Player Discussion EHC Visp's Alexei Kovalev makes comeback

[cwede]

EHC Visp's Alexei Kovalev makes comeback in tonight's game against EVZ Academy

http://www.swisshockeynews.ch/index...omeback-in-tonight-s-game-against-evz-academy

Click to read more...

 

[redfzn]

lol nice.

1 assist, 14 PIMs and a 10 minute misconduct for hitting from behind. my man.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

They called him a superstar, I feel like I caught him in the later part of his career. Was he really a superstar?

 

[Crease]

They called him a superstar, I feel like I caught him in the later part of his career. Was he really a superstar?

Quite a player and hard to compare with anyone else. A first liner who would dazzle you a few times per game and make you throw your remote at the TV a few more times.

Lemieux without a brain.

 

[lucky13]

When he was on his game he was impossible to contain.... also one of the most frustrating players ever cause the tools were all there to be an all time great but couldn't ever do it consistently ... yet stil had a great career...

 

[Ardi44]

met him as a rookie at a sports card store on Staten Island. Pimply faced kid with forearms the size of my head. He instantly became a favorite of ours. Best stick handler ive ever seen.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Lemieux without a brain.

Kamensky without a purpose.

 

[Idlerlee]

When he was on his game he was impossible to contain.... also one of the most frustrating players ever cause the tools were all there to be an all time great but couldn't ever do it consistently ... yet stil had a great career...

So he was Kreider with skills

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

So he was Kreider with skills

No. Kovalev didn't have the physical side of the game that Kreider has been showing.

 

[Thordic]

No. Kovalev didn't have the physical side of the game that Kreider has been showing.

Unless you were Darcy Tucker.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Kovy was a very polished player. He had skills that were pretty to watch. His skating style and toe drag were like art. Some Ranger fans would get upset with him but I enjoyed having him as a Ranger.

 

[KOVALEV022473]

Yeah Boooyyzzz!

 

[NickyFotiu]

They called him a superstar, I feel like I caught him in the later part of his career. Was he really a superstar?

Awesome skills. You could tell how much time he took to polish his skills. Not a superstar player but a legit first line player.

 

[007]

They called him a superstar, I feel like I caught him in the later part of his career. Was he really a superstar?

As someone else said, best stickhandler I've ever seen, and that includes Datskyuk.

No. Kovalev didn't have the physical side of the game that Kreider has been showing.

He didn't play the physical side of the game, but I wouldn't want to pick between the two in terms of simple physical strength.

I remember one time he had to take a faceoff, and decided to just clamp down his stick over the opponents' stick. The other guy tried for what seemed like ages to just get his stick free, fell down trying, and Kovy just calmly kicked the puck back to one of the Rangers defencemen. Sam and JD just fell apart laughing. I'm pretty sure that move is completely illegal, at least now.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

He didn't play the physical side of the game, but I wouldn't want to pick between the two in terms of simple physical strength.

I remember one time he had to take a faceoff, and decided to just clamp down his stick over the opponents' stick. The other guy tried for what seemed like ages to just get his stick free, fell down trying, and Kovy just calmly kicked the puck back to one of the Rangers defencemen. Sam and JD just fell apart laughing. I'm pretty sure that move is completely illegal, at least now.

That's fair. I see Kreider as more of a power forward than Kovalev.

 

[Captain Monglobster]

If Kovalev wanted to play physical he was almost as strong as Ovechkin. In the POs one year Alexei Zhitnik did something to piss him off. Next time Zhitnik tried to exit the zone with the puck, Kovalev laid him out with an open ice hit. Knocked him out of the game, maybe the series. This was when he was a Penguin.

He was just a finesse skill guy all the way.

 

[CHGoalie27]

Kovalev has the greatest pair of hands this game ever saw. There was no comparison.

He got over 1000 pts with a bum knee and often linemates who werent capable of being on the same page (Straka and Lang knew and look what happened) people say his career was a disappointment. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.

 

[Miamipuck]

Kovalev has the greatest pair of hands this game ever saw. There was no comparison.

He got over 1000 pts with a bum knee and often linemates who werent capable of being on the same page (Straka and Lang knew and look what happened) people say his career was a disappointment. He belongs in the Hall of Fame.

I love his skill and mostly loved watching him play, but no freaking way is he a Hall of Famer. Very good player with otherworldly skill, on natural talent alone he's maybe a top 5 player ever but there's more to it than that.

 

[Whiplash27]

I always loved Kovalev, people call his career a disappointment because they saw the type of talent he had and yet it rarely materialized into a dominant player. If his head/heart were fully 100% into being the best he could have been one of the all time greats.

 

[redfzn]

I remember when Kovalev was with the Canadiens and he laid out a Ranger and started a whole scrum during the Orr-Hollweg days.

 

[n8]

granted these are scrubs he's up against but just look at the sheer speed. He would undress really good defensemen all the time but was equally frustrating because he'd try to stick handle sometimes and turn the puck over when an easy pass was available.



ridiculous wrist strength

 

[NickyFotiu]

granted these are scrubs he's up against but just look at the sheer speed. He would undress really good defensemen all the time but was equally frustrating because he'd try to stick handle sometimes and turn the puck over when an easy pass was available.



ridiculous wrist strength

That video reminded me of the times he picked the corners to score against us

 

[kovazub94]

I don't understand how his career can be called a disappointment. Kovalev is a member of 1,000 points club and has a Stanley Cup win on his resume. Look at some of the players that are getting close or fell short of that level to put a context about this achievement alone. Keep in mind that he was not a center and then take a look at some of the names of his non-center contemporaries who also close to Kovalev's production. MSL, Elias, Fleury, Marleau, Hossa. Unless your expectations for Kovalev were in the Iginla, Brett Hull, Selanne range can't call his career a disappointment.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I don't understand how his career can be called a disappointment. Kovalev is a member of 1,000 points club and has a Stanley Cup win on his resume. Look at some of the players that are getting close or fell short of that level to put a context about this achievement alone. Keep in mind that he was not a center and then take a look at some of the names of his non-center contemporaries who also close to Kovalev's production. MSL, Elias, Fleury, Marleau, Hossa. Unless your expectations for Kovalev were in the Iginla, Brett Hull, Selanne range can't call his career a disappointment.

He was not a disappointment at all in my eyes. When we drafted him Russians did not usually get picked in the first round. While I do not view him as a superstar player his cumulative stats are borderline HOF. He also was a strong playoff guy who helped us win in 1994. Kovy actually ended up with the most goals and 2nd most of anyone in his draft class. That is pretty cool since his draft class has 3 hall of famers in it.

 

[007]

I don't understand how his career can be called a disappointment. Kovalev is a member of 1,000 points club and has a Stanley Cup win on his resume. Look at some of the players that are getting close or fell short of that level to put a context about this achievement alone. Keep in mind that he was not a center and then take a look at some of the names of his non-center contemporaries who also close to Kovalev's production. MSL, Elias, Fleury, Marleau, Hossa. Unless your expectations for Kovalev were in the Iginla, Brett Hull, Selanne range can't call his career a disappointment.

Even calling his career a slight disappointment is a mark of how good he was -- with his pure ability, Hull, Selänne, Iginla-like expectations were not unreasonable at all.