Can the Columbus Blue Jackets sell Ilya Kovalchuk on living in Columbus and playing for John Tortorella?
Scuttlebutt around the league is the Blue Jackets are prepared to make a serious bid for Kovalchuk with numbers in the $6.5-7 million per season range being floated on a multi-year deal. Talk among executives is the Blue Jackets are destined to come in with the biggest number to the Kovalchuk camp but selling him on playing in Columbus is and will be a difficult task.
Kovalchuk has informed his agent Jay Grossman and Devils management he would like to play for one of the New York teams or play in Florida. Bigger offers are coming elsewhere, though, and there’s more interest in Kovalchuk than some anticipated.
The Blue Jackets feel a dynamic scorer is the missing link and they will be in the scoring winger market via trade and free agency.
