HOMECOMING: Ilya Kovalchuk finally returned from his stint in the KHL on Tuesday and rejoined his Devils teammates in their scrimmage yesterday afternoon (
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It was almost like everything was back to normal, the Devils’ $100 million man out there on the Newark ice, carving up defenses and scoring goals like the superstar winger that he is.
But it wasn’t normal, because yesterday’s scrimmage against the Albany Devils (AHL) was the first day that Ilya Kovalchuk skated with his NHL Devils, three days after his teammates began training camp. Kovalchuk had just returned on Tuesday night from his native Russia, where he was the face of the KHL during the whole of the four-month NHL lockout and where he stayed an extra couple days to take part in the All-Star game on Sunday.
“The president of the [KHL], he asked us to play,” Kovalchuk said. “He said it would be important to the fans, they already sell the tickets to see us play there, and they already started being upset with us, so I decided to stay.”
Kovalchuk said that he had talked with general manager Lou Lamoriello before the All-Star game, and that there was an understanding how important it was for him to stay in a Russia another couple days. Although Lamoriello wasn’t technically allowed to give his permission because of injury insurance issues, there was little concern Kovalchuk or the team would be poorly affected by three added days of his absence.
“It’s good that Lou and ownership, they understand me and they accept it,” Kovalchuk said, “so I really appreciate it.”
Kovalchuk is entering the third year of his 15-year, $100 million contract, the type of long-term deal that circumvented the spirit of the salary cap and eventually lead to more strict contract limits being an integral part of the new collective bargaining agreement. But it was that existing NHL contract which made Kovalchuk staying in the KHL an impossibility, as the two leagues had an agreement that once the lockout ended, all KHL contracts were void.
Kovalchuk also denied a report that Russian president Valdimir Putin offered him and three other Russian stars playing the KHL a large sum of money to stay, saying, “No, that’s not true. I’m sure [Putin] has got some other things to take care of.”
That doesn’t mean there wasn’t pressure for the 29-year-old Kovalchuk, in the prime of his career, to stay in his native country and spurn the league that seemingly had stopped operations over a relatively minor monetary quibble.
“I’m sure there was pressure to stay there,” Lamoriello said. “It’s your home country. There’s loyalty. I don’t think it’s any different than [what] any of us would go through.”
But now Kovalchuk is back in New Jersey, with the team that he led all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season while playing with a herniated disc in his back. He joined a top line yesterday with Travis Zajac and Danius Zubrus, and although it was against a mostly minor-league team, Kovalchuk scored on a beautiful one-timer from the left circle, a little mock celebration for only the enjoyment of his grateful teammates.
“Kovy is Kovy,” goalie Martin Brodeur said. “It doesn’t matter what he does, he’s still the best out there.”
bcyrgalis@nypost.com