Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk

Ilya Kovalchuk
Date of birth	April 15, 1983
place of birth	Kalinin , Russian SFSR
size	187 cm
Weight	107 kg
position	Left wing
number	# 17
Shot hand	Right
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2001 , 1st round, 1st position Atlanta Thrashers
Career stations
until 2001	HK Spartak Moscow
2001-2004	Atlanta Thrashers
2004-2005	Ak Bars Kazan
2005	Chimik Moskovskaya Oblast
2005-2010	Atlanta Thrashers
2010-2013	New Jersey Devils
2012	SKA Saint Petersburg
2013-2018	SKA Saint Petersburg
2018-2019	Los Angeles Kings
2020	Canadiens de Montréal
since 2020	Washington Capitals

Ilya Kovalchuk ( Russian Илья Валерьевич Ковальчук ; English transcription: Ilya Kovalchuk Valerievich * 15. April 1983 in Kalinin , Russian SFSR ) is a Russian ice hockey player , who in February 2020 the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League is under contract. The left winger was active in the NHL between 2001 and 2013, playing for the Atlanta Thrashers and the New Jersey Devils . The Thrashers, who him in the NHL Entry Draft in 2001 at the first position had selected, he presented numerous records and won in 2004 as top scorer of the NHL, the Maurice Richard Trophy . Between 2013 and 2018 he returned to his homeland and won the playoffs of the Continental Hockey League for the Gagarin Cup twice with SKA Saint Petersburg . In addition, he represented the Russian national team at numerous international tournaments, became world champion with them in 2008 and 2009 and won the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics under a neutral flag .

Career

Kovalchuk's career began in Russia at HK Spartak Moscow before he was selected by the Atlanta Thrashers as the overall first in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft . This made him the first Russian to be selected in the first place.

Atlanta Thrashers (2001-2010)

Ilya Kovalchuk (2006)

As an 18-year-old rookie , he impressed with 29 goals in his first NHL season , although he missed a total of 17 games due to a shoulder injury. In the election for the Calder Memorial Trophy Kovalchuk defeated his teammate Dany Heatley . After he was able to increase his offensive performance the following year , the Russian finally established himself as a top player in the top division of North America in the 2003/04 season and won the Maurice Richard Trophy with 41 goals , which he received along with Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash . The attacker also took part in the All-Star Game for the first time in February 2004 .

During the 2004/05 season Kovalchuk played due to the NHL lockout at the Russian club Ak Bars Kazan in the Russian Super League , where he was under contract with many other NHL stars such as Heatley, Nikolai Chabibulin , Alexei Kowaljow and Vincent Lecavalier . At the beginning of the 2005/06 season Kovalchuk played in Russia at the Moscow suburb club Chimik Moskowskaja Oblast until he agreed on a new contract with Atlanta. In October 2005, he signed a five-year contract that made him $ 32 million, or nearly $ 6.5 million a year. Although he missed a few games at the beginning, Kovalchuk surpassed his personal record of 41 goals from 2004 and ended the main round with 52 goals, which had never before been achieved by any player wearing the Atlanta Thrashers' jersey.

In the 2006/07 season , the right-handed shooter scored 76 points and moved his team into the playoffs for the first time , where they were eliminated in the first round against the New York Rangers . Kovalchuk contributed one goal and one assist in four games. In November 2007, Kovalchuk got a hat trick in two consecutive games . After he was one of five assistant captains at the beginning of the 2008/09 season , he took over from Bobby Holík as the new team captain in January 2009 .

New Jersey Devils (2010-2013)

During the 2009/10 season , the Thrashers negotiated extensively with Kovalchuk for a contract extension and ultimately offered him a twelve-year contract for $ 101 million or a seven-year contract with an annual income of $ 10 million. But Kowaltschuk turned down the offers, so he was transferred to the New Jersey Devils on February 4, 2010 , when the Thrashers together with Anssi Salmela against Johnny Oduya , Niclas Bergfors , Patrice Cormier and a draft pick for the first round of the NHL Entry Draft Exchanged in 2010 . In addition, the teams also exchanged their voting rights in the second round of the same draft.

He signed a 17-year contract with the New Jersey Devils, which was later not approved by the NHL, as the contract served to circumvent the salary cap by steadily decreasing the salary from the seventh year of the term, and thus that Average salary of the contract lowers. Since the salary cap is calculated based on the average salary of a player, Kovalchuk would have charged the salary cap with 6 million dollars, even though he would have made 11 million dollars in the first few years. On August 9, the contract was declared invalid. This made Kovalchuk an unrestricted free agent again . A 15-year contract valued at around $ 100 million was approved on September 4, and Kovalchuk returned to the Devils. It was agreed that the Russian would earn nine million dollars annually for the first ten years of his contract, this sum will be reduced to two million dollars annually for the last five years of his contract.

In February 2012, Kovalchuk scored a Gordie Howe hat trick in the game against the Philadelphia Flyers . He finished the 2011/12 NHL with seven game-winning goals and eleven hits in the shootout , setting new NHL records for both categories. In the play-offs, the Russian was instrumental in getting his team into the Stanley Cup final, with 19 points from 23 games , where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings . Between September 2012 and January 2013 he played due to the lockout in the NHL at SKA Saint Petersburg in the Continental Hockey League . At the KHL All-Star Game 2013 , he led the selection of the West Conference as captain.

SKA Saint Petersburg (2013-2018)

Kovalchuk during the 2010 Winter Olympics

On July 11, 2013, Kovalchuk announced his resignation from the NHL. Just four days later, he signed a four-year contract with SKA Saint Petersburg. In the 2014/15 season he won the Gagarin Cup with his team and was awarded 19 scorer points from 22 games as the most valuable player in the play-offs, but gave the award voluntarily to his teammate Yevgeny Dadonov , who, according to Kowaltschuk, won the award earned. In 2017 he was able to repeat winning the Gagarin Cup with the team.

Los Angeles, Montréal and Washington (since 2018)

After Kovalchuk himself announced his intention to return to the NHL, he agreed on a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Kings in June 2018 , which should bring him an average annual salary of 6.25 million US dollars. In his first season after returning to the NHL, the Russian recorded 34 points in 64 games and clearly missed the playoffs with the Kings. After another 17 games in the 2019/20 season, in which he also did not know how to convince, his contract in Los Angeles was dissolved. According to media reports, however, Kovalchuk wanted to continue his NHL career, which was confirmed in early January 2020 when he signed a contract for $ 350,000 by the end of the season with the Canadiens de Montréal . In the period up to the end of February of the same year, the Russian completed 22 games for the Franco-Canadians, in which he posted 13 points scorer. Shortly before the trade deadline , he was transferred to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a third-round vote in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft . The Habs continued to take over 50 percent of Kovalchuk's salary.

International

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Kovalchuk scored four goals in one game in a 9-2 win over Latvia on February 19, 2006, but could not win a medal with the Russian national team.

At the ice hockey world championship in 2008 , Kovalchuk scored the two game-winning goals (4: 4 and 5: 4) in the final of his team against the host Canadians after a previously disappointing World Cup . Thus, he became world champion for the first time and collected a total of eight scorer points with two goals and six assists. At the 2009 World Cup , he and his team defended the title, again defeating the Canadians in the final. Kovalchuk convinced with 14 points, five of which were goals.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics , the attacker won the gold medal with Sbornaja, who started under a neutral flag . He was personally the top scorer (5) of the tournament (together with Kirill Kaprisow and Ryan Donato ) and was subsequently recognized as the most valuable player and voted into the tournament's all-star team.

Achievements and Awards

2001 NHL Rookie of the Month for December (with Dany Heatley ) 2002 NHL Rookie of the Month for January 2002 Participation in the NHL YoungStars Game 2002 NHL YoungStars Game MVP 2002 NHL All-Rookie Team 2003 NHL Offensive Player of the Month for October 2004 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 2004 Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy (together with Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash ) 2004 NHL Second All-Star Team 2004 Kharlamov Trofi

2007 NHL Player of the Month for November 2008 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 2009 Participation in the NHL All-Star Game 2009 NHL Player of the Month for February 2012 NHL First All-Star Team 2012 KHL striker of the month October 2013 participation in the KHL All-Star Game 2015 Gagarin Cup win with SKA Saint Petersburg 2016 KHL striker of the month October 2017 Gagarin Cup and Russian champion with SKA Saint Petersburg

International

2000 gold medal at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge 2000 silver medal at the U18 Junior World Championship 2001 gold medal at the U18 Junior World Championship 2001 top scorer of the U18 Junior World Championship 2001 Top scorer in the U18 World Junior Championship 2001 Best striker of the U18 World Junior Championship 2001 All-Star Team of the U18 Junior World Championship 2002 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games 2005 bronze medal at the world championship 2007 bronze medal at the world championship 2008 gold medal at the world championship 2009 gold medal at the world championship 2009 Most Valuable Player of the World Cup

2009 World Cup best striker 2009 World Championship All-Star Team 2010 silver medal at the world championship 2010 top scorer of the world championship 2010 best assists in the world championship 2013 World Cup top scorer 2015 silver medal at the world championship 2018 gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games 2018 best goalscorer of the Olympic Winter Games (together with Ryan Donato and Kirill Kaprisow ) 2018 Most Valuable Player of the Winter Olympics 2018 Winter Olympics All-Star Team 2019 bronze medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Kovalchuk in the shirt of the SKA Saint Petersburg , December 2012

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1999/00	HK Spartak Moscow II	Pervaya League		12	2	3	5	61		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	HK Spartak Moscow	Vysschaya League		51	14th	6th	20th	89		-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	HK Spartak Moscow	Vysschaya League		39	25th	18th	43	78		12	14th	4th	18th	38
2001/02	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		65	29	22nd	51	28		-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		81	38	29	67	57		-	-	-	-	-
2003/04	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		81	41	46	87	63		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Ak Bars Kazan	Super league		53	19th	22nd	41	70		4th	0	1	1	0
2005/06	Chimik Moskovskaya Oblast	Super league		11	8th	5	13	24		-	-	-	-	-
2005/06	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		78	52	46	98	68		-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		82	42	34	76	66		4th	1	1	2	19th
2007/08	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		79	52	35	87	52		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		79	43	48	91	50		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	Atlanta Thrashers	NHL		49	31	27	58	45		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	New Jersey Devils	NHL		27	10	17th	27	8th		5	2	4th	6th	6th
2010/11	New Jersey Devils	NHL		81	31	29	60	28		-	-	-	-	-
2011/12	New Jersey Devils	NHL		77	37	46	83	33		23	8th	11	19th	6th
2012/13	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		36	18th	24	42	12		-	-	-	-	-
2012/13	New Jersey Devils	NHL		37	11	20th	31	18th		-	-	-	-	-
2013/14	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		45	16	24	40	38		10	3	2	5	31
2014/15	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		54	25th	30th	55	69		22nd	8th	11	19th	12
2015/16	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		50	16	33	49	24		4th	0	0	0	2
2016/17	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		60	32	46	78	47		18th	6th	3	9	35
2017/18	SKA Saint Petersburg	KHL		53	31	32	63	26th		15th	6th	4th	10	12
2018/19	Los Angeles Kings	NHL		64	16	18th	34	10		-	-	-	-	-
Super league overall				64	27	27	54	94		4th	0	1	1	0
KHL total				298	138	189	327	216		69	23	20th	43	92
NHL overall				880	433	417	850	526		32	11	16	27	31

International

Represented Russia in: U18 Junior World Championship 2000 U20 World Junior Championship 2001 U18 Junior World Championship 2001 2002 Winter Olympics World Championship 2003 World Championship 2004 World Cup of Hockey 2004 World Championship 2005 2006 Winter Olympics World Championship 2007

World Championship 2008 World Championship 2009 2010 Winter Olympics World Championship 2010 World Championship 2011 World Championship 2013 2014 Winter Olympics World Championship 2015 World Championship 2019

Represented the Olympic athletes from Russia at: Olympic Winter Games 2018

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2000	Russia	U18 World Cup			6th	2	3	5	6th
2001	Russia	U20 World Cup	7th place		7th	4th	2	6th	37
2001	Russia	U18 World Cup			6th	11	4th	15th	26th
2002	Russia	Olympia			6th	1	2	3	14th
2003	Russia	WM	7th place		7th	4th	0	4th	6th
2004	Russia	WM	10th place		6th	3	1	4th	6th
2004	Russia	World cup	6th place		4th	1	0	1	4th
2005	Russia	WM			9	3	3	6th	4th
2006	Russia	Olympia	4th Place		8th	4th	1	5	31
2007	Russia	WM			9	2	5	7th	10
2008	Russia	WM			8th	2	6th	8th	52
2009	Russia	WM			9	5	9	14th	4th
2010	Russia	Olympia	6th place		4th	1	2	3	0
2010	Russia	WM			9	2	10	12	2
2011	Russia	WM	4th Place		9	3	5	8th	6th
2013	Russia	WM	6th place		8th	8th	5	13	29
2014	Russia	Olympia	5th place		5	3	0	3	2
2015	Russia	WM			10	2	3	5	2
2018	OA from Russia	Olympia			6th	5	2	7th	4th
2019	Russia	WM			10	2	3	5	4th
Juniors overall					19th	17th	9	26th	69
Men overall					127	51	57	108	180

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Personal

Kovalchuk wears the number 17 on his back in recognition of his idol Valery Kharlamov , a Soviet ice hockey legend from the 1970s. For the national team he wears the 71 because the number Kharlamov has been blocked by the Russian Federation .

Web links

Commons : Ilya Kovalchuk  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Player biography on the Washington Capitals website
• Ilja Kowaltschuk at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Ilja Kowaltschuk at eliteprospects.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Thrashers ship Kovalchuk to Devils for players, 1st rounder. The Sports Network , February 4, 2010, accessed February 5, 2010 . 
2. ^ NHL Rejects Kovalchuk Contract For Salary Cap Circumvention. TSN, July 20, 2010, accessed July 20, 2010 . 
3. ↑ Reports: Arbitrator rules in NHL's favor. National Hockey League , August 9, 2010, accessed September 5, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Kovy deal registered as NHL, NHLPA reach settlement. New Jersey Devils , September 4, 2010, accessed September 5, 2010 . 
5. ↑ Adam Kimelman: Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk Announces retirement from NHL. National Hockey League , July 11, 2013, accessed July 14, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Kovalchuk signs with Russian club. National Hockey League , July 15, 2013, accessed July 15, 2013 . 
7. ↑ LA Kings Agree to Terms with Ilya Kovalchuk on 3-Year Contract. nhl.com, June 23, 2018, accessed June 23, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Where does Ilja Kovalchuk want to fit into Habs lineup? awinninghabit.com, January 4, 2020, accessed January 11, 2020 . 
9. ↑ Jared Clinton: Capitals land Kovalchuk from Canadiens as Washington stocks up and Montreal starts selling. In: thehockeynews.com. The Hockey News , February 24, 2020, accessed February 24, 2020 .