Habs fans were quick to denounce former Canadien Alex Kovalev’s negative comments about P.K. Subban Wednesday.
Kovalev, a fan favourite when he played in Montreal between 2004 and 2009, suggested that P.K. Subban will be overpaid at $9 million per season.
“I don’t understand how these days they got these contracts,” he said in an interview with sports journalist Philippe Lehoux. “But for his game, I don't know why he got so much money."
Kovalev continued: "He's a risky defenceman and he's a wide open defenceman. What I'm saying is that he can give up five goals and score five goals, and the score's still going to be zero-zero.
"So if for example, he saves five goals and scores five goals, that's a different style of hockey. So I always compare him with (former Rangers teammate) Brian Leetch, because he wants to play the same kind of style and be more offensive. He's not making the right decisions. He's making the risky plays, he's not making the right decisions sometimes. He just plays like we used to play on the street...street hockey."
Although Kovalev has been much respected for his off-ice activites helping children with heart disease through his charity, Habs fans were quick to denounce the comments.
“Completely out to lunch,” wrote one. “The guy really lost it,” wrote another. “I just lost a bit of respect for Kovalev, my once favourite player,” wrote a third.
Fans overlooked the four consecutive 70-plus-point seasons that Kovalev put up for the Habs, instead referring to an infamous 2004 playoff incident in which Kovalev lost a puck to Boston Bruin Glen Murray who went in to score a game winner, considered the Russian forward’s darkest moment with the team.
Kovalev earned $54,450,000 during the course of his career and was paid $4.5 million per season while playing for the Canadiens, according to one source.
One blogger pointed out that statistics easily refute Kovalev's assertion that Subban is a risky defenceman, noting that the Norris Trophy rearguard was on the ice for 55 percent of the Canadiens’ goals and ranks an impressive NHL 16th for goal differential.
