For Isles, signing Kovalchuk too big a risk

The Islanders are out of the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, which isn't a surprise.

They were never really in it. And despite some online hyperventilating during the holiday weekend, general manager Garth Snow never wavered from his initial intentions, which were to find out what it would take to sign him.

Kovalchuk - despite some more online hyperventilating Monday - still did not have a deal in place as of last night, though Jay Grossman, Kovalchuk's agent, said on Twitter that his client had "narrowed down his choices" and a deal could be struck Tuesday.

Snow, who never made any concrete offer to Grossman, simply stuck with his plan. According to a source, the Islanders were considering jumping in on the Kovalchuk sweepstakes if the long-term offers he had - reportedly from the Kings and Devils - were turned down, and offering a short-term alternative.

Something like what Marian Hossa signed with the Red Wings in the summer of 2008, when Hossa spurned a long-term deal from the Penguins and took one year and $7.45 million.

But with Kovalchuk not interested in anything short-term and likely not interested in one year with a team in the midst of a rebuilding project, Snow never even pulled the trigger on that offer.

Snow has been aggressive with agents and offers in the five days of free agency, touching base with all the top players and making generous offers to defensemen Paul Martin and Dan Hamhuis before they signed elsewhere.

"We're going to be in contact and try to be aggressive with free agents whenever possible," Snow said. "But we're not going to change our focus."

That focus is to make sure that the Islanders who are the core of the team - emotionally and financially - are the homegrown guys. John Tavares now, and Calvin de Haan, Travis Hamonic and Nino Niederreiter in the future. It's hard to keep contracts in line when you bring someone in from outside who's making 10 times what everyone else is.

Kovalchuk is a great player, and if he signs with the Devils or another perennial playoff team, that team will be better. He would have made the Islanders better, too, but not enough to offset the cost of blowing their salary structure out of whack, even as they still would have had lots of room under the $59.4-million salary cap.

They tried that in 2001, before the lockout and before the cap, but Charles Wang still is paying for the 10-year, $90-million contract he gave Alexei Yashin. He still is paying for the 15-year, $67.5-million contract he gave Rick DiPietro four summers ago.

Those are two big enough reasons not to get too involved with big-ticket free agents.

Snow kicked the tires with Kovalchuk and the fans got their hopes up, thinking the high-scoring winger might be just the thing to catapult the Islanders back to relevance. Unfortunately, that's not how things work in the NHL now.

Look at the Blackhawks, who endured seasons of losing to get to the top. The same with the Penguins, the previous season's champion.

If this rebuild pans out, there will come a time to add a star piece to an already strong core of homegrown Islanders.

That time is not now. Which is why Snow never went any further with Kovalchuk.