MOSCOW -- Russian team SKA St. Petersburg says it has signed forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a four-year contract. Last week, Kovalchuk walked away from $77 million left on his 15-year contract with the New Jersey Devils. SKA did not disclose the terms of the deal with Kovalchuk in its statement Monday. SKA president Gennady Timchenko described the 30-year-old Kovalchuk as a "real leader." Kovalchuk scored 417 goals and added 399 assists in 816 NHL games. His best seasons were in 2005-06 and 2007-08 when he scored a career-high 52 goals. He had three other 40-goal seasons. Kovalchuk has represented Russia at three Winter Olympics, nine world championships, one world junior championship and the 2004 World Cup. He played with SKA St. Petersburg during the recent lockout. RENTON, Wash. -- Two Seattle Seahawks players went down with injuries within minutes of each other during Thursdays practice.Fullback/tight end Brandon Cottom was the first to go down without contact during one-on-one receiving drills.As the team brought a cart onto the field to attend to Cottom, tight end Ronnie Shields fell to the turf about 20 yards away. Shields had to be helped to the sideline by a trainer and teammate Jimmy Graham before the cart could return to carry him away.Cottoms injury appeared to be to his left leg while Shields grabbed at his right ankle. Cottom was competing for Seattles fullback job.Head coach Pete Carroll said after practice that he believed both injuries were Achilles issues, though he was still waiting for confirmation on both.Cottom and Shields add to a growing list of injuries for Seattle. Wide receiver Doug Baldwin (leg), safety Kam Chancellor (groin), linebacker Brock Coyle (oblique), defensive end Montese Overton (calf) and running backs Zac Brooks (hamstring) and Tre Madden (shoulder) all sat out practice Thursday.ddddddddddddGraham (knee/PUP), running back Thomas Rawls (ankle/PUP), defensive tackle Sealver Siliga (calf), tight end Cooper Helfet (foot) and running back C.J. Prosise (hamstring) were also on the sidelines.The Seahawks also officially moved defensive end Chris Clemons to the reserve/retired list and waived long snapper Drew Ferris. In their place, Seattle signed running back Cameron Marshall and safety Keenan Lambert, who is the half brother of Chancellor.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '