Ilya Kovalchuck

[Brandel*]

mmm Brandel would you mind rechecking what you wrote just now? It is very hard to read and understand what you are exactly trying to say please.
But from what i can peace together you are sort of negating what most of us understood you said in the post before this one. And what hockeyfan31 is saying it is a different game in KHL from the NHL one and some players react much better to different styles of play. Same thing i am saying.

please show me where he said that

 

[bobbeaver]

What? It seems perfectly fine to me. I'm not sure what the issue is.

ah you corrected it

 

[Brandel*]

ah you corrected it

I didn't touch it, it would say it was edited if I changed it. Okay though.

 

[bobbeaver]

I didn't touch it, it would say it was edited if I changed it. Okay though.

Than something strange happened. First sentence looked you started writing one way and continued in another. Nvmd doesnt matter probably some kind of a glitch.

 

[HogtownBlues]

Five more pts then John Cheechoo, that's bad. maybe he'll make up for it in jersey sales. That NHL deal he had, what a joke. He was never going to play for that long. bet you Lou was happy he "Retired"

 

[Pominville Knows]

He not dominating the scoring race has nothing to do with him declining. Some players, especially when not playing with equally dominant players, cant score much more in a somewhat lesser league than the NHL. The difference though, compared to a guy like Mozyakin, is that Kovalchuk do not not decline scoringwise when the opposition increases.

 

[RobertR]

2 empty netters in a row. Hell yeah. He is getting his form back!

 

[SoundAndFury]

He not dominating the scoring race has nothing to do with him declining.

Do you watch SKA games? Decline maybe isn't the right word but he hasn't been playing well and he was playing much better at the beginning of the season.

 

[jedisports]

I have never seen a KHL game before and probably never will. I can't stand the big ice. It was difficult enough seeing the lack of physical contact and intensity during the Olympics.

But all I know is Kovy obviously didn't find it important enough to play at the highest level long term. It was his choice but I find it such a waste given his level of talent.

 

[Vicente]

I have never seen a KHL game before and probably never will. I can't stand the big ice. It was difficult enough seeing the lack of physical contact and intensity during the Olympics.

But all I know is Kovy obviously didn't find it important enough to play at the highest level long term. It was his choice but I find it such a waste given his level of talent.

He just wanted to come back to Russia because he prefers the lifestyle there and especially in St. Petersburg where he can live with his family together. Just because someone doesn't want to live in North America, doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate good hockey.

 

[SoundAndFury]

But all I know is Kovy obviously didn't find it important enough to play at the highest level long term. It was his choice but I find it such a waste given his level of talent.

I found playing for the dying Devils franchise while being constantly critiqued by xenophobic morons like Cherry and Roenick a waste of his talent. Everyone can see it their way...

 

[malkinfan]

He would still have more points than Crosby IMO, who is terrible on the big ice. Big ice = different game. Guys just don't score around .6 goals a game like they do in the NHL unless they play on a great line with lots of chemistry - its hard to one man show it in the KHL. That's why the Astana and Magnitka guys are at the top of the scoring list, great line combinations.

 

[SoundAndFury]

He would still have more points than Crosby IMO, who is terrible on the big ice.

That's just.. no. I don't even like Crosby but lets face it, he's the best there is. He's absolutely phenomenal player and maybe it would take him a few weeks or a month to adapt to the bigger ice, we all had seen that adaptation takes more time for some players than the others during the lockout but it's just unbelievable that Crosby wouldn't be able to adapt his incredible skill set to the big ice at all.

 

[Jussi]

He would still have more points than Crosby IMO, who is terrible on the big ice. Big ice = different game. Guys just don't score around .6 goals a game like they do in the NHL unless they play on a great line with lots of chemistry - its hard to one man show it in the KHL. That's why the Astana and Magnitka guys are at the top of the scoring list, great line combinations.

You're drawing far too much conclusion based off of Sochi. I guess you forgot this:

At the 2006 IIHF World Championship, he led the tournament in scoring, while also earning Top Forward and All-Star Team honours.

He had 8+8 in 9 games.

At Sochi, he and Canada had line chemistry issues throughout the tournament but they were still able to score the needed goals. And who scored the second goal in the final?

 

[Vicente]

At Sochi, he and Canada had line chemistry issues throughout the tournament but they were still able to score the needed goals. And who scored the second goal in the final?

Yep, a guy who doesn't like big ice but still scores the decisive goal to win Olympic gold. Not that bad.

 

[Atas2000]

Hope this is an okay spot for this thread.

Anyways, I thought he was supposed to be the superstar of the KHL. That's what many people were saying when he "retired". He currently sits in 9th in the league in points behind players like Marcel Hossa and Nigel Dawes. I mean, he only has 5 more pts than Jonathan Cheechoo... I was even more surprised when I saw his goal total is only 13 goals in 35 games and there must be 25 people ahead of him. Why is he not putting up many more goals/points than anyone else? Some of the guys above him couldn't even stay in the NHL.

Here are the KHL stats for anyone interested:

http://en.khl.ru/stat/leaders/244/pts/

1.In 40GP
2.A lot of minor injuries
3.A lot of games he played not at 100% due to injuries
4.Still nearly a PPG and team's top scorer
5.All of the ppl above him could easily stay in the NHL

Don't understand all the fuzz.

 

[Atas2000]

Yep, a guy who doesn't like big ice but still scores the decisive goal to win Olympic gold. Not that bad.

A guy who was nearly invisible athe Olympics.Oh my, he scored a goal in the finals, in which the Swedes were robbed of their chance to compete by some ***hat probably NHL biased politicians.

 

[Brandel*]

1.In 40GP
2.A lot of minor injuries
3.A lot of games he played not at 100% due to injuries
4.Still nearly a PPG and team's top scorer
5.All of the ppl above him could easily stay in the NHL

Don't understand all the fuzz.

I'm not looking at the list again but Jonathan Cheechoo certainly couldn't...

 

[Jussi]

A guy who was nearly invisible athe Olympics.Oh my, he scored a goal in the finals, in which the Swedes were robbed of their chance to compete by some ***hat probably NHL biased politicians.

What you meant to say: incompetence by Swedish hockey team, carelessness/stupidity by Bäckström and the team doctor.

 

[MaximusT]

Very disappointing season and playoffs from Kovalchuk.....He turned it up for 5 games in the Olympics and disappeared again.

So, if he regresses EVEN MORE next season, which in my mind would be in that .75-.80 ppg range, would it be fair to question that he left the NHL for reasons beyond Family / $$.
Most likely that he knew he wouldn't be able to compete on the highest level anymore, perhaps after playing NHL playoff hockey with a herniated disc in 2012. Such a shame.


Also, if he completely bombs next season, and I mean playing the way he was the last 20-30 games or so in the KHL (including POs) which would be around .5-.6 ppg, is there any way SKA would buy him out.
Obviously Gazprom doesnt care about his $15mm or w/e contract, but out of principal.

^ HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE! hahahahha

 

[MaximusT]

Also, all you guys making excuses for the guy are delusional. It's 100% apparent he's a fraction of the player he was for the Devils in 2012. Not even a question about that imo.

 

[tohaa]

Very disappointing season and playoffs from Kovalchuk.....He turned it up for 5 games in the Olympics and disappeared again.

So, if he regresses EVEN MORE next season, which in my mind would be in that .75-.80 ppg range, would it be fair to question that he left the NHL for reasons beyond Family / $$.
Most likely that he knew he wouldn't be able to compete on the highest level anymore, perhaps after playing NHL playoff hockey with a herniated disc in 2012. Such a shame.


Also, if he completely bombs next season, and I mean playing the way he was the last 20-30 games or so in the KHL (including POs) which would be around .5-.6 ppg, is there any way SKA would buy him out.
Obviously Gazprom doesnt care about his $15mm or w/e contract, but out of principal.

^ HOW AMAZING WOULD THAT BE! hahahahha

Don't know if you watch any of these games, but Kovalchuk usually looks pretty good out there. Not to mention that he may still have the best shot in the world.

 

[Hzzz]

Not to mention that he may still have the best shot in the world.

Ovechkin has the best shot in the world.

 

[MaximusT]

Don't know if you watch any of these games, but Kovalchuk usually looks pretty good out there. Not to mention that he may still have the best shot in the world.

Yep. He's looked especially bad after that last EHT break right before the olympics.

 

[airbus1094]

I have never seen a KHL game before and probably never will. I can't stand the big ice. It was difficult enough seeing the lack of physical contact and intensity during the Olympics.

But all I know is Kovy obviously didn't find it important enough to play at the highest level long term. It was his choice but I find it such a waste given his level of talent.

I know that this is an old post, but please don't judge kovy unless you've actually seen him play at least a couple of KHL games and not just base your opinions off statistics. Other than that have fun arguing!