Questions aplenty regarding Kovalchuk's NHL return TSN.ca Staff While NHL players start gathering in preparation of the shortened season, New Jersey Devils star forward Ilya Kovalchuk's status could still be up in the air. Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record reports that - two days after the NHL and NHLPA reached a tentative deal on a new CBA - Kovalchuk was on the ice Tuesday for St. Petersburg SKA's Kontinental Hockey League game against Ak Bars Kazan. The NHL and KHL have an agreement to honour existing contracts in each other's respective leagues, which means both leagues aren't supposed to allow players from the opposite league to stay in their own if they're under contract in the other league. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly remains confident Kovalchuk and the KHL will honour the deal, along with others. "We have no reason to believe the KHL will let them play," Daly told TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger on Tuesday. "It would be inconsistent with our agreement with them." Kovalchuk signed a deal in September to play in St. Petersburg during the lockout. The 29-year-old has 13 years and $80 million remaining on his 15-year, $100 million contract with the Devils. While Daly remains confident Kovalchuk will be in a Devils uniform when the season opens next week, Slava Malamud of Russian daily sports newspaper Sport Express wrote that Kovalchuk hasn't made up is mind. "I will need to read the new agreement," Kovalchuk told the paper, saying he still needs to decide what to do next. TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie added Tuesday that the Devils organization were told they, "haven't heard (Kovy) isn't coming back," while Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman told Gulitti said Monday, he was "working on" arrangements for Kovalchuk to return to North America.
