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Alex Kovalev becomes an assistant coach in China


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"If you get wacked...I wanna see a yard sale...gloves and stick flying in the air while you drop to the ice like a sack of Georgian potatoes and cry like a wounded Sun Tzu!"

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I see many of you taking your shots, but he produced more and put on a better show than any forward on the current roster does.  I'd rather watch him play hockey than Patioready any day.

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8 hours ago, Neech said:

Each film session will include a full viewing of the skills DVD. And don't worry, Kovy will be taking Chinese lessons.

 

:lol:

 

sbhatt, I joke because I love. Kovalev was a wonderfully entertaining player, and I have a soft spot for guys that refuse to play the NHL Robot game.

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Closest thing to a generational skater the Habs have had since Lafleur.

 

Hes a funny guy though. If you asked him to define himself as a person, I’m not convinced hockey player would be the first thing he says.

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Pacioretty 30g-29a/yr career + plays PK, voted captain by teammates; but many Hab fans seem to hate him for being a floater.

Kovalev 26g-40a/yr for Habs, couldn't even spell PK and musta went to the Cammalleri school of back... or any kind of checking. Was never a big fan at all (should of traded him before he was let go), but he really was skilled stickhandler ill give him that and seems a fan favourite with most for sure.

 

If look up 'floater' in dictionary, will see his picture not Pacioretty's. I think he managed to play 1300 NHL games without ever breaking a sweat.:devil:

 

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1 hour ago, DON said:

Pacioretty 30g-29a/yr career + plays PK, voted captain by teammates; but many Hab fans seem to hate him for being a floater.

Kovalev 26g-40a/yr for Habs, couldn't even spell PK and musta went to the Cammalleri school of back... or any kind of checking. Was never a big fan at all (should of traded him before he was let go), but he really was skilled stickhandler ill give him that and seems a fan favourite with most for sure.

 

If look up 'floater' in dictionary, will see his picture not Pacioretty's. I think he managed to play 1300 NHL games without ever breaking a sweat.:devil:

 

These are good points. I don't know why, but I loved Kovalev.   Roy, Price, Kovalev, Markov, Subban were probably my favorite players in the last 25 years.

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Pure numbers.  Pacioretty has produced more than kovalev.  Kovalev has the one big season... but consistency wise Pacioretty has produced far more over a long period of time. (For the habs)

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Kovalev was a sublime talent, but he's the guy you add to an already-strong roster to put it over the top. Not a guy you build around, which is more or less what the Habs tried to do. I loved him because he was entertaining even when slumping (the drama was always there). But he wasn't meant to be a cornerstone guy.

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5 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Kovalev was a sublime talent, but he's the guy you add to an already-strong roster to put it over the top. Not a guy you build around, which is more or less what the Habs tried to do. I loved him because he was entertaining even when slumping (the drama was always there). But he wasn't meant to be a cornerstone guy.

The only forward we’ve had since the mid 90’s that can be considered a guy to build around, is a leader and makes everyone around him better was Koivu - and he was never the guy he could have been I’d he didnt blow out his knee.

That’s a terrible indictment on the habs management teams for over two decades.

 

maxpac and Kovolev are great complementary players you need to win, but they aren’t the straw that stirs the drink.  We had one of those on the backend and dumped him.

 

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8 hours ago, DON said:

Pacioretty 30g-29a/yr career + plays PK, voted captain by teammates; but many Hab fans seem to hate him for being a floater.

Kovalev 26g-40a/yr for Habs, couldn't even spell PK and musta went to the Cammalleri school of back... or any kind of checking. Was never a big fan at all (should of traded him before he was let go), but he really was skilled stickhandler ill give him that and seems a fan favourite with most for sure.

 

If look up 'floater' in dictionary, will see his picture not Pacioretty's. I think he managed to play 1300 NHL games without ever breaking a sweat.:devil:

 

I get that Kovolev was never going to be mistaken for bob gainey, but do you hate all Uber skilled offensive players, or guys that have flash and dash, rather than being boring vanilla or  granola robots??  That’s been the issue with habs management for far too long.  Everyone has to be bob gainey to be considered a guy that should play on the habs.  How often did guy lafleur or Steve shutt backcheck, kill penalties or block shots??? Hell in the 81 Canada cup my leaf fan friends in school ridiculed me for Lafleur turning away from a fake slap shot from a Russian, who than preceded to walk around him and score.

 

we don’t need every player to be a penalty killer.  We’ve been one of the lowest scoring teams forever and the main reason is the coaches and managemt have been hung up on trying to turn goal scorers into bob gainey and guy carboneau, or they keep wafting first round picks on guys like chipchura and Mccaron, or play guys like Weiss and Moen on the top PP unit.  It’s no wonder why we can’t find and develop offensive players.

 

 

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10 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

we don’t need every player to be a penalty killer. 

No, don't need every forward to be on the PK, just 4 of the 12. But, you missed the point I was trying to make, which was that #67 is one of best goal scorers over his career (for these days anyways), named captain by his teammates, was just about was killed playing for the Habs and he also is valuable as a penalty killer. Whereas ol #27 was superskilled with puck, had few more assists (for 4 seasons), not as good a goal scorer and played zero defensive hockey.

 

BUT, which one seems beloved by most HabFans and which one seems to be almost 'despised', for lack of better word. Seems bit odd to me and maybe partly why some free agents want no part of playing in Quebec?

Lead team in scoring every year; but, miss a breakaway and get ready to be Booed off the ice!

 

 

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32 minutes ago, DON said:

No, don't need every forward to be on the PK, just 4 of the 12. But, you missed the point I was trying to make, which was that #67 is one of best goal scorers over his career (for these days anyways), named captain by his teammates, was just about was killed playing for the Habs and he also is valuable as a penalty killer. Whereas ol #27 was superskilled with puck, had few more assists (for 4 seasons), not as good a goal scorer and played zero defensive hockey.

 

BUT, which one seems beloved by most HabFans and which one seems to be almost 'despised', for lack of better word. Seems bit odd to me and maybe partly why some free agents want no part of playing in Quebec?

Lead team in scoring every year; but, miss a breakaway and get ready to be Booed off the ice!

 

 

Hey Montreal has always been a tough town to play in. Dryden won 6 cups in his 8 years and he was booed and people were calling for Bunny friggin Laroque to replace him - the same way they wanted red light racicot to replace Roy- until it happened.

 

Ive always liked Maxpac. The issue is he also is not the straw that stirs the drink.  He scored 30 goals playing with basically a 3rd line centre in DD, but he is not going to create offence on his own.  He needs a Markov and Subban on the back and someone to feed him to get his goal.

 

 He is a less skilled (but way more heart) version of Kessel.  If he’s all you got he’s not good enough and that’s the problem right now - he’s all we’ve got, he’s the captain and is the target of everyone’s frustration because how lousy the team has been the last 3 years. When you add in the fact that some fans and media don’t like the fact that he doesn’t play like Gallagher, despite being looking like he’s twice his size and he becomes a bigger lightening rod for criticism - he is very similar to van Riemsdyk.  Big player who can score, but played on the perimeter and people always wanted more from him - when he’s gone from Toronto next year he will be missed.  But at least they’ve got Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Marleau and Kadri.  We’ve got Gallagher, galchenyuk and Drouin - the last two playing of position and being misused.

 

when maxpac is gone we’ll miss him even more, because we are even more starved for offence, but as much as I like him, I think we need to trade him.  This team isn’t going anywhere and it will take at least 3 years to build a serious contender - unless MB pulls a Tavares and a top LD out of his hat that still has the stench of all of the crap he has been brining in the last 3 or 4 years.  I’d trade him, Price and Weber and do a complete rebuild - not because I’d don’t like any of them, but because I’d don’t think we can surround them with what’s needed to be a contender in the short window they have left.

 

I also wanted Kovolev gone during his last two years and was pissed that gainey offered him a contract and let Koivu walk for nothing and traded for Gomez as a replacement.

 

 

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2 hours ago, hab29RETIRED said:

Hey Montreal has always been a tough town to play in. Dryden won 6 cups in his 8 years and he was booed and people were calling for Bunny friggin Laroque to replace him - the same way they wanted red light racicot to replace Roy- until it happened.

 

Ive always liked Maxpac. The issue is he also is not the straw that stirs the drink.  He scored 30 goals playing with basically a 3rd line centre in DD, but he is not going to create offence on his own.  He needs a Markov and Subban on the back and someone to feed him to get his goal.

 

 He is a less skilled (but way more heart) version of Kessel.  If he’s all you got he’s not good enough and that’s the problem right now - he’s all we’ve got, he’s the captain and is the target of everyone’s frustration because how lousy the team has been the last 3 years. When you add in the fact that some fans and media don’t like the fact that he doesn’t play like Gallagher, despite being looking like he’s twice his size and he becomes a bigger lightening rod for criticism - he is very similar to van Riemsdyk.  Big player who can score, but played on the perimeter and people always wanted more from him - when he’s gone from Toronto next year he will be missed.  But at least they’ve got Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Marleau and Kadri.  We’ve got Gallagher, galchenyuk and Drouin - the last two playing of position and being misused.

 

when maxpac is gone we’ll miss him even more, because we are even more starved for offence, but as much as I like him, I think we need to trade him.  This team isn’t going anywhere and it will take at least 3 years to build a serious contender - unless MB pulls a Tavares and a top LD out of his hat that still has the stench of all of the crap he has been brining in the last 3 or 4 years.  I’d trade him, Price and Weber and do a complete rebuild - not because I’d don’t like any of them, but because I’d don’t think we can surround them with what’s needed to be a contender in the short window they have left.

 

I also wanted Kovolev gone during his last two years and was pissed that gainey offered him a contract and let Koivu walk for nothing and traded for Gomez as a replacement.

 

 

 

Great post.

 

Montreal has also always loved players with panache. That's just part of the culture of the city (and it fits with the general identity of Montreal, a place of some style and joie-de-vivre). Oddly, the management of the team - really going all the way back to Serge Savard, our last top-notch GM - does sometimes seem to have been perversely determined to resist this, insisting that everyone has to be Plekanec or, failing that, Brian Skrudland (one of those 'complete' players who in fact is one dimensional, like every defensive specialist praised to the skies even as offensive specialists like Galy are crapped on).

 

Combine this dynamic - a team led by bores who want players who are bores and drives stylish and charismatic players out of town, and a city filled with people who love players with panache - and it's easy to see why a bland company man like MaxPac gets turned on. I don't defend it. Pacioretty is a fine player: exactly what Habs29 says he is.

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Its not just about production numbers, of which Kovalev's were quite good, its about how he produced them and what he was capable of at any given moment. Those capabilities are unmatched by anyone currently, or since, that game breaking dynamic left the moment he did. So its easy to throw shots at him for falling short on his defensive game, but that was never his game, his game was all about dominating a game offensively with what looked like sorcery at times. He was good for at least 25 or so games a year where he was simply sensational, in those games it was pretty good odds for us to win. He was also good for about 6 or 7 games where he just looked like the most dominant player on the planet, in which case, a win was generally a lock, entirely because of him. 

 

I try not to define him by the things he wasn't, but by the things he was, and that is, exciting, insanely skilled, offensively dominant, and every bit a Harlem Globe Trotter in the NHL. A little refresher for those who have clearly forgotten, or ignore the positives because he didn't look like Patrice Bergeron or Jere Lethinen out there...

 

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WickedBetterAmericancreamdraft-size_rest

 

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GoodImpartialDowitcher-size_restricted.g

 

 

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Link67, you're quite right, but the problem was that he could not be counted upon to bring that great game on any given night...or even any given season. The reason people criticize him is not that he was defensively limited but that he was fundamentally unreliable. That's why he should never have been made a team cornerstone - not that Gainey had any better options. 

 

I loved the guy for the reasons you state, but we were never gonna win anything with him as our best player.

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5 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

Link67, you're quite right, but the problem was that he could not be counted upon to bring that great game on any given night...or even any given season. The reason people criticize him is not that he was defensively limited but that he was fundamentally unreliable. That's why he should never have been made a team cornerstone - not that Gainey had any better options. 

 

I loved the guy for the reasons you state, but we were never gonna win anything with him as our best player.

 

We also got him late in his career.

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