NHL News: 3-Time All-Star Officially Retires from Hockey


He was a three-time All-Star and led the NHL in goals, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy, in 2004. But his heady days as a 50-goal scorer were almost 20 years ago now, and Ilya Kovalchuk hasn't played in the NHL since 2020, toiling in Russia last season as a 40-year-old. Now, a month away from his 42nd birthday, he's officially hanging up the skates, retiring from hockey.

The former No. 1 overall pick (2001) was an Atlanta Thrashers legend for eight years, earning all three of his All-Star nods with them, and topping the 50-goal mark twice and the 40-goal mark four other times. 

His true impact time in the NHL ended in 2013, after which he went home to play in the KHL for St. Petersburg SKA for five years and won two titles. He came back to the NHL in 2018 but was just a shell of himself for a couple of seasons. 

Kovalchuk finished his NHL career with 443 goals and 876 points in 926 games. He also played with the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals.

His KHL numbers in parts of eight seasons were 174 goals and 404 points in 432 games. 

Photo: s.yume, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons