Confirmed Signing with Link: [MTL] Habs sign Kovalchuck (1 year, $700K)

[Lt Dan]

tonite

thank you

 

[Roadhouse]

That's what i thought - if he can compete on the PP and play 3rd line minutes, thats good enough for me. Anything more is candy

Surprise, surprise. 1st liner tonight, 1st PP on the left point.

 

[Prairie Habs]

Most of the way through his Habs debut he had a screen on the Habs first goal and an assist on the second. He's also laid the body a few times and tried to tackle the puck into the net at one point, so its safe to say the efforts there.

I don't expect a guy his age to keep up the intensity for the rest of the season, but its been a fun debut for him.

 

[NobleSix]

he looked pretty good tonight. 1 point and a good board battle led to an earlier goal

 

[Not Sure]

he looked pretty good tonight. 1 point and a good board battle led to an earlier goal

In the couple games I saw him with LA earlier this year I dont think effort was the problem. He had a ton of chances but was singularly focused on offense. I guess when you take an aging forward whose best asset was always his shot and try to turn him into a two way player it doesnt always work. Let him focus on offense and PP time and he will be a fine addition to the Habs. I mean Thomas Vanek made a career of cherry picking points and he lost his ability to skate while he was still with the Sabres. Coaches need to stop trying to bend players to their needs, and instead sign guys who already fit the roles they need filled.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

Most of the way through his Habs debut he had a screen on the Habs first goal and an assist on the second. He's also laid the body a few times and tried to tackle the puck into the net at one point, so its safe to say the efforts there.

I don't expect a guy his age to keep up the intensity for the rest of the season, but its been a fun debut for him.

Not just a screen on the first goal, but he forced the turnover in the zone and kept it in until Tatar setup the play.

 

[CanadienShark]

i was just joking around, but if we want to discuss language, technically theres no wrong or right answer. Why? There’s no one standard for transcribing Cyrillic into Latin alphabet.

The biggest example is Ё in Cyrillic. It is either transcribed as either “e” or “yo” depending on the person that does the transcribing. So, two big examples in hockey are Фёдоров (Fedorov) and Семён (Semyon). If you were to write it as Fyodorov and Semen (lol), you wouldnt be wrong.

Taking your case for example, the way j is pronounced in english is approximately equivalent to the letter ж. Transcribing it into latin, you’ll most often see it as “zh”. But it’s also possible you’ll see it as j or even dzh which all approximately sound the same in english (there’s one very famous georgian whose Ж is popularly transcribed as dzh).

It’s pretty confusing. I mean the NHL doesnt even stick to one standard when they transcribe Cyrillic! I’d personally spell it as Kovalchuk which is the common version, but Kovalchuck is not exactly “wrong” either because, in the end, an English person is gonna pronounce both versions the same regardless. The goal of transcription is to transcribe the foreign language in such a way that the person can approximately sound it out.

I was aware about slight transcribing differences, but your post was very insightful. I didn't know all this. I assume you've studied linguistics?

How would a name like Julian or Alejandro be transcribed since the 'J' is an 'H' sound?

 

[SotasicA]

He was +2 in a 2-3 loss.

 

[razor8]

He was +2 in a 2-3 loss.

By that alone he's worth 700k.

 

[Gaud]

Surprise, surprise. 1st liner tonight, 1st PP on the left point.

lol yeah i was surprised at first, but I dont see where else we could put him, especially knowing Julien likes to keep his lines intact. Placing Kovy with Domi might have been too much strain on the D side of things. I am not surprised at the 1st PP line though.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

I was aware about slight transcribing differences, but your post was very insightful. I didn't know all this. I assume you've studied linguistics?

How would a name like Julian or Alejandro be transcribed since the 'J' is an 'H' sound?

Linguistics is just a hobby of mine along with hockey.

But arent those spanish names which use the latin alphabet? As far as im aware, languages that also use latin are almost never transcribed into another language that also uses latin which is why you sometimes get egregious pronunciations for such languages.

As an example, J in Czech, Swedish, Finnish, slovakian, danish among some hockey languages is always pronounced like a consonant y (assuming the word is native to that language) but youll never see something like Yaromir or Yakub.

 

[MrGold]

By that alone he's worth 700k.

Spending (<)700k for a potential draft pick seems like an interesting investment opportunity for a hockey team. We'll see how it turns out at the trade deadline.

 

[danyhabsfan]

BTW his cap hit is 700k$ which means it will cost about 350k$ for the half season. Not much risk.

He looked good as I thought he would.


Still can't believe I saw Kovalchuk in an habs jersey.

 

[Kuznetsnow]

No surprise, he's still a physical freak and a good player. Kings brass probably invited Rian Johnson to one of their games as part of the Look At The Hollywood Celebrities Instead Of The Ice organizational direction they decided to take and he convinced them to deconstruct one of the more iconic players of the past 20 years and subvert le expectations by playing him against his strengths. Most logical explanation for the Kovy cluster****

Julien is anything but a euro friendly coach and even he understands that you don't plow with a racehorse

 

[YP44]

No surprise, he's still a physical freak and a good player. Kings brass probably invited Rian Johnson to one of their games as part of the Look At The Hollywood Celebrities Instead Of The Ice organizational direction they decided to take and he convinced them to deconstruct one of the more iconic players of the past 20 years and subvert le expectations by playing him against his strengths. Most logical explanation for the Kovy cluster****

Julien is anything but a euro friendly coach and even he understands that you don't plow with a racehorse

Last year yes the king's tried this. however this year McLellan tried using him spottingly. Just never clicked as LA does not have the offensive minded players he needs to play with. Hope it works out for him as I love Kovalchuk's game when it is on.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I watched a bit of Kovalchuk in LA. I honestly felt he still looked good but he was playing under probably the dumbest coach of the last decade. Watching how he was misused on the power play and on offense, I think he could blow some minds about what's left in the tank.

 

[Habs Halifax]

I watched a bit of Kovalchuk in LA. I honestly felt he still looked good but he was playing under probably the dumbest coach of the last decade. Watching how he was misused on the power play and on offense, I think he could blow some minds about what's left in the tank.

I don't think the Kings were a good fit. Basically the Kings were not able to get Patch to sign (sign/trade negotiations) so they settled on Kovachuk.

I can see Kovalchuk having 15-20 pts from now till deadline with the Habs. Something like 0.75 pts/game (+/-).

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I don't think the Kings were a good fit. Basically the Kings were not able to get Patch to sign (sign/trade negotiations) so they settled on Kovachuk.

I can see Kovalchuk having 15-20 pts from now till deadline with the Habs. Something like 0.75 pts/game (+/-).

Yeah, same. I think he could still be a legit 50-60 point major piece of a top six in the right situation. He's not elite, he's lost a step and he looked unhappy but that skill was still there.

I remember ranting at the TV over and over "You have one of the best slapshots in the world!!! Why the f*** are you wasting him, Willie???" when watching him play with the Kings. I thought it was maddening the few games I watched him play as it was like oil and water.

 

[Deuce Awesome]

Leafs fan here: I could see him ripping it up in MTL, he always struck me as a guy who loved the limelight.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Yeah, same. I think he could still be a legit 50-60 point major piece of a top six in the right situation. He's not elite, he's lost a step and he looked unhappy but that skill was still there.

I remember ranting at the TV over and over "You have one of the best slapshots in the world!!! Why the **** are you wasting him, Willie???" when watching him play with the Kings. I thought it was maddening the few games I watched him play as it was like oil and water.

It will be interesting to see if the Habs fall out of the playoff race and we sell at the deadline. I can see Kovalchuk being a great piece for a team like the Pens. Shot power like this is not easy to find and he is still a decent skater from what I can tell.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Last year yes the king's tried this. however this year McLellan tried using him spottingly. Just never clicked as LA does not have the offensive minded players he needs to play with. Hope it works out for him as I love Kovalchuk's game when it is on.

I think the Pens would be a great fit for a playoff run... his time with the Habs might just be to prove he still has some value. Basically, Kovalchuk could replace Kessel in the short term.

Not so sure he is with the Habs for long but it's possible he stays. Anybodies guess. But if the Habs keep him and we are healthy, something has to give cause we have to make room for the youth at some point.

 

[Arhidia]

I haven’t seen him play in years and from the chatter around here i thought he was going to skate like a 50 yr old beer leaguer.
I was quite surprised to see that wasn’t the case

 

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I don't think the Kings were a good fit. Basically the Kings were not able to get Patch to sign (sign/trade negotiations) so they settled on Kovachuk.

I can see Kovalchuk having 15-20 pts from now till deadline with the Habs. Something like 0.75 pts/game (+/-).

From your keyboard to Gods ear!!

If he was at 20 points come TDL, Bergy better trade him for some picks/prospects!

 

[Balance]

Kovalchuk will do well with the Habs. Kovy plays well in front of loud home crowds, I think Montreal will revitalize his career.

I think Canadiens fans will be surprised at how good Kovalchuk still is. Its really hard to produce in LA with a dead crowd and a horrible team. Kovy will do well with the youngsters and I can see him easily producing at a 60 pt pace for the rest of the year and getting a contract for next year.

 

[HOPE]

Tatar's replacement when we trade him at the deadline, Welcome to Montreal Poulin!