A couple of clips from the MSM on the Summer of Kovalchuk. The first is from Hradek at ESPN, possibly a little insight into Kovalchuk's "process." The second, from Sporting News, is that same process two months later.

ESPN: Hradek: Lombardi's intense questioning turned off Kovalchuk - HFBoards

[...] The Kings present Kovalchuk with a 15-year offer worth approximately $80 million. One source would later tell me that Kovalchuk was turned off by intense questioning from Kings GM Dean Lombardi. At the time, though, the Kings appear to be the favorite to land the sniper.

To which I say, yay.

Next up, this is agent Grossman talking to the Sporting News about his client:

Ilya Kovalchuk's agent looks back at a long, hot summer - NHL - Sporting News

"Before we submitted the second contract to the league, the question was raised: 'Are we going down the right path?' I said, 'Look, nobody is walking away from you.'"

Kovalchuk asked his agent, last week, "are we going down the right path?" That is fascinating. I wonder if Grossman really meant to reveal that.