Ilya Kovalchuk’s agent looks back at a long, hot summer

Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) wasn't the only high-profile potential 2010 free agent Jay Grossman had as a client.
But one of them, goalie Pekka Rinne(notes), got football jerseys
a deal to remain with the Nashville Predators before the regular season ended—a two-year, $6.8 million contract that looked awfully good for Rinne in hindsight.
Another one, defenseman Anton Volchenkov(notes), was done fairly quickly when Grossman and the New Jersey Devils negotiated a deal on July 1.
The good fortune led to somebody asking Grossman a question on the first day of free agency: "You expect Kovy to be done in a couple hours?" Grossman was asked.
He thought about it for a second.
"Nah, I don't think so," he answered.
Yeah, it didn't happen. Not that day. Not the next day. Kovalchuk wasn't officially signed until 3 in the morning on Sept. 4.
Then, over the weekend, Grossman took his first two days off in the entire summer.
Grossman made a point of staying out of the media during the entire Kovalchuk saga, mostly because he knew surprise twists and turns were possible. But on Tuesday afternoon, he spent some time talking with Sporting News about the process. And it was quite a process.
Grossman on the drawn-out negotiations: "At one point in August, I looked at almost every team and they had 19 or 20 players signed and it's like, ‘Where's the money (for free agents) going to come from?’ That's part of your job to understand what kind of player you're dealing with. On July 7 or 8, there were people who said that we had blown it and missed our opportunity and they were way off the mark … When you have the Hope Diamond, you can afford to be patient."
On getting a major deal done in a tight free-agent market: "It speaks to the value of Indianapolis Colts jersey
the player more than anything. I said that to Kovy even when, as recently as last week, this was dragging on. Before we submitted the second contract to the league, the question was raised: 'Are we going down the right path?' I said, 'Look, nobody is walking away from you.' Nobody did walk away from him. Most of all, New Jersey remained absolutely steadfast and determined in the process."
On the new CBA rules for long-term contracts Kovalchuk's deal established: "(Contracts like Kovalchuk's) don't come along every day. What I can tell you first-hand, from the best possible perspective, if there's no clarity and there's no rules and you don't have a good understanding of the rules, it's almost impossible to make a deal. The fact that they did establish these rules and these guidelines, for the players we have to negotiate moving forward, it's a good thing for them. The last thing anyone wants to do is get caught up in a situation like Ilya did."
On perception that Kovalchuk wanted a deal topping Alex Ovechkin's(notes) contract: "That was never a factor in our decision-making. The only similarity you could raise is they both signed long-term contracts; aside from that I don't think it was any comparison. Kovy and Alex are good friends but I don't think you can compare the situations."
On contract talks with other teams besides New Jersey: "In fairness, we were never really comparing apples to apples. The needs of the Thrashers (before trading Kovalchuk), compared to the needs of the Kings in where they were in the growth and development of their organization … compared to New Jersey, you were never really comparing apples to apples. They were all in much, much different scenarios. What it came down to with New Jersey was the environment they have to win night in and night out."
On reports of an offer from the Islanders: "They inquired. They called, we had some discussions. They had to get to the floor, obviously. We had a number of calls of that type of nature, with teams that would have been interested if we were interested in a specific kind of Pittsburgh Steelers jersey
contract. Our objection going in was to put Kovy in one place for the remainder of his career."