Habaneros, first of all--good thread! I'm not sure why a lot of posters dump on this thread topic. Maybe they're too busy discovering a cure for cancer to have time for such frivolities. Personally, I'm not quite so busy.
As for Kovalev, my initial reaction was similar to many of the posts above. He's done. Past his due date. Not a team first guy. What I don't buy--either then or now--is that Kovy is a bad team mate, a cancer in the locker room. He has always struck me as an articulate, sincere intelligent interview. Humble, available, gives back to the community.
And lest it go unstated, Kovalev was probably the single most talented and entertaining player to don a Habs' jersey since Guy Lafleur. I guess an argument can be made for Mats Naslund, maybe Saku. But in terms of jaw-dropping, I-can't-believe-my-eyes talent, Kovalev stands alone.
He also scored some very big goals for us. And carried the team on his back in a era when nobody else was stepping up to shoulder some of the load.
Too add a player of his stature at a minimum salary for a thirty game period to help out on the PP and shoot-outs and to be available when injuries start to accumulate is not that stupid. Who knows, he can even be Galchenyuk's personal stick-handling coach. (I can't think of too many other people on the face of the earth who can offer tips to the kid in this regard.)
The much talked about depth that is suddenly the Habs' strong suit is paper thin at the forward position. Beyond the still injured and not so inspiring Petteri Nokelainen, we have Yannick Weber as a fill-in. That's right, the hard-suffering defenceman who's amassed about 15 seconds of ice time this season. I do like Gabriel Dumont but at this point in his career, I'm not sure he's the guy to keep around for spot duty on the big club. And he's the high-water mark on the Bulldogs--there's not much else worth talking about. Maybe next year.
Which brings us back to Kovalev. Nobody is asking him to be a top 6 forward. Maybe he'll be in the press box more nights than not. But for chump change, and for the two months that are left in the season, it's certainly worth considering.
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/boom