Alexei Kovalev still gets a chuckle when he thinks about the time he was an NHL draftee.
"Nobody told me," he said.
Not for a couple of weeks anyway, until a friend happened to notice something in a local newspaper. Of course that was in the pre-historic days of communication circa 1991, but Kovalev couldn't help but take a trip down memory lane when the subject of his possible inclusion on the 2010 Russian Olympic team came up.
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| Alexei Kovalev has had a good start with the Senators, scoring four goals so far. (Getty Images) |
But even with respected Russian hockey legend Vladislav Tretiak now running the Olympic entry, Kovalev may not get a shot at adding to the 1992 Gold Medal he won. Not if the plan is for the team at Vancouver to be dominated even more than the last time by new-generation Russian stars and led by the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.
"These days they do everything for the young kids so it's hard to find room," shrugged Kovalev, a late invitee to Team Russia summer orientation camp. "For me it would be nice to start and finish with a gold medal because this could be my last Olympics, so if I get there I'll be happy. But if not, I'll just continue doing what I do best."
That probably wouldn't draw any complaints from the Ottawa Senators, a team that has gotten off to a stronger start than expected and is challenging for the Northeast Division lead. The Senators signed Kovalev to a two-year deal for $10 million in July, ostensibly to add a much-needed top-six forward, but equally to help mitigate the inevitable trade of disgruntled scoring star Dany Heatley.
And maybe even to take a little shot at a key division rival.
Kovalev had developed an intensely loyal following during four much-scrutinized full seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, enough for several hundred fans to hold at vigil at the Bell Centre and call on the team to re-sign him. But Ottawa offered him an extra year on a contract, so Kovalev took his show down the highway, bringing his 394 goals and 941 points with him. And his reputation for being unstoppable on some nights and invisible for several others came along.
Kovalev's ability to show up intermittently is the kind of thing that drives coaches crazy, and Ottawa's Cory Clouston has already seen why for himself. So while Clouston notes that Kovalev's great skills have made him the deciding factor for Ottawa a couple of times already, he adds they were in games when "he has brought it.
"We need Alex to be assertive with and without the puck, get into areas where he made life miserable for us in the past," Clouston said. "When he's doing that, he's very difficult to contain."
Then again, Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray says that's unrealistic to expect every night. Murray said he jumped at the chance to sign Kovalev because of the times he does make a difference.
"When I coached and watched our team play in the last couple of years against Montreal, every time he came on the ice I was scared to death that he was going to be the difference in the game," Murray said. "And on some nights he certainly was the difference. "But you always want your players to play 100 percent and that's difficult over 82 games," Murray said. "If you are judgmental then you can find a hole. [The critics] claim that Alex has been a little more inconsistent than he should be. I think the opposite. When he plays great, he can win a game for you."
And stir up emotions too, sometimes with controversy. Kovalev had his share of it during his time in Montreal, including the time he was quoted in a Russian newspaper criticizing his organization (he denied the charge and the interview tape was never produced) and when he was told to stay home during a road trip last season to "clear his head."
Kovalev even raised some eyebrows in Ottawa before playing his first game as a Senator when he told reporters at a summer golf tournament that he enjoyed Montreal so much he'd like to return there one day. But after 16 seasons in the league, he can shrug it all off as coming with the territory, although Kovalev still doesn't see why an innocent remark created a fuss.
"I could have said I wanted to retire in Russia where I grew up," Kovalev said. "With your family you don't like to change places too often, but a job is a job, you do it the best you can. It's not like you're doing your job and thinking about other cities; you are focused on what you have to do.
"But people are going to take things the way they want, and not everything is perfect. The way I look at it, there's positives and negatives in life and it becomes more interesting if you mix those two."
