After 20 years and 1316 games in the NHL, former Hab Alexei Kovalev has officially retired from hockey. I was trying to think of a way to sum up Kovalev’s career with the affection and frustration he deserves. Then I stumbled on an interview with EOTP’s Olivier Bouchard. He sums up L’Artiste in this way:
Every single time he hit the ice you had to watch, just in case he’d unleash a back-handed, one hand on the stick, cross-ice, on the tape saucer pass while being checked along the board. We watch hockey because we like a good show and Kovalev could make a show of the most ordinary situation.Nicely done, Olivier; nothing more need be said. Here are your links for the day:
Habs News and Analysis
- Like Andrew discussed this morning, Ryan White will not play Saturday due to a lower-body injury. Expect the recently called up Michael Blunden to take his spot in the lineup.
- Christopher Boucher has released his scouting report on Alex Galchenyuk, noting that the rookie is performing at a top-nine level and engages is more events than the average forward. Apologies, for not posting this gem earlier in the week.
- Citing Mike Komisarek and Sheldon Souray as cautionary tales, Cam Charron speculates on the financial implications of Alexei Emelin playing alongside Andrei Markov.
- Canada’s second coolest interviewer (Allan Gregg is tops in my heart) George Stroumboulopoulos is a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan. Watch him discuss Michel Therrien’s system, Andrei Markov, and other NHL topics with CBC’s Monika Platek.
- Strombo speaks passionately about the “collective nature” of Hockey Night in Canada in the interview. Here’s an excerpt that I’ve transcribed:
And then, horn goes off, explosion, players collapse in one corner and then [Hughson] waits long enough and he says, something to the effect of, “and now here’s something that’s never been said before: the LA Kings are Stanley Cup Champs.” And you know, that across the entire continent we’re watching going: “this is a collective moment. We just watched a thing that’s happened [for the first time ever].”
General NHL News and Analysis
- Rick Nash will not face supplementary discipline for this hit on Tomas Kopecky. Meanwhile, Alexander Edler will have a disciplinary meeting with the NHL for this hit on Mike Smith. At first glance, the Nash hit looks worse to me. What do you guys think?
- Brian Stubits over at CBS’ Eye on Hockey lists his candidates for the Calder and the Norris trophies thus far. PK Subban and Brendan Gallagher crack his lists.
- Jared Dobias over at Battle of California has a chat with pictures of Mike Babcock’s face. It’s as awesome as it sounds.
- Chris Peters over at Eye on Hockey has previews for all five of the US college conference championships going on this week. Habs prospect and University of North Dakota senior Danny Kristo gets identified as one of the players to watch in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Unfortunately for Kristo, UND was eliminated by Colorado College last night.
- The Not-So-Sweet-Sixteen: Goaltender Edition continues with the fifth seeded Ty Conklin taking on the twelfth seeded Fred Brathwaite. Thus far, Garth Snow/Rick DiPietro, Tim Cheveldae, and Jamie McLennan have punched their tickets to the elite eight.
- Washington Capitals first round pick Evgeny Kuznetsov made a cameo appearance on the Russian sitcom “Univer – The New Dorm.” His character gets to date a “knockout ditzy blond” and headbutt a dude. I’m scrapping the bottom of the barrel here, folks.
EOTP News and Archive Material
- To go along with Matt’s article, here’s a radio report about the Richard Riot, care of the CBC Digital Archives, from 1955.
