Great Russian Montreal Canadiens: Ilya Kovalchuk

The Montreal Canadiens finally drafted their next offensive superstar, Ivan Demidov, and he comes from the way off land of Russia. Demidov is poised to be the next offensive superstar when he comes over to North America, and will hopefully reach the height's of today's subject. While his impact and time on the team was short, Ilya Kovalchuk, over his entire career, proved to be one of the best Russian forwards to reach the NHL.

Looking purely at the numbers in a Montreal Canadiens uniform, there doesn't seem too much to talk about. In January of 2020, Kovalchuk signed with the Canadiens for a league minimum contract, played 22 games and then was traded to the Capitals for a third round pick.

The story starts all the way back with the 2001 draft. Story was that the Canadiens, who ended up drafting Mike Komisarek 7th overall, tried to trade with the Atlanta Thrashers for the first overall pick and the clear best player in the draft, Kovalchuk.

The trade never went through, and the Thrashers got their first superstar. In just his third season in the league, Kovalchuk scored 41 goals, good enough to win the Rocket Richard Trophy with Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash. His 87 points were second in the league, behind a little guy named Martin St. Louis.

However, the Thrashers were never competitive, either with Kovalchuk or any time without him, and the team played just 4 playoff games while Kovalchuk was with the team. Despite offering very lucrative offers from the Thrashers, he was eventually traded and signed to the biggest contract at the time in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils.

And it could have been bigger.

Its been well documented that the New Jersey Devils signed Kovalchuk to a 17 year, $102 million contract. The contract would have ended when Kovalchuk would turn 44 years old, and was ridiculously front loaded, basically assuming that Kovalchuk would retire before it ended.

The NHL rejected it, and the contract was rejigged to be a mere 15 year contract for $100 million. Which was still massive, but he was worth it. Kovalchuk scored 40+ goals like clockwork and constantly threatened 100 points in a season. He finished his first stint in the NHL 816 points in 816 games.

I don't think many people expected Kovalchuk to play the entirety of his contract, but it probably was a surprise that 3 years after signing that contract, Kovalchuk would be retiring from the NHL and moving back to Russia and the KHL.

The lockout didn't help, which saw part of the 2012-13 season lost, where Kovalchuk played with SKA St. Petersburg. He returned to the NHL to finish the 2013 season, but then left for seemingly good at the end of the season. He signed a 5 year deal in the KHL, and stayed there for the whole contract, winning Gagarin Cup 2 times.

After his contract ended in the KHL, finishing with 352 points in 334 games, Kovalchuk made the jump back to the NHL, and chose the Los Angeles Kings? It was a weird fit, for an aging former star to join the fading Kings, not really a threat to make any noise outside the regular season.

And Kovalchuk similarly struggled, scoring just 16 goals in the season, and wouldn't make it through the second, being bought out early in the season.

And that's where, with a hope and prayer, Marc Bergevin swooped in and signed Kovalchuk to a league minimum contract. And the rest, was a magic little moment in time.

Kovalchuk rocked as a Canadien, and was so much fun to watch and be a part of. The team and the fans fully embraced him, and he became an extra time hero, as well as capturing the hearts and minds of all of Montreal.

You can see from his reaction how much he was loving it. Along with the fans and his teammates, it was a truly great little slice of hockey history. Kovalchuk scored 6 goals and 13 points in 22 games, including those electrifying two overtime winners.

But it became clear quickly that the Montreal Canadiens were not getting into the playoffs, and wanted to give Kovalchuk the best chance to win the Cup, and traded him to Washington for a third round pick.

In terms of asset management, it was great. Getting a third round pick out of literally nothing is great. And then that draft pick was packaged and used in a trade with the St. Louis Blues to acquire Jake Allen, who put in four very solid years with the Habs.

So looking back at the numbers, what Ilya Kovalchuk did with the Canadiens was not overly special. A quarter of a season, 6 goals and getting flipped for a third round pick which eventually turned into Jake Allen. But the emotions involved were so high, and taking into account his whole career, Ilya Kovalchuk was probably the most skilled Russian forward to ever suit up with the Montreal Canadiens.