The Colorado Avalanche: News from around the NHL - July 16th, 2013

Kovy now plays in the KHL.

Russian team SKA St. Petersburg says it has signed forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a four-year contract.

Last week, Kovalchuk walked away from $77 million US left on his 15-year contract with the New Jersey Devils.

SKA did not disclose the terms of the deal with Kovalchuk in its statement Monday.

Dominic Moore's charity even will be happening in memory of his wife this summer.

Moore is hosting the second “Smashfest Charity Ping-Pong Challenge” July 25 in Toronto to raise money for the Katie Moore Foundation and some brain-injury and concussion-research groups. St. Louis, Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks, Joel Ward of the Washington Capitals, George Parros of the Montreal Canadiens and David Clarkson of the Toronto Maple Leafs are among the current players set to take part, in addition to former players like Eric Lindros, Mathieu Schneider and Kevin Weekes.

It’s a ping-pong event because, Moore said, there’s a table in every NHL locker-room and it’s a major part of NHL players’ culture. Several players from the Toronto area and beyond will be there because that’s what a fraternity like this does.

You shouldn't expect too many other plays to "pull a Kovy".

“There was tremendous pressure placed on all of the top Russian players at the end of the lockout to stay in the KHL,” player agent Allan Walsh said in an interview Friday. “And they were offered huge money — upwards of US$10-million — just to stay and play the balance of the season.”

Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and other stars, like the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin and the Detroit Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk, returned. While Malkin and Datsyuk recently signed contract extensions to keep them in the NHL long term, Kovalchuk announced Thursday he was retiring at the age of 30 to go home.