Theres still a chance he could be a leaf. The market is cooling down, nobody wants to cave into his ridicoulous demans. Kovalchuck wants to play in a hockey market with lots of fans, toronto fits that bill. Burke could always give him a take it or leave it contract, but he would have to move both kabs and finger to clear up cap space. Kovalchuck has three options here #1 lower his demands a lot, hope a team makes an offer, and sign with the team # 2 is he keeps being the russian snot that he is and goes to the KHL #3 He sits out the entire season.
If Kovalchuk decides to take $8.5mil a year he could have his choice of at least 4 teams. As it stands now he could take $10mil a year to play with NYI, and probably close to that in ATL. There is zero chance that he sits out the year.