Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchuk (; born 15 April 1983) is a Russian former professional ice hockey winger. He played for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as Ak Bars Kazan, Khimik Moscow Oblast, SKA Saint Petersburg, and Avangard Omsk in the Russian Superleague (RSL) and Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Kovalchuk developed in the youth system of Spartak Moscow, joining their senior team in the Vysshaya Liga in 1999. After two seasons with Spartak, he joined the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, who selected him first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. After eight seasons with the Thrashers, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils in 2010, with which he signed a 15-year, $100 million contract, after a 17-year, $102 million deal was rejected by the NHL. In 2013, he left the NHL to return to Russia, joining SKA Saint Petersburg, where he played for five seasons before returning to the NHL in 2018.
Kovalchuk is tied for fourth all time in the NHL for regular-season overtime goals scored (15) and 18th in goals-per-game average (.511), and is the seventh-highest scoring Russian in NHL history. In the NHL, Kovalchuk has twice been named to the All-Star team, and in 2004 finished in a three-way tie for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal-scorer, sharing it with Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash.
Internationally, Kovalchuk has played for the Russian national junior team in the World U18 Championship and World Junior Championship, and for the Russian national senior team in the World Championship, World Cup and Winter Olympics, winning the 2008 and 2009 World Championships. At his fifth Olympics in 2018, Kovalchuk was named the most valuable player while helping Olympic Athletes from Russia win the gold medal.
Personal life
Early life
Kovalchuk was born in Kalinin (now Tver), a city roughly 180 kilometres northwest of Moscow, the second child and first son of Valeri and Lyubov. Born big, he was named in honour of Ilya Muromets, a legendary figure from Kievan Rus'. Kovalchuk's father, Valeri, played basketball in Tver; after his career ended, he turned to coaching and was the head of the sport's school at the Spartak Olympic reserve in the city from 1980 until 1998, while Lyubov was the head of the #2 polyclinic of the #7 Tver city hospital. Valeri would later write a book detailing Kovalchuk's development as a hockey player, titled "From Tver to Atlanta" (Russian: «От Твери до Атланты») and published in 2004; he died in 2005 due to heart disease. Kovalchuk's sister, Arina, is seven years older than him. At age seven, Kovalchuk was invited to join the Spartak Moscow youth school, which he went to every weekend, taking the train with his father.
Marriage and children
Kovalchuk met his future wife, Nicole Andrazajtis, in 2002 after being introduced by mutual friends. Nicole was a well known singer in Russia at the time and was part of the group Mirage. They married in 2008 at Church of Dormition in Russia. Together they have four children: daughters Karolina and Eva, born in 2005 and 2015; and sons Philipp and Artem, born in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Politics
Kovalchuk is a member of Alexander Ovechkin's PutinTeam which was founded in 2017 to promote Vladimir Putin's 2018 presidential campaign.
Playing career
Early career
As a youth, Kovalchuk played in the 1997 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with Spartak Moscow. He later played for Vysshaya Liga club Spartak Moscow for two seasons before entering the NHL. Drafted by the Thrashers first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, he became the first Russian to be drafted first overall in the NHL's history. In club-level competition, Kovalchuk wore the number 17 as a tribute to Valeri Kharlamov, a Soviet superstar in the 1970s.