If they don't move Kovalchuk to LW, Pete needs to be fired

[SteveCangialosi123]

So if Kovy can put up great numbers playing with Palmieri, why can't he do the same with Ponikarovsky on the right?

Maybe being slower than Tom Kostopolous has something to do with it? He is one of the slower skaters on the team atm. Whether it be from injury or overuse, the reality is that he doesn't possess game breaking speed anymore.

 

[Wingman77]

As many have mentioned, and it's not too hard to pick up while watching Kovy, he often winds up on the left side of the ice going into the offensive zone when he is playing RW

What pretty much nobody has picked up on is the effectiveness, not on the stat sheet, but positionally of having Kovy play RW and winding up on LW - being that he is the Devils biggest offensive threat, when he is on the ice, the other teams damn well know it and more often than not, other teams tend to send more guys to cover him, leaving one side of the ice more populated than the other

As I show in the picture below (we're red, opposition is blue), Kovy and his line-mates often do just what is in the picture - Kovy comes up on the right and either in the offensive or neutral zone, cuts over to the left side of the ice - their right defender shifts to the right, left defender stays in the middle and the backchecking forward who is covering Kovy on RW in our d-zone stays with him - our LWer stays put into the offensive zone to trail Kovy and his guy stays with him causing 4 of their guys to be covering Kovy and our LWer while 1 guy is there to cover our center covering for Kovy on RW and our right defensemen jumping in the play

This doesn't happen every single time, however this is a main part of the design as to why Kovy is on RW - to cause confusion and traffic around where ever he is leaving other guys open

 

[apice3*]

Maybe being slower than Tom Kostopolous has something to do with it? He is one of the slower skaters on the team atm. Whether it be from injury or overuse, the reality is that he doesn't possess game breaking speed anymore.

Kovy is not one of the slowest skaters on the team. That's just ridiculous. He's not a burner anymore, but he's certainly not slow.

 

[jkrdevil]

What about the first half of 2010-11 where he was a LW when Parise went down? 10 goals. Position? LW.

Actually for a big chunk of that first half theyntriednthe Kovalchuk at RW experiment for a large chunk of that half, which is probably the #1 thing that sunk them and had lindering effects up until JL took over the team. The second half under JL at left wing he putnup a 40 goal pace.

I know he put upmpoints on RW last year he was playing with a good goal scorer in Parise. We could afford him being more of a play maker instead of oure goal scorer (his goals were down). That is gone now and we need him to go back to being the shooter and goal scorer. Because the points aren't going to come any other way. That means a position change,

 

[apice3*]

I'm one who says he should stay at RW, but the picture you just drew would actually be more effective if he played LW and drifted to RW, because the puck would be on his strong side and he'd have a lefthanded C to pass it to.

That being said, the how often do we get a rush that'll set up just like that? Not too often. The positives of his positioning as a RW are more worth it.

 

[Saugus]

Those of you that are supporting Kovy at RW need to go back and watch the 2nd half of the 2010-11 season Devils team under Lemaire and look at what a force Kovalchuk was. His position? LW.

This is a very odd argument to use, when even more recently he's been excellent during a playoff run while playing RW.

I think that guy ^^^^ had something to do with it

He had something to do with why they moved Kovy to RW to start with, but not why they are keeping him there now. Honestly, I thought Parise was being a little selfish to insist on staying at LW. His game was not at all dependent on which side he played, whereas before we knew that Kovalchuk could adjust to playing RW, you could be forgiven for thinking it would negatively affect his game.

However, I don't think there is any difference now. The folks touting Kovy's "cut to the centre" move as the reason for him to go back to LW need to look at how unsuccessful Ovechkin's been with it lately. Defences are keying in on it now, and I really do believe that even if Kovy was playing the left side in a lane hockey system and did that on every rush, they'd be able to shut him down. This way, his zone entry is more unpredictable, and unpredictable Kovy is effective Kovy (in the offensive zone anyway).

 

[Wingman77]

I'm one who says he should stay at RW, but the picture you just drew would actually be more effective if he played LW and drifted to RW, because the puck would be on his strong side and he'd have a lefthanded C to pass it to.

That being said, the how often do we get a rush that'll set up just like that? Not too often. The positives of his positioning as a RW are more worth it.

It's not so much about the rush being set up like that, rather having Kovy moving all over the ice creating confusion for the other team

This is an example - watch as Giroux leaves his guy (Zajac) to give attention to Kovy 7-8 seconds in and 3 guys are concentrated on Kovy while Zajac is left all alone

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Kovy is not one of the slowest skaters on the team. That's just ridiculous. He's not a burner anymore, but he's certainly not slow.

He has spurts of speed but he's for the most part the same speed as poni and looks waaayyy slower than Lotki. I think he's injured.


Edit: and even if he's not one of the slowest skaters he's still way slower than he was and it could contribute to not playing as well. I still think that Gio, Carter, Lotki, Henrique, Greene, Zids, Harrold are as fast or faster so the statement wasn't ridiculous.

 

[apice3*]

Loki is a midget so he's going to be one of the faster players on the team. Kovy has totally changed his game under DeBoer for the better, and I guess his speed is one of the assets he sacrificed. He's definitely not as fast as he used to be, but he's also 30 and probably lost a step.

I think the changing of his game is a bi-product of slowing down, and it's a smart thing to do on a 15 year contract. That being said, he's still not slow. He has speed when he want to fly.

 

[Chessarmy]

Kovy has slowed down considerably. I don't know what the cause is either, but it is slightly concerning

 

[jkrdevil]

It's not so much about the rush being set up like that, rather having Kovy moving all over the ice creating confusion for the other team

This is an example - watch as Giroux leaves his guy (Zajac) to give attention to Kovy 7-8 seconds in and 3 guys are concentrated on Kovy while Zajac is left all alone

The issue is we don't have anyone else on the team that is a consistent finisher where we can afford Kovalchuk to be in a more play maker role in transistion. We need him to be a shooter and looking to shoot more often. That means he needs to be in a position where his tickmis towards center coming into the offensive zone. That clip you posted is also an example of the problem. He comes diwn the right wing and isn't even looking to shoot because he doesn't like the angle. That time it worked because Zajac converted. The issue is the guys he is playing with aren't consistent enough scorers to make it work often enough. More often that play ends up beng a missed chance.

He has three 5-on-5 goals all season. And 0 goals overall from the right side. It clearly isn't working right now on the right side. Why not move him the left and see if you can jumo start production?

 

[apice3*]

Who the **** cares what side he's scoring from? That's not how hockey works. Using that logic, Kovy should be a center or a defenseman, not even a LW.

 

[Bleedred]

What happens if Kovy is double shifted as a defenseman?

 

[Wingman77]

The issue is we don't have anyone else on the team that is a consistent finisher where we can afford Kovalchuk to be in a more play maker role in transistion. We need him to be a shooter and looking to shoot more often. That means he needs to be in a position where his tickmis towards center coming into the offensive zone. That clip you posted is also an example of the problem. He comes diwn the right wing and isn't even looking to shoot because he doesn't like the angle. That time it worked because Zajac converted. The issue is the guys he is playing with aren't consistent enough scorers to make it work often enough. More often that play ends up beng a missed chance.

He has three 5-on-5 goals all season. And 0 goals overall from the right side. It clearly isn't working right now on the right side. Why not move him the left and see if you can jumo start production?

If he isn't playing with anybody that can produce it doesn't matter which side he is put on and unfortunately with the amount of low producing guys we have on offense, there isn't much Kovy can do aside from what he can do himself

With Zajac not being himself and Matteau, Loki, and Poni all being nice players but not ones that belong in the rolls they've been in, it's hard for Kovy to get anybody the puck and expect them to do something with it

This is where we miss Parise big time playing on a line with him because the two were both threats to the opposition and Kovy and Parise swarming all over the offensive zone wore teams out, we don't have that this year

 

[apice3*]

Kovy has done a great job mentoring Loktionov. We should move him to coach.

He also blocked a shot on the PK earlier this year. He can take over for Marty.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

As many have mentioned, and it's not too hard to pick up while watching Kovy, he often winds up on the left side of the ice going into the offensive zone when he is playing RW

What pretty much nobody has picked up on is the effectiveness, not on the stat sheet, but positionally of having Kovy play RW and winding up on LW - being that he is the Devils biggest offensive threat, when he is on the ice, the other teams damn well know it and more often than not, other teams tend to send more guys to cover him, leaving one side of the ice more populated than the other

As I show in the picture below (we're red, opposition is blue), Kovy and his line-mates often do just what is in the picture - Kovy comes up on the right and either in the offensive or neutral zone, cuts over to the left side of the ice - their right defender shifts to the right, left defender stays in the middle and the backchecking forward who is covering Kovy on RW in our d-zone stays with him - our LWer stays put into the offensive zone to trail Kovy and his guy stays with him causing 4 of their guys to be covering Kovy and our LWer while 1 guy is there to cover our center covering for Kovy on RW and our right defensemen jumping in the play

This doesn't happen every single time, however this is a main part of the design as to why Kovy is on RW - to cause confusion and traffic around where ever he is leaving other guys open

Solid theory and gameplay, but rarely does any plan we have go smoothly. Kovy has been pulling up on both sides this year so I think it's more about the back than forehand or off wing positioning.

I just want him healthy and angry enough to attempt to split the D or drive the net rather than pulling up for the pass or going around the boards.

 

[NJDevs26]

What happens if Kovy is double shifted as a defenseman?

It happens on every single power play lol

 

[Bleedred]

It happens on every single power play lol

I mean at even strength too! Someone last year said that he'd be our best PMD!

 

[New Jersey]

As long as he scores goals I'm happy.

/my expert analysis

 

[NJDevs26]

I mean at even strength too! Someone last year said that he'd be our best PMD!

Zajac was our best PMD for about a month on the MacLean power play lol

Kovy is probably the best passer on the team though. That pass to Gionta in the last game was vintage, but not quite as good as the one to Poni in OT during the Flyer series.

 

[Wingman77]

Solid theory and gameplay, but rarely does any plan we have go smoothly. Kovy has been pulling up on both sides this year so I think it's more about the back than forehand or off wing positioning.

I just want him healthy and angry enough to attempt to split the D or drive the net rather than pulling up for the pass or going around the boards.

I agree he hasn't looked at the top of his speed game, but I also think a lot of him pulling up also has to do with him likely not wanting to dump it deep because his linemates haven't been able to dig and win the battles behind the net this year and he has relied on more of a passing game with his linemates, which hasn't exactly worked out great with the low production coming from them

 

[Volodya Krutov]

As many have mentioned, and it's not too hard to pick up while watching Kovy, he often winds up on the left side of the ice going into the offensive zone when he is playing RW

What pretty much nobody has picked up on is the effectiveness, not on the stat sheet, but positionally of having Kovy play RW and winding up on LW - being that he is the Devils biggest offensive threat, when he is on the ice, the other teams damn well know it and more often than not, other teams tend to send more guys to cover him, leaving one side of the ice more populated than the other

As I show in the picture below (we're red, opposition is blue), Kovy and his line-mates often do just what is in the picture - Kovy comes up on the right and either in the offensive or neutral zone, cuts over to the left side of the ice - their right defender shifts to the right, left defender stays in the middle and the backchecking forward who is covering Kovy on RW in our d-zone stays with him - our LWer stays put into the offensive zone to trail Kovy and his guy stays with him causing 4 of their guys to be covering Kovy and our LWer while 1 guy is there to cover our center covering for Kovy on RW and our right defensemen jumping in the play

This doesn't happen every single time, however this is a main part of the design as to why Kovy is on RW - to cause confusion and traffic around where ever he is leaving other guys open

And there's no need for Kovalchuk to carry the puck to create chaos and confusion, just to cut to the left side. With a lot of traffic, Ilya's going to look for a pass but if the defence gives him too much room he's going to score. It's a win-win situation.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Idk about moving him to LW, but I think Kovy's stats are a little misleading and he has underperformed. Even though he's gotten points he's had games that he's just been completely invisible. He hasn't been bad but he can certainly do better. I think he just needs to play better/get a better player on his wing, not necessarily switch wings.

I disagree personally. Firstly Kovalchuk's a million time more reliable than he was just a year ago. No more stupid giveaways in the neutral zone and to see him playing safe on the breakout is pure relief.
Yes like any other teammate, he slumped too but honestly that was only for 2 or 3 games. Otherwise he's been unlucky and played with below average 1st liners. His line stat still remains impressive and he contributes in all situations.

For the 1st time since he's a Devil I feel like Kovalchuk's currently our most consistent forward, yes even better than Elias. But I know it's arguable.

 

[NJDevilsFan21]

Kovy seems to have to slipped out of the comfort zone lately. But I don't blame him. Everyone else seems to be turning over pucks, getting stuck along the boards, taking awful shots, and just killing plays. It's almost like I see him playing with, "what the point in turning on the afterburners" kind of attitude. Because the he does, it almost always leads to someone ****ing it up and nothing being made of it. That and Moose not playing too well has been the story of the past month to me.

Zidlicky is the only guy I see Kovy really comfortable with, which is sad considering Zids is a defense-man. It's obvious watching these two on the PP, imo. I wish there were others who capable of firing passes back and forth to each other like these two do sometimes.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I disagree personally. Firstly Kovalchuk's a million time more reliable than he was just a year ago. No more stupid giveaways in the neutral zone and to see him playing safe on the breakout is pure relief.
Yes like any other teammate, he slumped too but honestly that was only for 2 or 3 games. Otherwise he's been unlucky and played with below average 1st liners. His line stat still remains impressive and he contributes in all situations.

For the 1st time since he's a Devil I feel like Kovalchuk's currently our most consistent forward, yes even better than Elias. But I know it's arguable.

Again I don't think he's been bad, but he can be much much better. I agree his defensive play/ penalty killing has improved, but I wouldn't say he's been consistent. He's had numerous games of being invisible and games when he's been flat out our worst player. He has the ability to take his game to another level and I think he will do that very soon, especially if we can get him a winger.