Ilya Kovalchuk... the 100 million dollar man?

Elliot Friedman of the CBC is saying Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers could very well become the second player under the NHL's CBA to make $100 million dollars, fellow Russian, Alex Ovechkin being the first. The most Kovalchuk can make per season is $11.36 million, which means he would need to be signed for a 9 year extension.

In my opinion, and let me let the dogs out of the yard now so you know my slant on Kovalchuk. I think Ilya Kovalchuk has been the single best goal scorer in the NHL for the last few seasons, yes, Ovechkin has scored more goals, but Kovalchuk's goal to shot ratio is MUCH better than Ovechkin's, and one would have to think if Kovalchuk took the same amount of shots as Ovechkin, he would put up scary/amazing numbers. If you're not putting Kovalchuk up there next to the likes of Ovechkin, Malkin and Crosby, you're probably not doing something right. Kovy is in fact, a legitimate franchise player, and Atlanta should do whatever they can to make sure he plays a good majority of his career for them.

In an era of penny pinching due to the CBA, I'm normally against big contracts like this, but with Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta will be getting a return on every single penny they spend on him, and that's why I think this would be a great move. It'd be hard to see Atlanta as Stanley Cup competitors in coming seasons without Kovy.