Last season the SKA club became the bronze medalist of the Continental Cup, losing to the CSKA club in the Conference Finals. That is why in 2018-2019 the HC headquarters decided to change its composition in order to increase the club’s chances of winning.
New head coach
For the past two seasons, the team was led by Oleg Znarok. After failure in the KHL in 2017-2018, the management of SKA did not renew the contract with Oleg Valerievich, and Znarok himself was not eager to stay in the club, citing fatigue and an uncomfortable atmosphere for working in the team. At the same time, he also left the post of coach of the Russian national hockey team.
Since May 1, 2018, both the club and the national team have been headed by Ilya Vorobyov, a young coach who previously worked at Metallurg Magnitogorsk. Despite his age (he is only 43 years old), Vorobiev has extensive coaching experience, which he learned from his father. He began his independent career in 2010 in the Loko youth team, then joined Lokomotiv in the VHL. He came to Magnitogorsk in 2012 as an assistant head coach, and in the middle of the 2015-2016 season he unexpectedly took charge of the club. Vorobyov has won two Gagarin Cups, as well as leading his players to the playoffs in 2017.
Ilya Vorobiev
Goalkeepers
Success in the tournament depends not only on the field players, but also on the person who defends the goal. For 2018-2019, the HC has three goalkeepers announced.
- Alexey Melnichuk. The youngest goalkeeper, he is only 20 years old. Melnichuk plays mainly in the VHL, but in the last championship he was called up to the main team twice, and in one of the games he won. The club management extended the contract with Alexey Melnichuk for 2 years (until 2019-2020).
- Igor Shesterkin. 22 years old, student of “Wings of the Soviets”. He has been playing in the SKA system since 2014. He has led his teammates to victory more than once: champion of Russia and winner of the Gagarin Cup in 2017, bronze medalist of the Russian Championship last year, winner of the Olympic Games in 2018. In the playoffs he plays as a second goalkeeper.
- Magnus Hellberg. A new member of the team, he came to HC SKA in 2018 and replaced Mikko Koskinen. The most experienced of the three goalies, he has a save percentage of 93%.
Defenders
The team has always been proud of its defenders, but in the 2018-2019 season there were changes in their ranks. Who did HC manage to lure into its ranks?
- Vasily Tokranov. He came from Ak Bars, where he spent the last 10 seasons. The club's management and fans have high hopes for him, because Tokranov can play on two flanks and scores goals well. In the last three games he has 18 goals, which is very good for a defender.
- Artem Zemchenok. He played for the Vladivostok Admiral. Quite experienced, the HC headquarters liked him for his stable play according to the rules. In the 2017-2018 games, he played 30 matches and was on the penalty bench for only 4 minutes.
- Alexander Yukseev will play in the VHL for SKA this season. Previously, he was part of the Severstal, Avtomobilist and Amur teams.
The headquarters also places great hopes on the “old guys.” In general, SKA’s defense looks like this.
Forwards
It is on the offensive line that management is betting on this season. There are new players among the forwards.
- Nail Yakupov. He is only 24 years old, but he already has the title of bronze and silver medalist at the World Youth Championships. He played in Canada for the last 4 seasons. They don’t have high hopes for Yakupov, so they signed a contract with him for only a year.
- Oleg Li moved to SKA from Khabarovsk Amur. This player, judging by the statistics of recent meetings, is at the peak of his career, so bets are placed on him.
- Andrey Kuzmenko. This striker is only 22 years old, he came from CSKA, where he played in the main team and took part in the playoffs. Last year, his performance in the regular season was 15.3% (13 goals scored). He was a member of the Russian Olympic team in 2017.
- Alexey Kruchinin. Returns to the team after 6 years of traveling to different clubs. Last season his performance was 5 goals in 16 matches, which is very good for a playoff player. Moved to SKA from Traktor.
- Alexey Byvaltsev. A young but quite promising striker who has played for Amur in recent seasons. The SKA coaching staff paid attention to him after the last championship: Byvaltsev has 19 goals and 24 assists in 56 matches.
Fans will also be disappointed, because in the 2018-2019 season Sergei Shirokov leaves the HC team and moves to Avangard Omsk. Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Voinov decided to continue their careers in the NHL. Vadim Shipachev signed a contract with Dynamo Moscow.
In the 2018-2019 season, the following players will lead the team in attack.
Fans hope that changes in the coaching staff and among the players will give their idols victory in the current tournament.
The composition of SKA for 2017-2018 has changed slightly. The team was forced to resort to new transfers, since two main strikers from the first line left in the off-season: Vadim Shipachev and Evgeniy Dadonov. The first of them will continue his career in Vegas, and the second in Florida (both clubs from). The remaining losses in the form of two reserve goalkeepers, forward Moses and defender Yudin will not affect the game of the army team.
As you know, in hockey the goalkeeper is half the team. The results of matches largely depend on the goalkeeper’s performance, so the composition of SKA’s main goalkeepers remained unchanged. In the 2017-2018 season, the St. Petersburg team will be able to hit the puck:
- Mikka Koskinen;
- Igor Shesterkin;
- Konstantin Volkov.
Obviously, the place of the main keeper belongs to the young Russian Igor Shesterkin. Last season, he played 39 games with an impressive save percentage of 93.7%. His replacement, Finn Mikka Koskinen, played 23 matches in the regular season with a percentage of 91.6%. The position of the third goalkeeper, which SKA requires only to complete the lineup, belongs to Konstantin Volkova. Usually the reserve goalkeeper is allowed to play no more than 1-2 games. For example, Evgeniy Ivannikov, who moved to Lada, defended the goal of the army team only once last season.
Defensive line
The vast majority of hockey players renewed their contracts with the club in the off-season. SKA's defensive lineup for 2017-2018 is as follows:
- Artem Zub;
- Dinar Khafizullin;
- Roman Rukavishnikov;
- Patrick Hursley;
- David Rundblad;
- Vyacheslav Voynov;
- Andrey Zubarev;
- Egor Yakovlev;
- Vladislav Gavrikov;
- Egor Rykov;
- Maxim Chudinov;
- Anton Belov.
The defenders of the first two lines showed good results in the past. Vyacheslav Voynov scored 37 points using the goal+pass system, Anton Belov – 27, Egor Yakovlev – 21. Obviously, the army team will not have any problems supporting the attack during the match and when playing too much. In addition, when defending their own goal, the defenders show a good game, because last season they conceded 112 goals in 60 matches (less than 2 per match). Only CSKA Moscow can boast of a lower figure, which took the puck out of its own net 104 times.
In general, SKA’s defense does not need to be strengthened: it has some of the best hockey players in the world who know their job and can improve in the playoff series. The team's head coach Oleg Znark has a huge choice, so it is possible that a number of young players will go to the SKA-Neva farm club, which plays in the VHL.
Attack line
After the departure of Shipachev and Dadonov, a gap appeared in the attack of the first and second links. A number of new players have been called upon to fill the team's attacking potential. During the summer transfer window, the roster of HC SKA for the 2017-2018 season was replenished with: Viktor Komarov (Lada), Danila Kvartalnov (CSKA), Sergei Kalinin (Toronto, NHL), Maxim Karpov (Dynamo Moscow) ). Also in attack will be:
- Jarno Koskeranta;
- Ilya Kovalchuk (captain);
- Victor Tikhonov;
- Arkhip Nikolenko;
- Sergey Plotnikov;
- Ilya Kablukov;
- Evgeny Ketov;
- Sergey Shirokov;
- Nikolai Prokhorkin;
- Alexander Dergachev;
- Alexander Khokhlachev;
- Alexander Barabanov;
- Nikita Gusev.
Last season, SKA became the record holder for goals scored: the team hit the opponents' goal 252 times. To get a sense of the difference, let’s look at the numbers of the Army team’s closest pursuer in this component – Metallurg Magnitogorsk had only 199 goals during the season. The team's top scorer was Ilya Kovalchuk (32 goals), followed by Dadonov (30 goals) and Shipachev (26 goals). Despite the departure of two of the best strikers, the attacking potential of the St. Petersburg team remained one of the most powerful in the league.
Thus, the SKA roster in 2017-2018 has not weakened compared to the previous season. The club continues to have a pipeline of talented puttermakers ready to compete for the top spots. The main goal of the “army team” from the banks of the Neva will undoubtedly be the Gagarin Cup, to win which they will make every effort.
For more information about the doping scandal at SKA, see the following video:
Kudashov Alexey http://ska.ru/ red, blue 1946 - 1947 - BEFORE Kirov
1947 - 1953 - LDO
1953 - 1957 - ODO
1957 - 1959 - North Caucasus Military District
1959 - ... - SKA
Story
SKA is the main hockey team in St. Petersburg. Over the history of its existence, the club changed its name several times, but one thing remained unchanged - it was an army team.
The St. Petersburg team received the right to play in the very first USSR championship, after which the team left the country's elite championship for only a few years. The army team won their first medals in the 1970/71 season, when SKA finished the championship in third place. This achievement was repeated in the 1986/87 season. Despite the fact that things were not going well for the St. Petersburg team in the national championship, they managed to win the Spengler Cup several times in 1970, 1971 and 1977.
In the Russian Championship, SKA still remained a fairly average club, not aspiring to any lofty goals. After several years at the bottom of the standings, at the end of the 2007/08 season, SKA took sixth place in the regular season.
After the formation of the KHL, many experts and fans predicted a bright future for the CSKA team, but the first season turned out to be very difficult for the St. Petersburg team. Having finished the season in eighth place, the team from St. Petersburg met Spartak Moscow in the playoffs. The series ended with a score of 3:0 in favor of the “red-whites”. SKA spent the 2009/10 regular season simply great. The team showed interesting, attacking hockey and eventually took second place, losing only to Salavat Yulaev. Hence the even greater surprise at the weak results of the team from St. Petersburg in the playoffs. The matches against Dynamo Riga, which had difficulty getting into the series of knockout games, were hardly expected to be serious. But in reality, the St. Petersburg team was unable to oppose anything to the Riga team, who won the series with a score of 3-1. Following this shocking defeat, head coach Barry Smith resigned.
Before the 2010/11 season, SKA seriously strengthened, acquiring several players from the NHL, including Maxim Afinogenov and Evgeni Nabokov, although the latter’s career in St. Petersburg did not work out. SKA finished the regular season in third place in the Western Conference, but finally managed to get past the first round, beating Spartak in four matches. In the next round, the “CSKA” team met with Atlant Mytishchi. A dramatic series of seven games ended with the final success of Atlanta, which subsequently managed to reach the final of the Gagarin Cup.
In the 2011/12 season, SKA was again among the best teams in the KHL, and first place in the Western Conference is the best confirmation of this. In the first match of the playoffs, the St. Petersburg team met with the Moscow army team and won with a score of 4-1, then it was time for revenge. This time Atlant failed to spring a surprise and lost 4-2. In the finals of the Western Conference, a stubborn fight was expected between SKA and Dynamo Moscow, but in reality there was no fight. The Muscovites beat the men of Milos Rzhiga to a close, who had to look for new ways to win the Gagarin Cup in the 2012/13 season. The St. Petersburg club spent the regular season simply superbly, becoming the best team, but the St. Petersburg team failed to achieve its main goal - winning the Gagarin Cup. In the finals of the Western Conference, SKA lost to Dynamo Moscow, becoming the bronze medalist.
Before the 2013/14 season, the St. Petersburg army team managed to sign a contract with Ilya Kovalchuk. SKA's regular season was again successful, finishing in second position, but this time SKA finished out in the playoffs in the second round, losing to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
In April 2014, it became known that former head coach of the Russian national team Vyacheslav Bykov would take the helm of SKA.
Awards and achievements
Bronze medalist of the USSR championships: 1970/71, 1986/87
KHL bronze medalist: 2012/13
Winner of the Continental Cup: 2012/13
Spengler Cup winner (4): 1970, 1971, 1977, 2010.
New season - new army intrigue. The KHL world is no longer unipolar. Now there are two big forces in the league - SKA and CSKA. One can argue until one becomes hoarse about which of the two troops is more powerful, despite the fact that in the match for the Opening Cup the St. Petersburgers won 4:2. Bookmakers give a slight advantage to Muscovites, fans, according to various polls, believe that St. Petersburg is cooler, while the opinions of hockey experts are equally divided.
SKA has two main advantages in this duel – teamwork and coach. Oleg Znarok is a top coach, who has already built a golden squad, the core of which has been preserved. In the capital's army there is a new team and a new, not very experienced mentor.
It is certainly worth mentioning the Neva minus. Yes, the core was retained, but the super-team of forwards Shipachev - Dadonov, which brought SKA two Gagarin Cups, was not retained. Vadim and Evgeniy, who for a long time determined the face of the army attack, went overseas.
Now there is double demand from the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk. The first missed the decisive part of the last playoffs due to injuries, the second sat out of his suitcases all summer, but decided to postpone his departure to the NHL until next year. So, it is very likely that for both superstars this season is the last in St. Petersburg, so fans, do not miss the opportunity to enjoy the moment so that you have something to tell your grandchildren about later.
Large center forward Sergei Kalinin, who can also play on the flank, is, of course, no substitute for Shipachev in terms of creativity. This power hockey player is similar in style to Jarno Koskiranta. Alas, the majority brigades for which SKA was famous will lose their effectiveness and efficiency.
Meanwhile, the goalkeeper line, with the exception of Ivannikov, who went to Togliatti to receive playing practice, remained the same. Apparently, in the regular season, Mikko Koskinen and Igor Shesterkin will again receive approximately equal time, but in the playoffs Znarok will bet on one of them. Most likely, in a smooth championship, with an eye on the Olympics, we will see a Russian on the ice more often, and in the Gagarin Cup, a Finn proven with two trophies.
As for the defensive line of the St. Petersburgers, it, unlike the attack, has strengthened. The team was replenished by Russian national team defender Vladislav Gavrikov, as well as the skilled right-handed Swede David Rundblad. Nowadays Znarok has a dozen defenders at its disposal - despite the fact that you can play with three pairs. Khafizullin, Zub, Rukavishnikov and Rykov will have to compete for a place in the “core”, or one of them will be traded.
SKA transfers in the 2017-2018 season
The army's main acquisitions before the season were defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and forward Sergei Kalinin, and the most significant losses were the departure to the NHL of forwards Vadim Shipachev and Evgeniy Dadonov.
Acquisitions: v Lysenkov (Spartak), z Rundblad (Zurich, Switzerland), z Gavrikov (Lokomotiv), n D. Kvartalnov (CSKA), n V. Komarov (Lada), n Kalinin (" Toronto, NHL), n Karpov (Dynamo M)
Losses: v Ivannikov (Lada), z Yudin, n V. Komarov (both Spartak), n Shipachev (Vegas, NHL), n Dadonov (Florida, NHL), n Moses (Rochester ", AHL)
SKA roster for the 2017-2018 season
We bring to your attention the current SKA roster in the 2017-2018 KHL Championship.
Goalkeepers:
19 Mikko Koskinen
30 Igor Shesterkin
38 Alexey Melnichuk
Right backs:
27 Vyacheslav Voynov
77 Anton Belov
6 Patrick Hursley
7 David Rundblad
57 Egor Rykov
Left backs:
46 Vladislav Gavrikov
73 Maxim Chudinov
44 Egor Yakovlev
28 Andrey Zubarev
3 Dinar Khafizullin
Right Forwards:
16 Sergey Plotnikov
40 Evgeniy Ketov
91 Maxim Karpov
94 Alexander Barabanov
92 Alexander Dergachev
Center forwards:
13 Pavel Datsyuk (c)
21 Sergey Kalinin
4 Jarno Koskiranta
29 Ilya Kablukov
74 Nikolai Prokhorkin
Left wingers:
17 Ilya Kovalchuk
97 Nikita Gusev
52 Sergei Shirokov
93 Alexander Khokhlachev
10 Viktor Tikhonov
Head coach: Oleg Znarok
Schedule of SKA matches in the KHL regular championship – 2017/18
Let us note that in the KHL regular season the army team will play 56 matches, of which 28 will be home matches.
1. SKA – CSKA (August 21, Monday, 19.30 Moscow time)
2. SKA – Slovan (August 23, Wednesday, 19.30)
3. SKA – Jokerit (August 25, Friday, 19.30)
4. SKA – “Vityaz” (August 27, Sunday, 17.00)
5. “Torpedo” – SKA (September 2, Saturday, 17.00)
6. “Spartak” – SKA (September 4, Monday, 19.30)
7. Dynamo R – SKA (September 6, Wednesday, 19.30)
8. Severstal – SKA (September 8, Friday, 19.00)
9. SKA – Lada (September 11, Monday, 19.30)
10. SKA – “Avtomobilist” (September 13, Wednesday, 19.30)
11. SKA – Metallurg Mg (September 15, Friday, 19.30)
12. SKA – “Traktor” (September 17, Sunday, 17.00)
13. Avangard – SKA (September 21, Thursday, 16.00)
14. “Ugra” – SKA (September 23, Saturday, 14.30)
15. “Barys” – SKA (September 25, Monday, 16.30)
16. “Sibir” – SKA (September 27, Wednesday, 15.30)
17. Lokomotiv – SKA (October 2, Monday, 19.00)
18. “Salavat Yulaev” – SKA (October 4, Wednesday, 17.00)
19. SKA – “Siberia” (October 6, Friday, 19.30)
20. “Spartak” – SKA (October 9, Monday, 19.30)
21. SKA – HC Sochi (October 11, Wednesday, 19.30)
22. SKA – “Salavat Yulaev” (October 13, Friday, 19.30)
23. SKA – Ak Bars (October 15, Sunday, 17.00)
24. SKA – Neftekhimik (October 17, Tuesday, 19.30)
25. SKA – Jokerit (October 21, Saturday, 17.00)
26. CSKA – SKA (October 23, Monday, 19.30)
27. “Vityaz” – SKA (October 25, Wednesday, 19.30)
28. Slovan – SKA (October 27, Friday, 20.00)
29. SKA – Dynamo R (October 31, Tuesday, 19.30)
30. SKA – Spartak (November 2, Thursday, 19.30)
31. SKA – Torpedo (November 4, Saturday, 17.00)
32. “Admiral” – SKA (November 14, Tuesday, 12.30)
33. “Amur” – SKA (November 16, Thursday, 12.30)
34. “Kunlun” – SKA (November 18, Saturday, 12.30)
35. SKA – “Ugra” (November 21, Tuesday, 19.30)
36. SKA – “Barys” (November 27, Monday, 19.30)
37. SKA – Avangard (November 29, Wednesday, 19.30)
38. Jokerit – SKA (December 2, Saturday, 17.00)
39. Neftekhimik – SKA (December 4, Monday, 19.00)
40. “Ak Bars” – SKA (December 6, Wednesday, 19.00)
41. HC Sochi – SKA (December 8, Friday, 19.30)
42. SKA – Dynamo Mn (December 19, Tuesday, 19.30)
43. Dynamo M – SKA (December 23, Saturday, 17.00)
44. “Metallurg” Mg – SKA (December 25, Monday, 17.00)
45. “Avtomobilist” – SKA (December 27, Wednesday, 17.00)
46. “Dynamo” Mn – SKA (December 29, Friday, 19.30)
47. “Traktor” – SKA (January 5, Friday, 14.30)
48. “Lada” – SKA (January 7, Sunday, 16.00)
49. SKA – Kunlun (January 9, Tuesday, 19.30)
50. SKA – Lokomotiv (January 11, Thursday, 19.30)
51. SKA – Spartak (January 16, Tuesday, 19.30)
52. SKA – “Admiral” (January 18, Thursday, 19.30)
53. SKA – “Amur” (January 20, Saturday, 17.00)
54. SKA – Dynamo M (January 22, Monday, 19.30)
55. Jokerit – SKA (February 27, Tuesday, 19.30)
56. SKA – Severstal (March 1, Thursday, 19.30)
Results of SKA pre-season matches
The St. Petersburg team won all the control matches except one, losing only in shootouts to the Russian Olympic team, which, by the way, half consisted of SKA players. Having taken second place at the tournament in Sochi, SKA then won the Puchkov Memorial at home, and Alexander Barabanov became the team's best sniper in the off-season.
31.07 (Espoo, Finland) Jokerit – SKA – 1:4 (goals from SKA – Shirokov, Gusev, Koskiranta, Barabanov)
05.08 (Sochi Hockey Open, Sochi) “Kunlun” – SKA – 2:4 (Barabanov-4)
06.08 (Sochi Hockey Open, Sochi) SKA – Metallurg Mg – 4:2 (Shirokov, Khokhlachev, Rukavishnikov, Barabanov)
09.08 (Sochi Hockey Open, Sochi) Russian Olympic team – SKA – 4:3 B (Dergachev, Kovalchuk, Tikhonov)
14.08 (Puchkov Tournament, St. Petersburg) SKA – HC Sochi – 3:1 (Khafizullin, Kovalchuk, Hersley)
16.08 (Puchkov Tournament, St. Petersburg) SKA – Canadian team – 3:0 (Hersley, Gusev, Tikhonov)
17.08 (Puchkov Tournament, St. Petersburg) SKA - Jokerit - 5:1 (Barabanov, Chudinov, Belov, Yakovlev, Karpov)
SKA continues to part with the past. Along with the former coaching staff, the players who until recently defined the team are also leaving the team.
Sergei Shirokov was considered one of Oleg Znarok’s favorites. At one time, in 2015, it was Znarok, while still only the coach of the national team, who insisted on inviting Shirokov from Avangard.
Then Anton Burdasov and Oleg Khokhryakov had to be given to the Siberians as compensation. Burdasov, having his best season, was the ideal “center” for Ilya Kovalchuk. And his departure plunged Covey into a long crisis.
However, the arrival of two-time world champion Znarka did not disappoint. Shirokov was indispensable in the rough work and regularly scored points. For example, in the Gagarin Cup victory for SKA, the center scored 10 (2+8) points in 16 matches; in the last regular season, he became the team’s third scorer: 41 (19+22) points in 49 matches - only Kovalchuk has more and Nikita Gusev. As a member of the national team, he participated in the 2016 World Championships and became the Olympic champion in Pyeongchang. And Sergei’s age is not critical - 32 years.
But the army team did not renew the contract with him. There is great demand for a center forward of this level in the KHL. Therefore, Shira was not deprived of proposals. I tried to come to an agreement with Spartak, a native of the Moscow region, but Avangard turned out to be more persistent. And Omsk is familiar to him - he played for the Hawks from 2013 to 2016.
“We have been negotiating for a long time about Sergei’s return to Omsk,” commented the president of Avangard, Maxim Sushinsky, on the conclusion of a two-year contract. - However, after a personal meeting with the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Alexander Krylov, Shirokov saw how determined the club’s management was to carry out qualitative changes for the sake of the team’s victories, found out what the composition was going to be and what coaches would work at the club. All this, of course, influenced the forward’s decision to sign a contract with Avangard. A sniper like Sergei will add attacking power to our team; his winning experience will help the young players of our club to prove themselves.
But SKA retained another key player from the Znarka era. And for a long time. The agreement with 27-year-old Sergei Plotnikov was extended for four years. That is, the new coaching staff expects that the “silovik” is able to benefit the St. Petersburg club for a long time.
Although last season cannot be called too successful for the native of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Due to WADA requirements, he missed the Olympics and was invisible in the playoffs due to injury, where he scored only 3 (1+2) points in 12 matches.
I’m glad to stay in St. Petersburg,” Sergei noted after signing the contract. - We have a great club, great team and fans. I’m looking forward to the new season, there will be new faces in the team, there is a lot of work ahead, but SKA always has one goal, so I’m glad that there is an opportunity to help the team achieve it.
It's nice to know that the club is counting on me. A long-term contract is a good incentive, but there are no guarantees that just because of this you will be guaranteed a place in the squad. You need to work harder every day, prove your level and become better, justify this serious trust.
The 2014 world champion has been playing for SKA since the 2016/17 season. Earlier in his career there were Amur, Lokomotiv and two NHL clubs - Pittsburgh and Arizona.
The situation with SKA's leading defender of recent years, Vyacheslav Voinov, remains strange. On the one hand, SKA President Gennady Timchenko said that he does not count on him next season. On the other hand, with the return of the Ural resident to the NHL, what he dreams of is still unclear. The Russian was disqualified from the NHL in 2014 for beating his wife, after which he was forced to leave the United States. Before receiving permission from the league, Voynov needs to obtain a US visa and work permit. But “customs” is in no hurry to give the go-ahead.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly once again emphasized that Voinov’s future directly depends on American jurisprudence.
I understand everything, Voinov’s side is interested in understanding the issues that will allow him to return to the league. There are legal issues that I know are still not resolved. Until this happens, there is nothing to talk about,” ESPN quotes Daly.
So all that remains is to wait.
Negotiations have begun on Kovalchuk's transfer
Well-known North American insider Darren Dreger said that Ilya Kovalchuk's agent JP Barry has begun negotiations with NHL clubs that are interested in the opportunity to sign a contract with the Russian striker.
The agency community will be busy in the coming weeks. Kovalchuk joins John Tavares on the unrestricted free agent market. Kovalchuk’s agent JP Barry has begun negotiations with NHL clubs that are interested in the possibility of concluding a contract, Dreger wrote on his Twitter account.
In 816 career NHL games, Kovalchuk scored 816 (417+399) points, and played the last five seasons with SKA. Until the official opening of the free agent market (July 1), he is not eligible to sign an NHL contract, but has the right to accept the terms of the contract.