The pros and cons of the Rangers signing Ilya Kovalchuk

The Rangers are reportedly one of the teams interested in signing the 35-year-old winger. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of him coming to Broadway

When rumors began to swirl last offseason about the Rangers having interest in Ilya Kovalchuk, I wasn’t too thrilled about it (in fact, I blogged about the reasons the Rangers’ shouldn’t be interested in him). The situation has changed a bit; last year, teams had to trade for Kovalchuk’s rights in order to sign him. This year, however, Kovalchuk will be an unrestricted free agent, meaning anyone and everyone will have their shot at the Russian winger.

Ever since it was rumored Kovalchuk wanted back into the NHL, the Rangers have been linked to him. To be honest, I still don’t know how I feel about the Rangers possibly signing Kovalchuk; I’m literally the Larry David GIF from the Palestinian Chicken episode. But luckily for everyone else, I’m unbelievably unbiased, and am going to lay out the cases for and against signing Kovalchuk.

The cases for signing Kovalchuk

The Rangers need goal scoring

As currently constructed, the Rangers lack goal scoring; Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider led the team with 27 and 25 goals, respectively. The next highest, considering players who weren’t traded away at the deadline, were Jimmy Vesey (17) and Mats Zuccarello (16). While Kovalchuk hasn’t played in the NHL in a few years, he’s still an elite goal scorer; he’s scored 138 goals in 298 KHL games, including four 50-goal seasons. He’s be a great addition to the power play, where he can still rocket one-timers from the Ovechkin spot.

He’s not going to hinder any young players development (for now)

This could obviously change depending on who the Rangers draft, but for now, they don’t have a plethora of wing prospects. Signing Kovalchuk isn’t going to block anyone’s chance of playing, and even if the Rangers do draft some wingers, it isn’t likely they’ll be playing in the NHL next year. And when said wing prospect is finally ready for the NHL, he’ll have one of the best goal scorers of the last decade to mentor him.

His contract is going to hamper the Rangers long term

Kovalchuk is apparently seeking a two-to-three year deal with a $6 million cap hit, a number that originally scared many people, myself included. But when you look into all the factors, including the cap jumping, possible buyouts, trade, it really isn’t too bad. The third year could be problematic in the long run, but that’s a bridge you cross when you get there.

He’ll help the Rangers be competitive next season

James Dolan’s interview with Larry Brooks of the NY Post made one thing abundantly clear: the Rangers have no intention of sucking next year. They want to make the playoffs. Bringing in Kovalchuk is going to help them toward that goal, even with the roster needing other tweaks.

The cases against signing Kovalchuk

He hasn’t played in the NHL in over half a decade

One of my favorite TV shows is The Wire, and one of my favorite quotes comes from Slim Charles: “Game’s the same, just got more fierce.” While the KHL is still a great league—probably the second best league in the world—it isn’t the NHL. The NHL game has gotten faster and there’s more talent than ever in the league. Who knows how a guy who hasn’t played in this league for so long will adapt to the new-aged game.

He’ll be 38 by the end of the (alleged) three-year contract

This is kind of the same thing that happened with the Maple Leafs and Patrick Marleau. Marleau inked a three-year deal with a $6.25 million cap hit. At the time, many wondered why the Maple Leafs gave him that third year, especially with all their upcoming RFAs. This is a problem the Rangers could run into with giving Kovalchuk that third year. He’ll be 38 by the end of that contract, and players do not age well once they get close to the 40 mark.

That $6 million could be spent elsewhere

I’ve been a big proponent of #TheVision—acquiring other team’s trash-ass contracts along with picks/prospects—along with the homie HockeyStatMiner. Giving $6 million to Kovalchuk could hinder that given the amount of RFAs the Rangers have to sign in the next few offseasons, not to mentions the stacked free-agent class of 2019 that could have some huge names. The Rangers could easily take that $6 million and allocate it elsewhere.

So there you have it, folks. I didn’t want to get too deep into this, as we’re just spitballing here. But if you ask me, I still have no fucking idea what I want in regards to Kovalchuk. It’s just another wrinkle in a really interesting offseason for the Rangers and I, for one, can’t wait to see how it plays out.

*Contract numbers courtesy of Cap Friendly*