Ilya Kovalchuk Retires from NHL After 11-Year Career

July 11th, 2013 by Ethan Grant Leave a reply »

After an 11-year career in the National Hockey League, Ilya Kovalchuk has decided to call it quits in North America. 

The 30-year-old winger played for the Atlanta Thrashers during the early part of his career before joining the New Jersey Devils in the middle of the 2009-10 NHL season. He will now retire as a Devil in lieu of returning for his 12th professional season. 

New Jersey's official Twitter account confirmed the news on Thursday afternoon:



The franchise then followed with a press release on its website. Here's the full statement from Kovalchuk himself in that release:

This decision was something I have thought about for a long time going back to the lockout and spending the year in Russia. Though I decided to return this past season, Lou was aware of my desire to go back home and have my family there with me. The most difficult thing for me is to leave the New Jersey Devils, a great organization that I have a lot of respect for, and our fans that have been great to me.

Devils team president, CEO and general manager Lou Lamoriello chimed in with this quote:

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