MONTREAL - Longtime Montreal fan favourite Alexei Kovalev retired from the NHL in March but would still like to play some more hockey in Europe perhaps in Sweden or Switzerland, but not the KHL.
The former Hab, Penguin and Ranger chatted with reporters Thursday at a press conference announcing details of a charity softball tournament to raise funds for the Kovalev and Friends Foundation for Children.
“I'm not happy with how it ended,” Kovalev said of his retirement from the Florida Panthers. “The last months have been difficult.”
He said the Panthers enticed him to sign his retirement papers after a series of poor games.
“I want to finish my career on my own terms. I want to play for at least two more years and have fun. I do not want to play if I'm not able to keep pace with the younger players but I'm in good shape and I still feel that they can give a lot.”
Kovalev had harsh words for the style of play in today’s NHL, which he said, is “going at full speed all the time, and once at their destination, the players don’t know what to do with the puck.”
“It’s not nice to watch hockey now because there is a constant back and forth, without well-crafted game,” he said.
Kovalev was asked about former teammate Carey Price’s comments that it is difficult to play under the microscope in hockey-mad Montreal.
“In my experience, the more a player makes himself available - for example to sign autographs for children – the easier it is because when a player hides, the fans will practically jump on him when he comes out because they don’t know when they’ll see him next,” he said.
“If you're generous with them, people will leave you alone at the restaurant or grocery store, they will wait patiently for the right moment to approach you.”
Kovalev said that of all the cities he played in, Montreal was the place which most appreciated his work.
“Montrealers have followed hockey for several generations, so they know that if a player isn’t moving quickly it isn’t because he isn’t trying. Montreal fans respected my game, they knew what I was trying to do,” he said.
"When I had a bad game here, people encouraged me and told me they were convinced that I was going to do better next time. This is so that I fell in love with the fans here.”
Kovalev will be in Terrebonne on August 20 for a golf tournament and will also play a four charity softball games.
The softball games, featuring NHL alumni and various celebrities and notables, will take place from August 15 to August 18 in Verdun, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Saint-Eustache and Gary Carter Stadium in Montreal.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
