FFgnWl-jKls

For the Alex Kovalev fans out there in Montreal, and there are more than a few of you:

Former  Canadien Alex Kovalev shows off the latest designs from Envers by Yves Jean Lacasse on Tuesday as part of Montreal’s Fashion Week, at Marché Bonsecours in Montreal.
Vincenzo D’Alto, The Gazette

He likes playing with Cheechoo.

He wishes he could play all of Ottawa’s six pre-season games.

He’s not still living in La Belle Province: “I don’t know where you guys got that.”

Audio: Alex Kovalev

Game blog

•  •  •

The worst thing thing you can do in the Ottawa room is step on the Senators logo in the middle of the carpeting.

An RDS cameraman did it.

Twice.

The room attendant was not amused. Neither was Chris Neil.

“Show some respect!”

Please.

Good job the centurion (remember that putz from the playoffs?) wasn’t on duty.

Kovy, the new kid on the block, walked across the logo after morning skate on Friday and was p[romptly told it would costy him $1,000.

“Good thing you’re rich!” Jason Spezza yelled.

They should have made him wear the centurion suit.

Gi5nCd1ZVrw

Thanks, Andie. Habs Inside/Out owes you. Again.

Alex Kovalev is back in the good graces of the Russian hockey federation.

Kovy has been invited to Russia’s Olympic summer tryout camp which will take place Aug. 29 to Sept. 1

Andrei Markov is on the list, of course.

But Alexander Perezhogin, who was on Russia’s team at the Worlds, has been dropped

Alex Kovalev wears a Bob Gainey jersey during pregame warmup on Feb. 23, 2008, the night Gainey’s number was retired by the Canadiens.
Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images

The popular story about Alex Kovalev’s negotiations with the Canadiens claims that the Russian forward’s career in Montreal evaporated on July 1 when he failed to reply to a contract offer extended by GM Bob Gainey.

But a Gazette source close to the negotiations suggests that Kovalev did indeed reply that afternoon, to an offer Gainey had increased a few hours earlier to two years and $10 million from the original two years, $9 million he’d offered two days before the Canada Day free-agency kickoff.

It seems it was the Canadiens who did not then reply to Kovalev’s request to tweak the second offer, Gainey using his afternoon to sign free agents Mike Cammelleri and Brian Gionta, which sent Kovalev packing when the salary cap proved too tight. Kovalev signed a deal Monday with the Ottawa Senators for the same two years and $10 million the Canadiens had offered.

Former Canadien Alex Kovalev, now an Ottawa Senator, was just on a conference call from Russia. It was over in 7:48 after three reporters – Marc Antoine Godin from La Presse, myself and Abe Hefter of CJAD – asked a few questions. There was a call a few minutes earlier with Ottawa media, but audio quality isn’t good enough to post here.

Kovalev said Bob Gainey’s decision not to re-sign him forced him to move quickly to find another NHL home. He didn’t go into much detail about contract negotiations and suggested it was nothing personal, merely business. He thanked Montreal fans who ralled Sunday on his behalf, friends having emailed him images and reports of that.

Here’s audio of the Montreal end of the conference call. There’s a short bit of dead air at the beginning of the file, a technical problem at the operator’s end. Just let it run.

Ottawa is a bilingual(ish) city, so maybe Alex Kovalev gets to keep the nickname conferred upon him, with no small degree of irony, by Montreal’s French media.

Oh, he was artistic. Nobody ever left the Bell Centre complaining about ticket prices after Kovy had painted one of his masterpieces.

What skills!

What flair!

What a showman!

And what a five-year love affair between Kovy and fans who have seen the best of the best and expect, for $100 a seat, to witness something more entertaining than Tom Kostopoulos losing a fight.

Everyone has a Kovy highlight reel.

It’s tough to top his effort in The Game against the Rangers, but my personal fave was Kovalev sweeping behind the Boston net, beating Zdono Chara, losing his glove and stopping to pick it before skating out in front.

I don’t even remember if he scored on the play. But such magic!

Is Kovalev worth the $10 million the Senators will pay him for two seasons?

No. At this stage of their respective careers, Brian Gionta is probably a better investment.

But Ottawa fans are in for a treat.

Let’s put it this way: He’s more exciting than Question Period.

Will Kovalev thrive in Cory Clouston’s system?

Of course not … mainly because he won’t play it.

Memorably characterized by Neil Smith, the Rangers general manager who drafted him, as a “wild child”, Kovalev can’t play anyone’s system.

Not Guy Carbonneau’s.

Not Cory Clouston’s.

Kovalev skates to the beat of his own drum. When his linemates are in sync with Kovy – as Robert Lang and Martin Straka were in Pittsburgh and as Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn were for one magic regular season (but not playoffs) with the Canadiens – it’s wondrous to watch.

But when l’Artiste is doing his own thing, oblivious to the other four skaters on the ice … well, the results are more Jackson Pollock than Rembrandt.

Alex Kovalev is an intelligent and cultured man. He plays the saxophone, flies his own airplane … and could probably do both simultaneously.

He is a proud man who believes there is institutionalized bias against Russians in the NHL. He was hurt by being left off the national team that won the Worlds in Quebec City, and Kovalev was said to be deeply dismayed by the Kostitsyn brothers, whose off-ice deportment he was unable to influence this season.

They embarrassed him.

Through good nights, indifferent nights and, occasionally, bad nights, the Bell Centre crowd loved Alex Kovalev.

And he loved them back. Those kisses Kovy blew to the All-Star Game crowd were from the heart.

And now l’Artiste has packed up his easel, his canvases, his paints and his brushes.

Kovy has kissed Montreal goodbye, and I miss him already.

Let’s hope Mike Cammalleri has a few highlight reel goals in him.

Alex Kovalev after a scuffle during a game last March. Kovy never lacked for confidence, and he was brimming with it as training camp opened last fall.
John Kenney, Gazette

The Canadiens had come off an Eastern Conference championship in 2007-08, led in large part by the second-best season lifetime of forward Alex Kovalev.

Montreal went two rounds into the playoffs before bowing out to Philadelphia.

The Habs reassembled for last autumn’s training camp with high hopes of taking the next step in their 100th season. We all know how it turned out. Now Kovalev is gone, to Ottawa for two years and $10 million.

Captain Saku Koivu is entertaining offers elsewhere, his days in Montreal done barring a remarkable about-face by his employer since 1995. Other familiar faces are gone, with new ones on the way in.

It’s always fun – or enlightening, anyway – to dig into the files at a time like this. Below is a feature on Kovalev written on the first day of last autumn’s training camp.

Kovalev, 8-10 pounds lighter and eager to crank up his game beyond the excellent season he’d just enjoyed, was asked whether he could find any other Canadien who reminded him of himself maybe a decade earlier, with the same fire in the eyes and the belly.

“No,” he replied. “Not even close.”

So here’s Kovalev last September, on the first day of training camp.

Habs season hinges on Kovalev
Resurgent Russian’s performance will go a long way in determining club’s fortunes in 2008-09

DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette
Published Sept. 22, 2008

Alex Kovalev has never compared himself with any other player in the National Hockey League. Now, heading into his 16th season, he’s not about to start.

The talk in every corner about the 2008-09 Canadiens is of the possibilities. Of the encore, at the very least, that’s expected of last season’s Eastern Conference champion that skated two rounds deep into the playoffs – a satisfying and unfulfilling postseason.

Kovalev has won a Stanley Cup in New York. He’s played on some thoroughbred clubs and some nags, and been magnificent and median through three seasons in Montreal.

His leadership last season was recognized by head coach Guy Carbonneau, who put the captain’s “C” on his No. 27 jersey when Saku Koivu missed one game with the flu and nine more with a broken foot.

Kovalev has seen it all in hockey, so you wonder aloud to him: Is there anyone in the Canadiens dressing room today who even remotely reminds him of himself say a decade ago, a young stud who has the same fire in the eyes and the belly?

“No,” he says, grinning tightly. “Not even close.”

Confidence and sense of self are not among the qualities Kovalev was short-changed, and both played starring roles in his dramatic resurgence last season.

From a 40-watt 2006-07 – “disappointing,” he ranks it, because 18 goals and 29 assists should be his output after 50 games, not the 73 he played – to last year’s 1,000-watt campaign, his 84 points the second-best production of his career.

From a minus-17 rating to plus-18, with a team-leading 11 playoff points.

Kovalev captured the Molson Cup in a rout, winning four of six

segments for the prize awarded for Canadiens’ three-star selections.

All of which, of course, is yesterday’s news, because what he does this season will largely determine the Canadiens’ ultimate destination next spring.

“Anything’s possible,” Kovalev said at the start of this training camp.

“It’s not like I’m going to say to you that I’m going to make 90, 100 points. I’m going to try to do my best, that’s all I can say. I’ll hopefully elevate my game to a different level. That’s the only way there’s a possibility to win the Stanley Cup.”

The 35-year-old from Togliatti, Russia, said his stellar season was not meant to prove anything to anyone, since he long ago gave up on that.

“I’ve already proven enough in my career,” Kovalev said, having authored 368 goals and 508 assists through 1,073 regular-season games with the Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, with whom he broke into the NHL at age 19.

“People know who I am and what I’m capable of. I’m trying to do my best every year. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. It’s up to me to change things and make them better, and that’s what I did last year. It happened.”

Almost certainly, head coach Guy Carbonneau will begin the season with Kovalev and Andrei Kostitsyn flanking centre Tomas Plekanec, who formed the Canadiens’ most prolific line last season.

But with the Kostitsyn brothers unable to travel to Detroit on Wednesday because of visa problems, look for Kovalev, newcomer Robert Lang and Guillaume Latendresse on a line in the Motor City. The three practised together on the weekend.

And Kovalev might well this season take the departed Mark Streit’s spot on a power-play point.

“I’m ready for any position they want to use me,” he said, reminding that power-play ace Streit, like Sheldon Souray before him, is not irreplaceable.

“It definitely would be nice to be reunited (with Lang). He’s a great player who can do power-play, penalty-kill, pretty much anything.”

(Indeed, Kovalev, Lang and Martin Straka all enjoyed their best NHL seasons in 2000-01, their line combining for 103 goals and 270 points in Pittsburgh.)

“But I don’t make the (line) decisions and we have a good chemistry with Kostitsyn and Plekanec. It’s good to have options, more than we had last year, with the additions (of Lang, Alex Tanguay and Georges Laraque). It should be easy to not worry about who’s going to be playing in certain situations.”

He joked – or didn’t – that he’ll slip the veteran Laraque, “a strong guy who has some skills,” a copy of his instructional DVD “to teach him some of the tricks.

“The young guys have to step up and show that last year was not an accident. Two years ago, when we didn’t make (the 2006-07) playoffs, everybody came in for training camp not sure what kind of team we’d have or what we could do. We should be more positive now.”

Are the Canadiens a better team than last year?

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

Kovalev will grip his stick with a new look this season, sporting uniquely crafted AK27 gloves whose airplane logo celebrates his love of the twin-engine Cessna he pilots. And it’s quite possible his skates will resemble retracted landing gear – he reported to camp with 10 pounds shaved off the 224 he carried last year.

“These days people are saying I’m too slow,” he joked – or didn’t – seemingly poured into a Moscow Country Club golf shirt. “So I’ve got to keep up with the young guys, get some speed somewhere.

“I feel a little quicker, more comfortable. … The older you get, you know how much shape you’re losing and the more (offseason) time you spend running, jumping. When you were a young kid, you didn’t have to worry about it as much.”

Kovalev is one of 10 Canadiens eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next July. Like the rest, he says he has more immediate concerns than talking contract.

“Not now,” he said of any meeting with general manager Bob Gainey. “We have to concentrate on the season. We’ll talk later. As long as I can play a full season and have a successful year, for my team and for me personally, that’s all I worry about.

“I still enjoy this hockey. That’s why I’m still playing and why I love to be here. I’ve said it many times, it’s a lot easier playing in front of a crowd that understands hockey, who are really passionate about hockey.

“And that’s what this town is all about. There’s nothing better than winning the Stanley Cup. I won it in New York (in 1994), but that is going to be nothing compared to Montreal.”

Nothing conditional. No “should” or “if” the Canadiens win. Just a frank statement from Kovalev, a player who speaks no other way, and confidence from a veteran who has that market cornered.

Hoping to hook up with him on a conference call tomorrow.

(Wonder which Canadien will pick up Kovy’s Bell Centre loge, the one he picked up from José Theodore, to host sick and underprivileged kids at Habs games?)

It’s a wave goodbye to Montreal and Bell Centre fans for former Canadiens all-star Alex Kovalev.
André Ringuette, NHLI via Getty Images

Well, it was a glorious summer Sunday to march around the Bell Centre, anyway.

Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey today told radio station CJAD, the club’s English-language play-by-play rights-holder, that unrestricted free-agent forward Alex Kovalev won’t be back next season.

Gainey viewed the rally by Kovalev fans outside the Bell Sunday afternoon as more of a celebration of the flamboyant Russian than a protest against his not having been re-signed by the Canadiens.

“I think that Alex has really left a mark on people and the hockey fans in Montreal and the fact that he won’t be returning with our team is a difficult and emotional separation for them,” Gainey told the radio station.

According to the newspaper, they have assured him he would be back with the Canadiens next season.

Kovalev made $4.5 million last season and can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Wingers with potential free agency status on July 1st:

Alex Kovalev (UFA)

Alex Tanguay (UFA)

Chris Higgins (RFA)

Guillaume Latendresse (RFA)

Tom Kostopolous (UFA)

Gregory Stewart (RFA)

Matt D’Agostini (RFA)

Barring any big signings or trades, it’s expected that all RFAs will be made qualifying offers, with everybody receiving a modest raise. Perhaps arbitration will be necessary to settle a deal with Higgins, but after last season he doesn’t have much negotiating leverage. It’s highly unlikely that any other team will try to grab one of our guys with an offer sheet (and equally unlikely that we send out an offer sheets of our own).

That leaves Kovy, Tanguay, and Kostopolous.

Tom the Bomb is a great team guy and a useful grinder, but he can be replaced by a younger, cheaper call-up (i.e. Stewart). If necessary, worry about TK in August.

Kovalev is a fan favorite, but Gainey should look into other options before giving l’Artiste a new deal. He’s 36 and infuriatingly inconsistent. While Kovy can still produce, there won’t be a line-up for his services on July 1.

No need to rush.

It was reported earlier in the week that Gainey has not had much in way of talks with Tanguay or his agent because he has been working on something big. Presumably – and this is a big presumption – that something big is Vincent Lecavalier. (And if we’re to believe Jean Perron, you can also throw Martin St-Louis’ name into that mess of a rumour.)

On Tuesday, league Czar Gary Bettman gave operational control of the Lightning to co-owner Oren Koules, but Len Barrie still holds a veto vote. Any trade involving Lecavalier might have to wait until mid-July when this dysfunctional Tampa ownership (hopefully) gets sorted out. Whether or not that trade involves the Habs remains to be seen.

Rumours aside, I’d put a priority on re-signing Tanguay. He’s a great hometown player who, if healthy, can probably chip in a good 75-80 points. While a salary of $5.25 – $5.5 million might seem like a lot, other UFA options will cost a lot more.

Marian Gaborik is a natural and electrifying goal-scorer and away from defensive-minded Jacques Lemaire, the 27 year-old Slovak might be able to put up even better numbers (in 2007-08 he notched 42 goals and 83 points in 77 games). That’s if – and that’s a big if – he can stay healthy. Gaborik has had recurring hip/groin problems for years, but did undergo corrective surgery earlier this season. Will he hold up for an entire 82 games? And playoffs? Most people have their doubts, but somebody will end up taking the risk. Gaborik will be looking for a deal worth about $7.5/season. He’ll negotiate for long-term, but might have to settle for something shorter to prove he can survive a season.

Martin Havlat is another great player who’s had bad luck with injuries. Groin and shoulder problems? Ouch. The Blackhawks will try hard to re-sign this veteran, but with their young guns due for big raises in the next couple of years, the probably won’t have the cap space for Havlat. He was making $6 million last season and will be looking for something similar. In 81 games last season, the 28-year old scored 29 goals and 48 assists for 77 points and (+/-) rating of +29.

Marian Hossa after being runner-up two years in a row, Hossa might opt to comfort himself with millions of dollars. He could easily fetch $8 million a season in a multi-year deal. He’s hit the 100-point mark once in his career and has thrice scored 40+ goals. He might try to figure something out with the Wings, but Ken Holland might not have the cap space if he wants to keep other key, and more affordable, pieces.

Daniel Sedin would be affordable, but when you tack on the identical contract that you’ll have to give his brother, Henrik, well, it starts to add up. More than the money, it’s the 12-year deals they’re looking for that could sour any deal. Worried that Lecavalier has a 10-year contract? Imagine two of those. The Canucks don’t want to lose their two most productive forwards, so there’s a good chance they re-sign in Vancouver. If not, it’s rumoured that the Leafs’ Brian Burke would make a pitch. Both brothers are good for about a point-per-game.

Mike Cammalleri will be looking to double his salary after a career year in Calgary (GP-81; G-39; A-43; P-82). He’s only 27 and might just be hitting his stride. It’s unclear if the Sutters will try to re-sign him or not, but with a disappointing playoff exit Darryl might be looking to shake up more than the coaching staff.

Who Else?

Brian Gionta, Erik Cole, Miroslav Satan, Maxim Afinogenov, Steve Sullivan, Mike Knuble, Petr Sykora, Ales Kotalik, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson.

Half of these guys will be re-signed by their current teams and the other half are good depth forwards, but aren’t necessarily the game-breaking goal scorers we’re dying to land.

Best Bet

Re-sign Tanguay.
Toss an offer out to Cammalleri, and the Sedins.
Maybe offer Gaborik an interesting one or two-year contract.

See who bites.

And if nobody does, then all it means is that you haven’t overpaid.

Kovalev will be waiting.

…

Check out the Habs options Down the Middle.

 http://www.facebook.com/alexkovalev

Woot! Woot!

Mathieu Schneider’s injury hurts the powerplay.
Markov’s injury sinks the team.

While there is nobody to replace ol’ 79, Bob Gainey does have the pieces to cobble together a better defensive corps than the one he has fielded over the past two games.
First move:
Put Mathieu Dandenault back on the blueline. He has been outstanding as a role-playing forward this season, no more so than in the past two games. (How many times has this guy chased down an icing call? Probably more than the entire rest of the team combined.)

I understand that Gainey brought up Doug Janik because he has NHL experience. A lot of people – including myself – feel that Yannick Weber might bring more of what we need right now. But traditionally, you play the guy with experience. Try out Janny, see what he’s got.

So far, in two games, Janik has played 27:47 seconds as a Hab.
He’s got no hits, 2 giveaways, and is -1.

He and O’Byrne has combined for 8 minutes of bone-headed penalties. Janik’s late third period penalty against the Rangers might take the cake – just because of the bad timing. Oh, and one of his giveaways resulted in a decisive Dany Heatley goal. Clutch mistakes.

So bring Dandy back to D – the guy with real experience – and give Weber a call. With both Marky and Schneids out for the count, we desperately need somebody to move us out of our zone and quarterback the powerplay.

Dandy can help with the transition game and Weber can help on the PP.

Weber, so far, has 10 powerplay goals down in Hamilton. That’s a Bulldogs record for a defenseman.

He’s the sixth best scorer on the Canadiens farm team and 4 of the players ahead of Weber on the stat sheet have played in fewer games than the Swiss Miss, Part Deux.

Is now the ideal time to bring him up? No, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

In Monday’s game against Ottawa, Gainey put Georges Laraque on the ice for a brief 5-on-3. I can understand his logic – he wanted to create traffic in front of the net, especially since there wasn’t the traditional threat from the point. Gainey was hoping the Ottawa D would collapse around Laraque, drawing them away from the point, thereby creating some room for the rest of the guys on the PP.

It didn’t work.

Laraque is no replacement for a decent shot from the blueline.

Give Weber that shot.

We know the kid likes to – he’s taken 201 shots this season, more than any other Bulldog.

He might not have the experience of Janik, but he might bring some PP magic. And after watching the Habs lose the way they did against the Sens and the Rangers, it seems obvious that something needs to be done.

My lines against Boston:
Kovalev-Koivu-Tanguay
Latendresse-Lapierre-Kostopolous
Higgins-Plekanec-Kostitsyn
Stewart-Metropolit-D’Agostini

On D:
Gorges-Komisarek
Hamrlik-Weber
Brisebois-Dandenault

(If you need to, you move Metropolit up to wing with Pleks and Higgy and you short-shift three lines… but that shouldn’t be an issue because AK-46 is potting 2 goals and an assist on Thursday)

So?
Do we continue as is, or is calling up Yannick Weber from the farm a real option?

Kovalev had two goals and seven assists in the Canadiens’ three consecutive victories.

And who can we thank for this last minute resurgence? Look no further than behind the bench. Coach Gainey has implemented a system that uses players to their strengths and creates a team chemistry that helps overcome individual weaknesses.

This is the team that GM Gainey had envisioned at the beginning of the season. This is the team that, on paper, looked like it could compete deep into the playoffs.
For a minute, let’s forget about numbers. Don’t think about the fact that the Habs have earned 9 of a possible 10 points in their last 5 games.

And let’s put aside that Alexei Kovalev has 6 goals and 5 assists during a 5-game point streak. Let’s forget that Saku Koivu is also riding a 5-game point streak with 3 goals and 5 helpers. Let’s put aside that with 3 goals and 6 assists, Tanguay brings this trio up to a whopping 28 points in the last 5 games.

Let’s put that aside for now.

In general:
Shots against are down.
Our save percentage and GAA have both improved.
We’re playing more disciplined hockey.
We’re supporting each other.

Since sitting down individually with the team, Gainey has keep his word by asking players to do their job; to fill their role on the team.

The top line scores goals, especially on the powerplay.
Saku Koivu leads on and off the ice.
The forwards support the D, and the D supports the forwards.
The Max line brings energy and aggressiveness every shift.
The grinder line grinds.

The only strike against the team right now is that the second line isn’t scoring. In fact, they don’t seem to be anything. Tomas Plekanec has disappeared down a rabbit hole. I can’t remember the last time I heard a play-by-play guy (on any station) mention his name.Hopefully, playing with Higgins and Dandy will energize him into at least more of a defensive role (that can at least also threaten to score).

On a whole, the team is playing better hockey than it has in months. On a whole, the team looks happier than it has in months. The team has chemistry. Players have confidence.

Guy Carbonneau may know hockey but, it seems, he didn’t know this team.

Gainey identified the changes he wanted to make, he made them, and now the team is better off. The Canadiens are playing the type of hockey they should have been playing all year.

Tonight’s game isn’t a “must-win”. But it’s still a statement game. The Leafs have taken it to us recently (especially on Saturday nights) and we need to show ourselves that we can beat a team that we’ve struggled against.

We’ll need to know that heading into the playoffs.

Getting back to the numbers:

The Habs currently sit in 7th, with 90 points.
The 4th place Flyers have 94 points.
The 10th place Sabres have 85 points.

We have 5 games left in the rest of this (not so regular) Centennial season.
Let’s make them count.

Alex Kovalev missed morning skate because he’s under the weather (which is sunny and cold today in Montreal) and stayed home.

He’s been declared an unhealthy scratch for tonight’s game against the New York Islanders, putting Matt D’Agostini and Max Pacioretty on Tomas Plekanec’s wings.

Carey Price starts in goal. Patrice Brisebois is a healthy scratch, meaning he must wait another game to play his 1,000th in the NHL.

AUDIO: • Gainey English & French  • Higgins  • Pacioretty  • Gorges, on Streit, etc. 

(And thanks to Team 990′s Andie Bennett for Bob en anglais.)

In a bit of fortuitous timing, given how much Alex Kovalev has been in the news lately, he turns up on the Radio-Canada series "Les Boys – La Série II" the next two weeks.

The show (based on the movies) airs Monday nights at 9 p.m.

This Monday, the plot goes thusly: the character named Marcel, a
faithful listener of the Ron Fournier show on CKAC, wins a private
hockey clinic for four with the great Kovalev. Naturally, every one of
his buddies is suddenly one of his best friends, wanting in on the
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The next Monday, March 9, the
big day arrives. The Rad-Can press release described it this way: "The
hockey artist will see his patience severely tested by his one-team
teammates. Viewers will discover a Kovalev with a biting sense of
humour, curious to learn typically québécois expressions. An actor is
born!"

This promises to be a classic. We just want to see Kovy pull out a "Tabarn…c" or two.

More on the series here.

It’s Feb. 24 already in Togliatti, the small town 1,000 km southeast of Moscow where Alexei Kovalev was born 36 years ago.

Kovalev began to play organized hockey when he was seven. Competing against players three years older, the Artiste began to develop the self-preservational evasive moves that have endeared him to Canadiens’ fans.

By the age of 14, Kovy’s talent had been spotted and he was whisked off to the development camp of Moscow Dynamo.

Four years later, he became the first Russian player selected in the first round of an NHL draft, 15th overall by the Rangers.

The rest, we know.

Here’s some things you may not know:

• Kovy missed the birth of his second son to play in the seventh game of the 2004 playoff series against Boston. He scored a goal in the game that eliminated the Bruins.

• He flies a five-seat Cessna 414 and also has a helicopter pilot’s licence.

• In addition to sponsoring the Kovy’s Kids loge at the Bell Centre, he has paid for Dr. Suzanne Vobecky, a pediatric heart surgeon at Ste. Justine Hospital, to train doctors in Russia. (Kovy had heart problems as a child).

My personal favourite Alex Kovalev fact: He plays the saxophone.

And if you’ve seen this enigmatic genius play hockey, you know Kovy’s style is a lot closer to Coltrane than to Kenny G.

A very intelligent and hugely complex man. Neil Smith, who was GM of the Rangers when they drafted Kovalev, describes him as a "wild child who does his own thing" and cannot subordinate his style to a system.

Maybe the system has to adapt to him.

Leaving the Bell Centre after the Ottawa game, I heard an astute observation  from a veteran hockey writer.

"It’s easy," he said, " to coach Tom Kostopoulos."