page_title: Ilya Kovalchuk
section_title: New Jersey Devils
hierarchical_section_title: Ilya Kovalchuk / Playing career / New Jersey Devils
caption_attribution_description: English: New Jersey Devils forward Travis Zajac (#19, foreground) instructs Nick Palmieri (#32), Mark Fayne (#34), and Ilya Kovalchuk (#17) prior to faceoff during a National Hockey League game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 6, 2011.
context_page_description: Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk is a Russian professional ice hockey player for the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League. He has previously played for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens in the NHL, and Ak Bars Kazan, Khimik Moscow Oblast, and SKA Saint Petersburg in the Russian Superleague and Kontinental Hockey League.
  Kovalchuk developed in the youth system of Spartak Moscow, joining their senior team in the Vysshaya Liga in 1999. After two seasons with Spartak, he joined the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, who selected him first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. After eight seasons with the Thrashers, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils in 2010, with whom he signed a 15-year, $100 million contract, after a 17-year, $102 million deal was rejected by the NHL. In 2013, he left the NHL to return to Russia, joining SKA Saint Petersburg, where he played for five seasons before returning to the NHL in 2018.
  Kovalchuk is tied for fourth all-time in the NHL for regular-season overtime goals scored, 18th all-time in goals per game average, and the seventh-highest scoring Russian in NHL history.
context_section_description: In the final year of his contract, Kovalchuk and the Thrashers could not come to an agreement on an extension. Thrashers general manager Don Waddell reportedly offered 12-year, $101 million and seven-year, $70 million contracts, both of which Kovalchuk turned down. A few days after Kovalchuk rejected the second contract offer, Waddell told him that he was going to be traded, rather than risk losing him to unrestricted free agency for nothing in the off-season, despite the fact that the Thrashers were still in the playoff race. On February 4, 2010, Kovalchuk was traded to the New Jersey Devils. Atlanta received defenceman Johnny Oduya, rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, junior prospect Patrice Cormier and a first-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for Kovalchuk and defenceman Anssi Salmela; the teams also traded second-round selections in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Kovalchuk left the Thrashers as their all-time leader in several categories, including games played, goals, assists and points. He recorded two assists the following day in his Devils' debut, a 4–3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 5. Kovalchuk eventually ended the season with 41 goals along with 44 assists, for 85 points split between Atlanta and New Jersey. On February 10, 2011, Kovalchuk scored the game-winning goal in a game over the Maple Leafs to give Jacques Lemaire the 600th win of his coaching career.
caption: Kovalchuk (top) playing for the New Jersey Devils, alongside Travis Zajac (#19, foreground), Nick Palmieri (#32), and Mark Fayne (#34).
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