Ilya Kovalchuk comes out of retirement to join a new team

The scouting report for him was off the charts as he was expected to become one of the next best players in the NHL.

Kovy was well known for his scoring touch along with his highlight reel goals that were scored on a nightly basis. He was also well known as a player who signed one of the most lucrative contracts in NHL history where during free agency of 2010, he signed a 17-year $102 million deal with the New Jersey Devils.

He also bounced back and forth between the NHL and the KHL as he was undecided on which way his career was going from 2012 all the way through 2020.

But on December 6th 2023 he made his decision to return to hockey after a 2-year departure and signed with his original team KHL's Spartak Moscow.

I'm curious to see how he will perform after being away from the game for that long and being 40 years old time will also slow him down. But as many people know who watched the game and play the game, the body may slow down but the skill sets still remain and he has some of the best hands in hockey.