
The 37-year-old has reportedly found a position in the KHL with Omsk’s Avangard. He will join Bob Hartley’s team, a team that has been very successful lately. Avangard is second overall with a record of 21-7-7.
Bob Hartley and the Russian player are not on their first date, let’s remember that Ilya Kovalchuk started his career with the Atlanta Trashers and that Bob was the head coach.
Several other former NHL players end up with the Avangard. These include Neil Yakupov, Alexei Emelin and Jiri Sekac.
Russian media reporting that Ilya Kovalchuk will likely be joining KHL Avangard unless an NHL team offers him a deal at the eleventh hour.
— Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) December 15, 2020
Rumoured salary is 25M rubles for the remainder of the season.
Away from the NHL
Before the last playoffs, you would certainly have thought Ilya would have found a spot in the NHL. However, these series showed how Kovalchuk was no longer the same player. He was no longer able to follow the game as his speed betrayed him.
So he had his last good moments in Montreal, fans will remember his time with CH.