Devilish listing: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk selling NJ mansion

The devil that came up from Georgia is willing to make a deal: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk has relisted his New Jersey mansion at a discount.

Kovalchuk and his wife, singer Nicole Andrazajtis, listed the 22,000-square-foot mansion they had built in Alpine for about $15 million, the New York Post reported. The couple first tried to sell the home at 10 Frick Drive for $18 million in 2019, then lowered the ask to $16 million one year later.

The pair purchased the two-acre parcel where the mansion now stands for $4.5 million in 2010, according to the New York Post, shortly after Kovalchuk was traded from the Atlanta Thrashers to the New Jersey Devils.

Kovalchuk signed a 15-year, $100 million contract to remain in New Jersey that September, then kicked off a firestorm by retiring from the NHL less than three years later to return to his native Russia.

The home has eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, as well as several powder rooms and a “banquet-size” dining room, according to the Post.

Buyers may want to bring a chef along, as the home includes a chef’s kitchen, prep kitchen, walk-in pantry and wine storage. Other features of the home include a lounge, theater, bar and guest suite.

Dennis McCormack of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty holds the listing.

The home is fewer than 300 feet from a 60-acre Alpine estate that sold for $27.5 million in January. That home, at 1 Frick Drive, was once owned by the family of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick. Richard Kurtz, the founder of New Jersey-based apartment owner and manager Kamson, sold the property to an anonymous buyer.

Kurtz’s primary residence is in Florida, and that may be the plan for Kovalchuk too. Last month, the Kovalchuks picked up a condo unit at Palazzo Della Luna, the newest building on Fisher Island, for $8.5 million. Fellow athletes Caroline Wozniacki and David Lee also call the island home.

Kovalchuk was a three-time All-Star in the NHL, playing for the Atlanta Thrashers, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals during his career. He also won an Olympic gold medal in 2018, representing the unofficial Russian team, and served as the general manager of the Russian Olympic Committee’s men’s ice hockey team that competed in Beijing last month.

Kovalchuk, who played his youth hockey in Moscow, was part of a social movement called PutinTeam, formed in 2017 by current Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin to express support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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[NYP] — Holden Walter-Warner