Kovalchuk traded to Devils

Ilya Kovalchuk is not coming to the Blackhawks.

In fact, it's believed the Hawks never had serious interest in Kovalchuk, who was traded by the Atlanta Thrashers to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.

In return for the high scoring all-star right wing, the Thrashers got defenseman John Oduya, forwards Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier and a first-round draft pick.

The Thrashers made the decision to deal Kovalchuk on Wednesday when he turned down their final contract offer. Kovalchuk will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

"Our goal from the start of this negotiating process was to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a long-term contract," Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said in the statement. "We've spent several months exploring scenarios with Kovy and his agent to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, and offered many lucrative packages in an attempt to meet his financial objectives.

"Ultimately, we offered Kovy more than $101 million over 12 years, which would have been the highest contract signed by an impending unrestricted free agent in the history of the league. We also met his desire to be the highest paid player based on average annual salary with a separate offer of seven years at $10 million per year.

"If we went beyond these offers, we would not be able to retain the young players on our roster when it came time to sign them, or invest in other top tier players needed to assemble a truly competitive team," Waddell said.

There had been talk that the Los Angeles Kings would ultimately get Kovalchuk, so from that perspective it's good for the Hawks that he's staying in the Eastern Conference.