Alex Kovalev signs with the Senators

Heatley Gets Company as Kovalev Signs With Senators

Alex Kovalev has just signed a two-year deal with the Ottawa Senators for $10 million total, bringing the league’s best puck handler to a team embroiled in some hilariously absurd in-house fighting. Kovalev’s signing in Ottawa will have some strange effects on the Dany Heatley drama brewing in Ottawa. This is the kick in the pants that the Senators needed, and the kick in the junk that the Habs fans feared the most.

On Sunday afternoon, Canadiens fans flooded the Bell Centre in the heart of downtown Montreal to voice their unified desire to keep Kovalev in Montreal. The best part? GM Bob Gainey wasn’t even in town. The loud cheers and chants of Habs fans were lost to the wind. Apparently, even Alex Kovalev wasn’t listening.

The Russian born talent began his 16-year career as a New York Ranger, a team he stayed with until being shipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1998-99. He was as much revered for us undeniable talent as he was criticized for his lack of heart. His point totals in four seasons with Montreal are hard proof of his disappearing act. In 69 games during the 2005-06 campaign, Kovalev put up 65 points, following it up in 2006-07 with an ugly 47 point effort. In 2007-08, Kovalev rose up to the harsh judgment of the hardcore Montreal fans by posting 84 points and propelling the Habs in to first place.

Yet last season, he was booed incessantly by the demanding crowd of Montreal, eventually being benched by Gainey himself. Kovalev ended the season with 65 points, 26 of those coming from twine finders. Ottawa receives an NHL veteran with a big name, and a consistent penchant for disappearing during long stretches of any given season.

In an off-season mired with a bitter rivalry between GM Bryan Murray and Dany Heatley, the Senators have added another train wreck to a yard already full of them. Kovalev, at his best, is one of the best forwards in the game today. At his usual effort, however, he’s just another big name Russian player with a fat contract that will disappear at times.

For those of you keeping track of the Montreal Canadiens, they just signed three guys under 5-foot-9, one of which is as far over the hill as you can get for a mediocre player (Gionta) who was the product of an undeniably smooth and productive New Jersey system during the Devil’s hay day. Now they’ve lost Kovalev to Ottawa, gritty Komisarek to Toronto, and are about to lose Saku Koivu to Minnesota. One year after their centennial celebration, things are starting to look bleak for Habs betting fans.

GM Bryan Murray is banking on Kovalev to bolster the second line, which already has underachieving Mike Fisher at centre. Ottawa’s immediate future just keeps getting more muddled, and the fans in Ottawa would be wise to temper their excitement over this Kovalev signing before they go bananas in our NHL futures.