A great deal has been written about the return to the NHL of the two-time 50-goal scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk. After abandoning his long-term contract with the New Jersey Devils in 2013, thus retiring from the NHL, Kovalchuk spent five years playing for SKA St Petersburg in the KHL. His return to North America thus summer was contentious with fans from across the league, myself included.
The case for:
Ilya Kovalchuk is about as pure a goal scorer as you can get in hockey. He has 422 goals in 840 NHL games, and had he played for those five years in the NHL rather than the KHL, he’s almost certainly be approaching – if not past even – the 600-goal mark.