He said he wanted to play for SKA the rest of the season. So yes, the Devils are choice #2. No Captaincy. His words, not mine.
The plan all along was for these guys to play over there and come back when the CBA situation was over (like just about every other KHL/NHLer did). Not some BS like, I'm waiting till its ratified and I want to stay in SKA but I have contract duties yada yada yada. You want to be captain, do the right thing and be in camp day 1. You're not above the team and IMHO should be suspended by the team for 1 game because of this nonsense, but that won't happen because hes a superstar. If this was Volchenkov doing this it would be a whole different story.
- DFM
Do he ever say he didn't want to play in NJ? I don't blame him for what he's done, he's playing in his home country where he's absolutely loved, captain on a team that's tops in the league heading into the playoffs. He will never get the chance to play with the KHL again, you can skew comments and twist them whatever way you want. When it comes down to it, we seem to feel that for some reason these players love New Jersey as much as we do, and quite frankly, it's ot the case. He was not obligated to come over here until the CBA is ratified, and he asked for permission to play in the all star game.
