New Great Kovy Article and More

[devilsrule33]

Here is a thread to post any good team and players' articles over the next few days that you think will be a good read. I'll post some more later I have found, but I didn't want it to overshadow a really good piece by Ellen Etchingham of the Score's Backhand Shelf blog.

Ilya, Win

Ilya, he did everything right, he played this ridiculous game of pretend-the-sh!tty-franchise-isn’t-sh!tty for eight years. The Thrashers told him to jump, and he said how high? The Thrashers kicked him in the balls, and he said yes, sir, may I have another? They told him to purge his teenage game of its reckless elbows and retaliatory charges, and he did. They told him to try to improve his defense, and he did. When they benched him, he worked harder. When they called him out, he proved himself. When they put the C on him, he embraced the responsibility. While the franchise around him explored every possible permutation of dismal failure and every known variety of disappointing collapse, while the Good Canadian Boy who’d won the Calder over him in their mutual rookie season brought down horror and scandal on the team, Ilya mounted solid season upon solid season, never playing less than 78 games, never scoring less than 68 points. Despite the language barrier, despite the criticisms of his defense and his work ethic, despite the helpless hopeless franchise he had to drag around like the Stone of Shame, he did everything right.

And what did he get for it? Four games of playoffs in seven seasons? He could have done everything right on that team for another eight years, and another eight after that, and never won. [N.B.: By this, I mean the Thrashers who are now dead and gone. I do not, like most, consider the new Jets to be the same team, so don't consider this to be a dire prognostication for the future of Winnipeg.] He could have gone into retirement stamped as just another skilled guy who didn’t know how to win, had he had the foolishness or sentimentality to sign long-term with such a team.

Sport's Least-known All-time Great

Brodeur has spent his entire career outside the limelight. That comes with the territory of playing in the NHL, the least popular of the four major U.S. sports leagues, and playing for the Devils, who lack the following of their rivals across the Hudson River, the New York Rangers. The Devils, despite their continued success, are rarely picked for national TV games.

That doesn't diminish what he could accomplish this spring. When Brodeur won his first Stanley Cup, he was just 23. Now, if the Devils continue their hot streak through the playoffs, he could win his fourth at 40. That would be a 17-year gap between his first title and his last one. There aren't many athletes who can match that, but two who did -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Babe Ruth -- are recognized amongst the greatest in sports history.

Kings GM Lombardi feels indebted to pair of mentors

Lamoriello invited Lombardi into his office in New Jersey and proceeded to unload all of his trade secrets on the young, brash, bold and quick-thinking new member of the NHL's fraternity of general managers.

"I'll never forget him taking me into his office, missing his own team bus, and putting up his organizational chart and explaining to me how an organization has to have structure if it is going to succeed," said Lombardi, now in his sixth season as the Kings' GM. "He gave me his blueprint. It was amazing. He wasn't even talking about his team, he was talking about his organization. But his point was if you're going to have a winning culture, this has to be in order. I still have the files, the quotes he gave me."

The lovable New Jersey Devils? You bet

Let’s face it, the Devils may have been the least popular team in this country over the decade between when they won their first Stanley Cup (1995) and their last (2003), as they became the face of the neutral zone trap and the Dead Puck Era.

(What many overlook is how high scoring some of those New Jersey teams really were. They had the second most goals in the league in 1998-99 and 1999-00 and then led the league a year later.)

Stylistically, they’ve changed considerably under DeBoer, but perceptions for franchises are often very hard to shake.

To many, the Devils are still this no-nonsense, Scott Stevens led defensive squad that celebrated its three Cup wins in the parking lot -- even though they’re now full of personality, led by Parise (who talked at length after Game 2 about how DeBoer pushes them to be aggressive in the offensive zone) and have a beautiful new rink that has a read-and-black pavilion out front to potentially parade around in.

Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk seeing happier side of life

“Last year I was by myself,” says Kovalchuk, in a red Devils T-shirt over a grey long-sleeve, still soaked with sweat from practice. “It was different. When you’re missing [your family], and especially when you’re not winning. The family, when you come back home after a loss, and you play with your kids, you change your mind in different ways. It helps a lot. But last year it was different; you come back to hotel by yourself, think about hockey, hockey, and it makes you crazy. I am a family guy. That’s the number one thing for me.”

So on every off-day, about once a week, he would rise early and fly to Miami, spend the day with his family, and then fly back to New Jersey for more of the same. And when it was over he had, on the balance, the least productive and least happy season of his career.

Edited May 18, 2012 by devilsrule33

[RunninWithTheDevil]

awesome lol

He showed up, there, in a southern American city, with teeth so bad that nine of them had to be extracted and English so bad he responded to on-ice insults with blank smiles. He understood pretty much nothing about the place he’d come to, or the culture, or the language. He only understood how to play, and how to score.

[Neb00rs]

A great HOCKEY article.

[landofvanilla]

What a read. Thanks for sharing!

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

I didn't like this article. I'm not sure why everyone else does. Seemed overly wordy. Didn't really have much to say.

Edit: Changed "wordly" to "wordy"

Edited May 11, 2012 by halfsharkalligatorhalfman

[devilsrule33]

I didn't like this article. I'm not sure why everyone else does. Seemed overly wordly. Didn't really have much to say.

It was a lot longer than it needed to be and maybe great was too strong a word, but the message was a good one. Kovalchuk has been wrongly labelled his entire career, and not much of it has been fair. Since day 1, the Thrashers have been a terribly run organization and Don Waddell should have been fired way before he switched positions. Another example of a GM being too tight with ownership. He did everything the organization asked and more. Then he looks like some greedy pig because he turned out a $100+ million deal to play for a winner. Waddell made it seem like he offered the world to Ilya, except he didn't. He never gave him a competitive team in Atlanta. That was the reason why he didn't win a playoff game in 8 years there. It has nothing to do with, Ilya, the player.

[Neb00rs]

I didn't like this article. I'm not sure why everyone else does. Seemed overly wordly. Didn't really have much to say.

It definitely got wordy and boring at times with him not saying anything. But he had a couple of great lines that really understood the game as a true fan.

[Triumph]

It definitely got wordy and boring at times with him not saying anything. But he had a couple of great lines that really understood the game as a true fan.

She - a woman wrote it. And yeah, it could've used a trim, but it's a very good article. It's less about Kovalchuk and more about hockey culture.

[Neb00rs]

She - a woman wrote it. And yeah, it could've used a trim, but it's a very good article. It's less about Kovalchuk and more about hockey culture.

Agreed that's what I was trying to say in my first post. I probably should have read the author's name if I was gonna compliment it.

[RunninWithTheDevil]

i read it in docs voice and it was pretty badass

[Joonas #6]

The Yaroslavl tragedy, Ilya Kovalchuk and the road to healing by James Mirtle

It was Jan. 18 – an off day on a Wednesday sandwiched between home games against the Winnipeg Jets and Boston Bruins – and Ilya Kovalchuk had rented out a restaurant and bar in Hazlet, N.J., to bring in a few hundred New Jersey Devils fans.

Normally shy and reserved, Kovalchuk was making his first public appearance on his own since joining the Devils, and this one had a different feel than any other autograph signing he had done before.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

She - a woman wrote it.

Hence the wordiness.

[RowdyFan42]

The Yaroslavl tragedy, Ilya Kovalchuk and the road to healing by James Mirtle

It's a good Kovy article, but this line jumped out at me:

Two young players, in particular, were affected. Vasyunov’s former roommate Vladimir Zharkov, who plays in the Devils system, and Florida Panthers prospect Evgeny Dadonov, who was his best friend (and also lost close friend Alexei Cherepanov to a heart ailment in 2008), both had difficult seasons on and off the ice.

Everybody wondering what's been up with Zharkov this season may want to consider this.

[Neb00rs]

It's a good Kovy article, but this line jumped out at me:

Everybody wondering what's been up with Zharkov this season may want to consider this.

Zharkov has had a pretty nice showing in Albany though. So even if he's had some emotional problem it doesn't seem to have affected his play. Therefore, us wondering why Zharkov only played 4 NHL games this season goes unanswered.

[devilsrule33]

The lovable New Jersey Devils? You bet

Let’s face it, the Devils may have been the least popular team in this country over the decade between when they won their first Stanley Cup (1995) and their last (2003), as they became the face of the neutral zone trap and the Dead Puck Era.

(What many overlook is how high scoring some of those New Jersey teams really were. They had the second most goals in the league in 1998-99 and 1999-00 and then led the league a year later.)

Stylistically, they’ve changed considerably under DeBoer, but perceptions for franchises are often very hard to shake.

To many, the Devils are still this no-nonsense, Scott Stevens led defensive squad that celebrated its three Cup wins in the parking lot -- even though they’re now full of personality, led by Parise (who talked at length after Game 2 about how DeBoer pushes them to be aggressive in the offensive zone) and have a beautiful new rink that has a read-and-black pavilion out front to potentially parade around in.

[DJ Eco]

The lovable New Jersey Devils? You bet

I love it!

[daneyko_booster]

Thanks for the great article links, please keep posting as you find them!

[devilsrule33]

Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk seeing happier side of life

“Last year I was by myself,” says Kovalchuk, in a red Devils T-shirt over a grey long-sleeve, still soaked with sweat from practice. “It was different. When you’re missing [your family], and especially when you’re not winning. The family, when you come back home after a loss, and you play with your kids, you change your mind in different ways. It helps a lot. But last year it was different; you come back to hotel by yourself, think about hockey, hockey, and it makes you crazy. I am a family guy. That’s the number one thing for me.”

So on every off-day, about once a week, he would rise early and fly to Miami, spend the day with his family, and then fly back to New Jersey for more of the same. And when it was over he had, on the balance, the least productive and least happy season of his career.

[Neb00rs]

Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk seeing happier side of life

The man with the safecracker’s hands was on the ice for the last 1:37 of Game 2, with New Jersey protecting a one-goal lead.

Somehow, somewhere the Devil is smiling.

Edited May 18, 2012 by ben00rs

[Zubie#8]

Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk seeing happier side of life

Now that was a great read!