Montreal Canadiens Toss Life Preserver, But Fate Is Still In Ilya Kovalchuk’s Hands Up next NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devil – Colin Miller and Sami Vantanen Published on January 4, 2020 Author The Montreal Canadiens signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a one-year, two-way deal at $700,000. It’s upto Kovalchuk to re-establish himself as an NHLer.