Ilya Kovalchuk retires. What does this mean for him and the Devils?

My blog title states that I'll post about non-Penguins stories occasionally and this is the first one. This is quite a big story to come out today and is quite hard to fathom happening. Ilya Kovalchuk had 12 years remaining on a 15 year deal that would've seen him paid $100m. As it stands he is leaving $77m on the table and terminating the contract only 3 seasons in.

BREAKING: Ilya Kovalchuk announces he will retire. "This decision was something I have thought about for a long time."
— New Jersey Devils (@NHLDevils) July 11, 2013

The result of Kovalchuk ending his contract with the Devils means that they'll face a $250k cap recapture penalty until 2025. The recapture penalty increases each season longer that Kovalchuk would've stayed at the Devils. In an odd way he is doing the Devils a favour because if there was a thought about retirement from the NHL in his head then this was the right time to do it as it has little in the way of recriminations for the Devils in terms of cap penalties.

One way that this does hurt the Devils though is on the ice. They've just lost a top player, a player who in the past has scored 40 goals or more 5 times. When you consider the fact that the Devils scored the joint second fewest amount of goals in the NHL last season (112 - tied with Florida and 1 more than Nashville) then you realise just how much of a loss it is on the ice.

The Devils were active in the Free Agency window and they were perhaps seeing this coming as Lou Lamoriello mentioned that during the lock-out season Kovalchuk had mentioned the possibility of retiring. The Devils did sign Ryane Clowe (5 years / $24.25m) and Michael Ryder (2 years / $7m) but they're not going to be able to replace a player the calibre of Kovalchuk. Their best hope out of the two is Ryder but that is contingent on whether he can re-discover the type of form and performance he showed for the Dallas Stars in 2010-11 where he scored 35 goals, his best total in his career to date.

What really bites for Devils fans is that that Kovalchuk's original deal saw the league penalise them and take away one of their 1st round picks over a four season span after an original deal for 17 years at $102m was rejected. The Devils have opted to give up the rights to next years 1st round pick and it's possible that if the Devils play as badly as some are predicting they will then that could see them miss out on a potential top 5 player in the draft. Kovalchuk will almost certainly head to the KHL now and it's rumoured he's going to sign with SKA St.Petersburg. An announcement is likely expected tomorrow but whatever happens Kovalchuk is a player that will be missed in the NHL.

Kovalchuk playing for St.Petersburg during the lockout