List of suitors for Ilya Kovalchuk is growing quickly

Ilya Kovalchuk will be coming back to the NHL next season, and his list of rumored suitors is growing quite quickly now.

After five seasons back home playing in the KHL, Ilya Kovalchuk is set to come back to the NHL. The New York Rangers were immediately mentioned as a potential landing spot, and the Florida Panthers may be in the mix too. Last weekend he went to California to visit the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks, but the list of suitors for Kovalchuk seems to be growing pretty quickly.

Tuesday morning, Darren Dreger of TSN added the Detroit Red Wings as a team with interest in Kovalchuk. During a radio appearance in Montreal, Dreger went further to tie some teams to the former No. 1 overall pick.

Via NBC Sports Boston:

"I’m going to give you a list of teams that I believe are interested in Ilya Kovalchuk,” said Dreger on Tuesday during a radio hit with TSN 690 in Montreal. “And I’m going to qualify that level of interest. Detroit, as I tweeted earlier today, definitely made a push. The St. Louis Blues have interest, Anaheim, Dallas, the New York Islanders. I’d put that group as potential dark horse teams.“And then beyond that, probably more solid contenders include the likes of San Jose and Los Angeles, and I’d put the Boston Bruins in that group and maybe the New York Rangers as well. So there are a total of nine teams."

Kovalchuk has said winning will be a priority in where he lands in his return to the NHL. So that may rule out the Red Wings, Rangers, Stars and Islanders, who all missed the playoffs this past year. The Sharks and Kings look like solid fits, as do the Blues and Ducks, but the Bruins are the most interesting.

Boston seems sure to seek a potent scorer for its second line, centered by David Krejci, this offseason. Kovalchuk showed he still has it, with 63 points in 53 games for KHL St. Petersburg this past season, and he’s a good alternative to just re-signing trade deadline acquisition Rick Nash for the Bruins.

Next: Florida Panthers: 5 free agents to bring them back to playoffs

Kovalchuk’s agent suggested he would make a decision on his NHL destination somewhere around draft time, which is coming up on June 22-23. So it seems interested teams are being asked to make their pitches right now.