Ilya Kovalchuk dismissed from SKA St. Petersburg

[Josh]

According to Marie Lehmann (https://twitter.com/svtlehmann/statu...91242879946753) Ilya Kovalchuk has been dismissed from his KHL team..

[Josh]

For him to return to the NHL:

1. All thirty teams would grant permission to return to the NHL. He would be a free agent.

2. Kovalchuk can sit out a year and not play hockey anywhere. After then, only the Devils need to grant his permission to return to the NHL. He would be a free agent.

3. Kovalchuk would wait until he's 35. At that point, he's free to come back without any permission. That would be the 2018-19 season, or two years after the speculated season he's considering leaving the KHL.

[Matt the Aussie]

Gotta think one team out there will still go crazy for him.

[Josh]

Looks like there was a language issue and "dismissed" actually translates to "benched for one game".