Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Kovalchuk ya haɓaka a cikin tsarin matasa na Spartak Moscow, ya shiga babban ƙungiyar su a cikin Vysshaya Liga a 1999. Bayan yanayi biyu tare da Spartak, ya shiga Atlanta Thrashers na NHL, wanda ya zaɓe shi na farko a cikin 2001 NHL Entry Draft
Ka yi haƙuri. Bayan yanayi takwas tare da Thrashers, an yi ciniki da shi zuwa New Jersey Devils a 2010, wanda ya sanya hannu kan kwangilar shekaru 15, $ 100 miliyan, bayan kwangilar shekaru 17, $ 102 miliyan da NHL ta ƙi. A shekara ta 2013, ya bar NHL ya koma Rasha, ya koma SKA Saint Petersburg, inda ya buga wasanni biyar kafin ya koma NHL a shekara ta 2018.