MONTREAL -- Ilya Kovalchuk is excited to be a member of the Montreal Canadiens – so excited that he’s already picking up on the local language.
A day after the 36-year-old forward signed a contract with the team he met with media and had a message for fans.
“Je suis très heureux d’être à Montréal,” he said, reading the message of his phone.
While the team announced that Kovalchuk won’t play in Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he said he’s met with the players and coaching staff, describing everyone as “really friendly.”
He acknowledged the circumstances that brought him to the team, which is without top-nine forwards Jonathan Drouin, Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron due to injury.
“They can use me on the power play,” he said. “The team is a little banged up right now and hopefully all the guys come back soon. They’re a fast team, small guys who can fly. It’s fun.”
A one-time star player who was scored 436 goals and 423 assists in 897 NHL games, Kovalchuk’s career has been a rollercoaster ride. After becoming one of the NHL’s elite players with the Atlanta Thrashers, he signed a monster 17-year deal with the New Jersey Devils before the 2010-11 season but bolted for the KHL just two years later. He returned to the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings last year but the team bought out his contract earlier this season after he posted three goals and six assists in 17 games.
Kovalchuk said his contract with the Canadiens, which ends after this season, is not “about money or anything.
“I want to be involved, I want to play hockey, it’s my favourite thing to do,” he said.
He joked about the close attention and intense pressure that comes with playing in Montreal while speaking with the large gaggle of reporters.
“It’s my first time ever playing for a Canadian team. It’s a little bit different, you can tell already. I don’t think we had this many media guys all year last year in our locker room,” he said.
