Signing Ilya Kovalchuk was part of the Devils’ pitch to get Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov to buy the NHL team, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.
Citing two NHL sources, the Canadian newspaper reports Devils owner James Vanderbeek made a strong pitch last summer to Prokhorov, a Russian billionaire.
“Re-signing Kovalchuk, a Russian, was core to the pitch,” the report says.
The Nets are playing at the Prudential Center, the Devils’ home arena, for at least this season and next while their arena in Brooklyn is built.
“You never know,” Vanderbeek says, “coyly” according to the report. “[Prokhorov] does like the building. We have a very good relationship. I talk to him about a lot of things.”
It then says Vanderbeek “has no plans to sell” but mentions a financial dispute the team and arena have had with the city of Newark.
A spokesman for Prokhorov told NJ.com, “Mikhail currently has no plans to purchase any other sports teams. His priority now is building the Nets basketball team into a great franchise, and moving it to a new, state-of-the-art home at the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn,’’ the statement said.
Kovalchuk signed a 15-year, $100 million contract to stay with the Devils after a 17-year, $102 million deal was rejected for trying to circumvent the salary cap.
The Russian star is having the worst season of his career and the Devils their worst start in decades. Kovalchuk has five goals in the Devils’ first 29 games, in which they are 8-19-2, next-to-last in the Eastern Conference and in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons.