Alexei Kovalev
Alexei Kovalev Vyacheslavovich (Russian Алексей Вячеславович Ковалёв; born February 24, 1973 in Togliatti, Russian SFSR ) is a Russian ice hockey player who is under contract with EHC Visp in the National League B since June 2013. He previously played for the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League.
- 4.1 International
Career
Alexei Kovalev was drafted in the NHL Entry Draft in 1991 in the first round as number 15 of the New York Rangers. Thus he became the first Russian player who was drafted in the 1st round. Kovalev was an important part of the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup win in 1994. Along with Sergei Nemchinov, Alexander and Sergei Zubov Karpowzew it was the first Stanley Cup victory with Russian participation. Kovalev was particularly impressed by his stick technique.
In the 1998/99 season, he was traded along with Harry York for Petr Nedvěd, Sean Pronger and Chris Tamer to the Pittsburgh Penguins after he played only 14 games for the Rangers. So it was in Pittsburgh, where he set his personal high score. He collected first 75 and in the following season even 95 points for the Penguins. As Pittsburgh was forced to reduce the salary structure of the team, Kovalev was transferred for Mikael Samuelsson, Rico Fata, Joel Bouchard, Richard Lintner and some cash back to the New York Rangers with Dan Lacouture, Janne Laukkanen and Mike Wilson.
Only about a year later gave him from the Rangers for Jozef Balej and a draft law to the Montreal Canadiens. He spent the lockout season in the Russian league with Ak Bars Kazan, where he reached 23 points in 35 games. Kovalev played for the Russian national team at the World Ice Hockey Championship for Men in 2005 in Austria, where he was voted the best striker of the tournament. When starting in the 2005/ 06 season Kovalev signed a four - year contract with the Montreal Canadiens, who brings him 4.5 million dollars per year. On 7 July 2009 he signed after he had become a free agent after the 2008 /09 season, a 2- year contract with the Ottawa Senators.
On November 22, 2010 in his 1249th NHL game, he scored a goal for the Senators against the Los Angeles Kings and reached the 76th player in the history of the NHL, the mark of 1000 points. In February 2011, Kovalev was released to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a conditional seventh- round performance suffrage in the NHL Entry Draft in 2011.
On July 29, 2011, Kovalev agreed on a contract for two years with Atlant Mytischtschi from the Kontinental Hockey League. In June 2012, this contract was terminated because Kovalev wanted to try again to get an NHL contract. During the NHL lockout in 2012, he trained initially at the Swiss second division club HC Red Ice with. After the end of the lockout, he received a sample contract from the Florida Panthers, which was a few days later extended until the end of season in January 2013. In March 2013, the Russians initially ended his active career.
On June 10, 2013, the Swiss NLB Club EHC Visp announced that Kovalev had signed a one year contract. In addition, he had planned to build a hockey school in the canton of Valais.
Records
- First Russian player who was drafted in the 1st round.
- First Russian player, together with Sergei Nemchinov, Alexander and Sergei Zubov Karpowzew, whose name was engraved on the Stanley Cup.
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented the USSR at:
- U18 European Junior Championships 1990
- U18 European Junior Championships 1991
- U20 World Junior Championships 1992
Represented in the CIS:
- U20 World Junior Championships 1992
- Winter Olympics 1992
Represented Russia at:
- World Cup 1992
- World Cup of Hockey 1996
- World Cup 1998
- 2002 Winter Olympics
- World Cup of Hockey 2004
- World Championship 2005
- 2006 Winter Olympics
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )
Awards and achievements
- 2001 NHL Player of the Month in February
- 2003 NHL All-Star Game
- 2008 NHL Second All-Star Team
- 2009 NHL All-Star Game
- 2009 Most Valuable Player of the NHL All-Star Game