See Kovalev in Sens Colors Here

I blame the "lick" on my wireless keyboard and low batteries.

wprager wrote:I blame the "lick" on my wireless keyboard and low batteries.

Sure you do...

I was wondering what you meant by that.

My laziness too, I should have googled the picture to post it here like you did.

shabbs wrote:

jamvan wrote:Bets are on, who is the forst to make this their avatar?

I wonder who'll change their user ID to AK27 or something...

JizzDispenser I'm looking at you...

:^^^^: Seriously, what did you want me to do? Keep 504Heater? I don't like the diddling guy anymore.

wprager wrote:According to this kid's reaction, I guess he is a little long-winded (hope that doesn't mean he'll take long shifts like Heatley):

That is classic.

Don't forget, this is the guy who the coaches in NY got so frustrated with, they MADE him stay on the ice. I think he went for over 5 minutes. Someone probably knows better than I do, but I know he has a history of agonizingly long shifts.

The press conference is now on TSN

OTTAWA - As the Senators paraded new signing Alex Kovalev before fans and the media Tuesday, Ottawa GM manager Bryan Murray offered up an interesting proposition -- the idea that disgruntled star Dany Heatley could still return and play alongside the highly skilled Kovalev.
"We can fit both of those guys on our team very nicely, maybe one on left and one on right wing," Murray said after presenting Kovalev with the No. 27 shirt during an introductory news conference at Scotiabank Place.
The Senators signed the 36-year-old Russian to a US$10-million two-year deal on July 6.
Accompanied by his wife, Eugenia, Kovalev said he's looking forward to joining the Sens, a team that needs new blood after a disappointing season in 2008-09.
"Sometimes you see teams make changes and go through different players, so it's understandable (they struggle)," Kovalev said. "This team, I was surprised with the players offensively and defensively they have, that they weren't successful."
"Hopefully, I'll bring that little spark or whatever that this team is missing," he added.
The Senators are at a standstill with Heatley since the left-winger asked for a trade during the Stanley Cup final, citing his unhappiness with his diminished ice time and role with the team since Cory Clouston took over as coach in February after Craig Hartsburg was fired.
Heatley, who holds a no-trade agreement, and his agents, Stacey McAlpine and J.P. Barry, vetoed a deal earlier this month that would have seen him move to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for forwards Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner and defenceman Ladislav Smid. There's been no movement since.
Kovalev, who spent the past four full seasons and part of a fifth with the Montreal Canadiens before walking away as an unrestricted free agent, said if given the opportunity to speak with Heatley, he'd urge the two-time 50-goal scorer to return to Ottawa's lineup.
The two played together during the 2004-05 season in Russia with Ak Bars Kazan during the NHL lockout.
"Definitely, with the player that he is, it would be nice to have him back," Kovalev said. "I know Dany a little bit from playing with him for Kazan in the lockout year. He's a great, talented guy on the ice and off the ice and would definitely help the Senators organization and hopefully will continue to help the organization".
Recently, Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson admitted that he'd tried to contact the 28-year-old Heatley, who spends his summers near Kelowna, B.C., but had yet to have his call returned.
Kovalev, no stranger to dealing with the fans and media under the spotlight in Montreal, said the ill-will that Heatley's stance has caused in Ottawa isn't beyond repair.
The Russian was so beloved in Montreal that fans urged Canadiens GM Bob Gainey to re-sign him, even staging a public rally outside of the Bell Centre in the days leading up to the July 1 opening of the free-agency period.
"It's up to you guys," Kovalev said. "If you make it more comfortable for him, then I'm sure he'd probably have no problem to stay".
Murray said given the events of the past season, culminating with Heatley's trade request, the addition of Kovalev was a step in the right direction away from "tough times.
"To be able to sign Alex Kovalev for the Ottawa Senators was, I thought, the best news we could bring to the city for a long time," Murray said, dismissing concerns that Kovalev has often been viewed as an enigmatic player. "I think it's a tremendous signing. It's an impact signing.
Interestingly, among a group of young fans invited to the news conference was a fan who was the first to purchase a Senators shirt with Kovalev's name and number on the back from one of the team's official stores. The fan claimed he'd bought the shirt on July 1 -- five days before the signing was officially announced".
Kovalev received a tour of the Senators' dressing room. Ironically, his sweaters were hung in the locker space once occupied by goaltender Ray Emery, whose free-spirited ways eventually led to his departure from Ottawa.
Whether Kovalev is given that stall on a permanent basis remains to be seen, as does his impact on the Senators, but he again bristles at the notion that he's been a disruptive force in the past.
"I've never had trouble with the coaches," he said in trying to clear up misconceptions about his play. "I wish I could change certain situations that I've had in my career".
"Night after night I compete and I've made changes in my game . . . sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I guess it's up to me to bring them on my side."
Kovalev said he would miss Montreal and that learning of the fans' reaction to his leaving "break your heart."
But he was happy to stay in the NHL. He was thought to have offers to return to Russia and play in the Kontinental Hockey League instead.
"I felt if I'd signed in Russia, that probably would have been my last time to play," he said. "My first priority was trying to sign here and play as long as I can".
"The only thing left is to put that fun in the locker-room."

I think Sens fans are going to have to come to terms with the fact that we will most likely be starting the season with Heatley on our roster.

And if he's on a line with Kovalev and starts to light it up... it's good for Sens fans and good for Murray come trade deadline time as his value will be much higher than it is now.

I think that's really the best situation we can look at now.

Behind the scenes with Kovalev on SensTV:

http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=24&id=45144

shabbs wrote:Behind the scenes with Kovalev on SensTV:

[url=http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=24&id=45144

http://senators.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=24&id=45144[/quote[/url]]

Very cool, Alex always talks too much, but he's got a good heart ...

When does his face go up on the ScotiaBank building?

The bigger question is are the pulling Heatley down to make way for Kovie? I would assume yes.

shabbs wrote:I think Sens fans are going to have to come to terms with the fact that we will most likely be starting the season with Heatley on our roster.

And if he's on a line with Kovalev and starts to light it up... it's good for Sens fans and good for Murray come trade deadline time as his value will be much higher than it is now.

I think that's really the best situation we can look at now.

There are worse things I could think of happening. IT's obvious Heatley is still torn, but I still think he should come out and speak.

jamvan wrote:

shabbs wrote:I think Sens fans are going to have to come to terms with the fact that we will most likely be starting the season with Heatley on our roster.

And if he's on a line with Kovalev and starts to light it up... it's good for Sens fans and good for Murray come trade deadline time as his value will be much higher than it is now.

I think that's really the best situation we can look at now.

There are worse things I could think of happening. IT's obvious Heatley is still torn, but I still think he should come out and speak.

I wonder -

What if Kovalev is right?

What if the media did lay off, or better yet, if they encouraged him to come back?
And what if the fans tried to look only at the positive for a while, and go deep into their/our hearts to forgive him (like we do for most 4 year olds)?

What if everything could be gotten past, and the team could move forward - really, it would be up to those in the dressing room to make the final call.

Is it possible that Ottawa ends up with a happy Heatley, who wants to play and stay here? And with that, Ottawa ends up with one of the most lethal power-play units that we have ever seen at SBP? (Heatley would clearly get his 50...)

Or is this as possible as pig $hit dropping from the sky and Lucifer on skis?

Acrobat wrote:
I wonder -

What if Kovalev is right?

What if the media did lay off, or better yet, if they encouraged him to come back?
And what if the fans tried to look only at the positive for a while, and go deep into their/our hearts to forgive him (like we do for most 4 year olds)?

What if everything could be gotten past, and the team could move forward - really, it would be up to those in the dressing room to make the final call.

Is it possible that Ottawa ends up with a happy Heatley, who wants to play and stay here? And with that, Ottawa ends up with one of the most lethal power-play units that we have ever seen at SBP? (Heatley would clearly get his 50...)

Or is this as possible as pig $hit dropping from the sky and Lucifer on skis?

The truth is that, looking forward to next year, the Sens would be in a disastrous position next July if we had all four of Heatley, Spezza, Alfie, and Kovalev on the books. We have lots of players, particularly RFAs, to deal with: Volchenkov, Foligno, Shannon, Regin, Lee, Picard, etc.

Keeping all four big name forwards would tie the organizations hands, for the most part, with respect to all these players. It would cost us Volchie for sure, for one.

Sorry to burst the bubble of so many people hoping for a reunion, but for the good of the organization going forward, Heatley has to go.

Odd eh? Look back at all this... we were all ready for Murray to move Spezza due to his NTC not kicking in just yet... and then Heatley presents a trade option... and now it's nearly impossible to move him... and Spezza's NTC has kicked in... you just can't win...

rooneypoo wrote:

The truth is that, looking forward to next year, the Sens would be in a disastrous position next July if we had all four of Heatley, Spezza, Alfie, and Kovalev on the books. We have lots of players, particularly RFAs, to deal with: Volchenkov, Foligno, Shannon, Regin, Lee, Picard, etc.

Keeping all four big name forwards would tie the organizations hands, for the most part, with respect to all these players. It would cost us Volchie for sure, for one.

Sorry to burst the bubble of so many people hoping for a reunion, but for the good of the organization going forward, Heatley has to go.

Dude, we'll deal with next year next year ; or at the trade deadline.

Acrobat wrote:
I wonder -

What if Kovalev is right?

What if the media did lay off, or better yet, if they encouraged him to come back?
And what if the fans tried to look only at the positive for a while, and go deep into their/our hearts to forgive him (like we do for most 4 year olds)?

What if everything could be gotten past, and the team could move forward - really, it would be up to those in the dressing room to make the final call.

Is it possible that Ottawa ends up with a happy Heatley, who wants to play and stay here? And with that, Ottawa ends up with one of the most lethal power-play units that we have ever seen at SBP? (Heatley would clearly get his 50...)

Or is this as possible as pig $hit dropping from the sky and Lucifer on skis?

Well, yes and no from my POV. Heatley is now nothing more than a mercenary for us. A hired gun - our decision was made for us by him. We had to deal one of Spezza or Heatley and we got lucky and Heatley showed us his true colours. Imagine if we had dealt Spezza and then this Dung happened? I guess we could have signed a high profile center, but it's easier said than done.

So, to me, the way Heatley's acted, he's not a Sen anymore, he's on the squad until he's moved. And as I was responding to this I glimpsed Rooney's post. It's true, there's no chance a team can have that much tied up on one line, so we can maybe get by with it this season, but after this Heatley really will have to be let go.

I think SJ has already hinted that they will want him. It might not be at this very moment, but I thought some of Wilson's comments were very telling. He said that the Sharks will be in an amazing cap situation next summer with so much money coming off the books - and that a team would want to dump a salary at some point - and he pointed out that some of these dumps were good players. Sounds a bit like Heatley - although I'd prefer not to think of him as dump.

As of next year, he will be though. As soon as the Cup is awarded, he'll have to be moved immediately. No more diddling around, so we can re-sign Volchenkov (if it hasn't been done already), Foligno and tie up some of the loose ends - like will we keep Shannon, Winchester, Campoli, Picard etc. We can possibly add a forward next July 1 if we get a high picks or a combo of picks or prospects.

Bottom line: he's out the door by this time next year, but I think he stays this year.

TheAvatar wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

The truth is that, looking forward to next year, the Sens would be in a disastrous position next July if we had all four of Heatley, Spezza, Alfie, and Kovalev on the books. We have lots of players, particularly RFAs, to deal with: Volchenkov, Foligno, Shannon, Regin, Lee, Picard, etc.

Keeping all four big name forwards would tie the organizations hands, for the most part, with respect to all these players. It would cost us Volchie for sure, for one.

Sorry to burst the bubble of so many people hoping for a reunion, but for the good of the organization going forward, Heatley has to go.

Dude, we'll deal with next year next year ; or at the trade deadline.

That's what Dave Tallon said. Where'd that attitude get him?