Russian Players In NHL

Alexander Medvedev, the president of SKA St. Petersburg and the KHL, in an interview with Russian newspaper Sport-Express stated that SKA is going to offer Ilya Kovalchuk a contract.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of this brief interview.

- We do have an interest in Kovalchuk. We know that the Thrashers are going to offer him the maximum salary within the limits of the salary cap. But there are differences between the tax systems in the USA and Russia so our offer can turn out to be better. It's up to Kovalchuk to decide where to continue his career.

- Have you talked with Kovalchuk already?
- We're talking!

Alexander Ovechkin talked to media about his knee injury after skating for 4 minutes in today's practice before leaving the ice.

It's not a bad injury. I thought it was going to be worse, but thank God I can walk, I can skate. Of course, it's a little bit sore, but it's not that serious.

I can do nothing about it. It's just a moment of the game. I turned and realize I don't have time to stop.

Why do I have to listen to somebody who say, 'Hey, you have to change your game, and somebody going to kill you'. Well, nobody going to kill me. I just play my game and I just enjoy my time and I enjoy my life. It's me, and it is what it is.

The Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau says that it is hard to tell Ovechkin to change the way he plays, reports Corey Masisak of The Washington Times in his twitter.

He's pretty reckless. It is hard telling a guy who scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays. At the same time, you don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he needs to pick his spots a little better.

I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way. I don't think anything being said will change the way he plays. I don't think there is a malicious bone of him trying to hurt anybody. He just plays hard and he plays to win every shift. It is a really fine line between taking that away from him and I don't see how you can take it away without talking to him.

Alexander Ovechkin, who got injured in Monday's game after going knee-on-knee with Tim Gleason, skated on ice for about four minutes during today's practice, reports Corey Masisak of The Washington Times in his twitter.

Alex Ovechkin is on the ice right now, but not in full equipment -- just gloves, stick and skates.

Well, Alex Ovechkin's time on the ice this morning last about four minutes. He did bend his knee a few times, but not much.

Alexander Ovechkin was helped off the ice after his own hit on Tim Gleason.

Erik El-Bashir of the Washington Post is reporting that Ovechkin was walking after the game.

I caught up to Alex Ovechkin before he boarded the team bus following tonight's 3-2 win in Raleigh, but the star winger would only say "no comment" when I inquired about his knee and the first period hit that resulted in his ejection.

I did, however, get to observe him walking. He had a slight limp, but he did not appear to be wearing a brace and was not using crutches.

Here is the video of the hit:

Andrei Loktionov will undergo surgery, taking him out of the lineup for four months, reports Rick Hammond of LAKingsInsider.com.

Andrei Loktionov will have surgery to repair a torn capsule in his shoulder and will be out of action approximately four months, according to Dean Lombardi. It sounded as though Loktionov’s surgery and Thomas Hickey’s surgery will both take place relatively soon.

Loktionov was injured in his NHL debut on November 25, after being called up from the AHL's Manchester Monarchs.

Phoenix Coyotes' Viktor Tikhonov, who spent most of the season with their AHL affiliates, the San Antonio Rampage, is back in Moscow, where he's thought to be joining Filatov's CSKA.
"My son has been sent to the KHL, he has already landed in Moscow and he's ready to play for CSKA" - said the father of the coach to Sovetsky Sport.

After a long injury, finally Montreal Canadiens' superstar Andrei Markov started eyeing his return on ice, even if it won't be that soon, probably not earlier than New Year's eve, "surely before the Olympics", using his own words.

Let's remember that the defenseman got injured on the season's opening night when he had a collision with team mate, goalie Corey Price and he got a teandon slashed by Price's skate. He needed a surgery and a long rehabilitation program, but now it looks like it's going to end rather soon.

Markov had an interview with Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette, Russian Hockey Fans offers you a resume:

I felt it in my ankle, I just bent over and saw the cut. At the time I wasn't thinking it was too bad. It's part of our game, it's bad luck. It wasn't (Price's) fault. Hopefully I'm going to be better than before.

It's still boring right now. It's not comfortable, but I'm happy to step on the ice. The hardest part (of rehab) is seeing your team on the ice and watching the game on TV. It's tough, mentally.

But I feel good. Everything's on schedule. We'll see what happens tomorrow and next week. Maybe it's going to be early, I don't know.

I don't want to look that far ahead, [towards the Olympics]. I'll do it step by step. First of all, I have to come back to our team and we'll see what happens.

According to Capitals Insider Tarik El-Bashir Alexander Ovechkin won't be disciplined for his hit on Buffalo's Patrik Kaleta after which he got ejected from Wednesday's game.

Alex Ovechkin won't be suspended or receive an additional fine by the NHL for his hit on Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta on Wednesday night, I'm told.

Ovechkin, as you know by now, was assessed a five minute major for boarding and game misconduct for a controversial check that sent Kaleta headfirst into the boards and drew blood. All game misconducts are reviewed by the league and incur an automatic fine of $200.

Although Ovechkin didn't receive any supplementary discipline for the hit, that doesn't mean he's totally in the clear, either. He now must go 41 games (that's from Saturday's game in Montreal through the March 8 contest against Dallas) without incurring another boarding major and game misconduct, or the two-time MVP will be hit with an automatic one-game suspension.

After the Caps' 2-0 victory over the Sabres, Ovechkin said he won't let the ejection - the second of his four plus seasons in the NHL - affect the aggressive manner in which he plays the game.

"I can't do nothing about it," he said. "I just play my game. I'm not going to change. It's me."

Former Detroit Red Wing Sergei Fedorov sit down for an interview with KHL magazine "Hot Ice", where he talked about his escape in the United States after the USSR collapse and about the adaptation towards a new way of live. But the most interesting part was when he talked about his relationship with Scott Bowman.

From Corey Masisak of the Washington Times

Ovechkin was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta 3:38 into the third period.

According to the league rulebook, Ovechkin was hit with the major penalty at the official’s discretion, but an injury to the head or face on a major infraction is grounds for an automatic ejection. Kaleta left the ice holding his nose, and Ovechkin tossed his glove in the air in frustration as he went to the dressing room.

This is the second game misconduct in Ovechkin’s career, and both have come against the Sabres. He was ejected from a game Dec. 2, 2006 during his second NHL season for checking then-Buffalo forward Danny Briere into the boards from behind. Ovechkin was also fined earlier this season after slew-footing Atlanta’s Rich Peverley with 30 seconds left Oct. 22 at Philips Arena.

Darryl Dobbs, a popular The Hockey News writer, wrote on his blog about Maxim Afinogenov's very good start this year in a new scenario, opposed to the last two years' bad numbers.

The Moscow native signed this summer a one year deal with the Atlanta Thrashers worth a relative low amount of $800,000.

The shifty Russian had 134 points in 133 games for the Sabres between 2005 and 2007. In 2007-08, he was pretty much a write-off due to injury and then last campaign he got off to a slow start. In this case, Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff didn’t have a whole lot of patience. And who would? Afinogenov was coughing up the puck on a regular basis and was also snake-bitten in the scoring department.

Things are different in Atlanta. Coach John Anderson didn’t have many weapons in his arsenal and had to use what he was given.

So despite posting just three points in six games (and a minus-4) to kick off the campaign, Afinogenov was allowed to play through it. Patience – in the case of both the team and the player, it’s what low expectations buy you. That patience has made the Thrashers a multi-line threat.

Afinogenov now has 20 points in 20 games and is back to his old, productive self. He has played more than 56 games just twice in the past seven years, including 36 games during the lockout, so injuries are still a concern, but he’s a safe bet to remain close to a point per game. Pencil him in for 70 games (to play it safe) and 66 to 71 points.

On another THN feature, Brian Duff put Afinogenov as #1 amont the "one year deal wonders" of this season.

Afinogenov's early-season surge will prove to be a turning point for Thrashers GM Don Waddell, who could use a few deals/contracts to go his way.

After showing up for only the first year of his final three-year deal in Buffalo, crazy legs Max appeared destined for the Kontinental League or anywhere but the NHL after an embarrassing six-goal, 20-point season.