ufa, and that amazing game against the Kazan guys, when we were losing 1-5, fought back and drew level, and then lost in the shootout.
– You handed your MVP of the playoffs award in 2015 to Evgeny Dadonov.
– No, I just told him that he deserved it; you can't hand over the title when they have announced you as the winner.
– Your best goal?
– It's hard to pick one out. A lot of goals are similar in nature.
– What about the Québec game?
– That was a very fortunate game. It just turned out the way it did. It was a historical moment. We hadn't won the gold for 15 years. And when we won, it was decided in Russia to create the KHL. That match against the Canadians was a very important one in the history of hockey in our country.



On SKA – Were you helped by the long break in the KHL season to prepare for the Olympics?
– We had a full roster and were able to train together as a team. Physically, we were very well prepared. We never had this before any other Olympic Games, because usually we have the guys coming over from the NHL and they have to play within a day or two. Yes, with the other teams it's often the same, but we felt better before the Pyongyang games than any of the others.
– Andrei Mironov arrived from Colorado and said that there was just the one masseur, while in Dynamo Moscow were three. Are there any factors by which SKA is better than an NHL club?
– It's hard to compare. The set-up with the staff in the NHL is a little different, and on certain things – like on massage – they pay less attention. They just don't think it's so important. In Russia you get massaged for an hour, and there was nothing like that over there. If you had a massage in the NHL, it was only for 10-15 minutes. The physics just work to different methods in the NHL.
– How is the KHL press different from the NHL press? There is famous video in which a reporter follows you around Yaroslavl, filming you, and you always shunned him. Why?
– I don't even want to talk about him. It's ridiculous. Just a guys who follows you, jumps out from behind a corner, filming everything. I'm not mocking him, but I have to ask: why do I need this?

I think the League is improving. We have some great young guys coming through. Guys that no one would have known about before, had there been no KHL.

It is understood that, in America, there is a set time after the match when you go to the locker room for five to seven minutes, you talk to reporters – you have to do it – and then you're free to go. What if I should walk out of the room and there is someone running behind me with a camera? It's ridiculous.
– Who is the liveliest character in SKA's locker room?
– We all have a lot of fun. Of the foreigners, it would be Patrick Thoresen. As for the Russians, most of them like to laugh and joke, but I'd pick out Andrei Zubarev.
– Would SKA be a force in the NHL? Would they be good enough to compete in the playoffs?
– It's hard to say. How could I possibly know? But we do have a very good team. People like to note that SKA supplied 15 players for the national team, but what does that prove. It's highly subjective. Each coach has people in whom he puts his faith, but if a different coach took charge, then he would have changed half the team. In the KHL more than half the guys once played for their national teams at one time or another.
We had a good team at SKA. A strong spirit, a friendly group, and our wives all got on well with one another. There was a great atmosphere in the team, and we had a fantastic time together. It's just a shame that this year the Gagarin Cup was a little beyond us.

On dreams for the future

– The ruble is falling in value, so will a lot of players be leaving the KHL?
– Who's leaving? What's this all about? We live in Russia. So what difference does the exchange rate with the dollar make?
– The Euro has already surpassed the 80-ruble mark, and we hear that some foreign players are not happy.
– Maybe, but we have no control over politics. All a player can do is train hard, go out and score more goals and then he will get more euros.
– Alexei Kovalev said that he would like to play with his two sons in a line. Do you have such a dream?
– My youngest son plays hockey, but he's only eight, so I don't think we're going to be line-mates. God willing, I'll watch him play from the sidelines one day. And my eldest plays football, and we have played in the same team, but only kicking the ball about in the yard.
– Can you see yourself still playing hockey at 45, like Jaromir Jagr?
– Of course not, but I'll play until I feel I can no longer be myself anymore. There has to be an average level of performance which you can still keep producing. That is very important for me.

Fact file:

Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk
Born: April 15, 1983, in Kalinin (Tver)
Career: Spartak – 1999-2001; Atlanta Thrashers – 2001-2004, 2005-2010; Ak Bars – 2004-2005: Khimik – 2005; New Jersey Devils – 2010-2013; SKA – 2012-2013, 2013-2018
Honors: two-time Gagarin Cup winner (2015, 2017), Olympic champion (2018), Olympic bronze (2002), two-time World Championship gold medalist (2008, 2009), two-time World Championship silver medalist (2010, 2015), two-time World Championship bronze medalist (2005, 2007)