Ilya Kovalchuk Signs With New Jersey

Finally, after nearly three weeks of speculation, rumors and hundreds of guesses, the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes has reached a conclusion -- the longest deal in NHL history. He's staying with the New Jersey Devils, signing a 17-year, $102 million deal. The Los Angeles Kings were the other serious contender for Kovalchuk's services.

Kovalchuk will be 44 when the contract ends, and even though he's unlikely to play that long, the terms have been criticized across the internet. The deal, which capitalizes on a loophole in the current collective bargaining agreement, allows Kovalchuk to receive a top-heavy $95 million over the first 10 years, but then payments take a big drop over the final seven.

The Devils acquired Kovalchuk, along with defenseman Anssi Salmela, last February from Atlanta in a deal that sent Niclas Bergfors, Johnny Oduya, Patrice Cormier and a first-round draft pick in 2010 to the Thrashers. He scored 10 goals to go with 17 assists in 27 regular-season games with New Jersey, and led the team with six points in five games during its opening-round loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

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It's another move in what's turned out to be a busy offseason for general manager Lou Lamoriello, as he's already hired a new head coach (John MacLean), traded for Jason Arnott, lost Paul Martin to free agency and replaced him with rearguards Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder. The re-signing of Kovalchuk means there's probably more work (of the cap-clearing variety) to be done before the season opens. Prior to this deal, the Devils had just a little over $4 million in cap space remaining and still had four roster spots to fill.

Since he joined the NHL prior to the 2001-02 season, no player has scored more goals than Kovalchuk's 338, while Jarome Iginla is the only other player to score more than 300 over that time period. He hasn't scored fewer than 40 goals since 2002-03, and has twice eclipsed the 50-goal mark. He's simply one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL, and with Zach Parise, gives New Jersey two of the best left wingers in the NHL and makes them a contender, yet again, in the Eastern Conference. The next order of business: getting past the first round of the playoffs, which has been a rather large hurdle the past three years.

It's also going to make the Atlantic Division, with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, two teams that have also had rather busy offseasons, one of the toughest -- and best -- divisions in the league.