Alex Kovalev

38-year-old forward Alex Kovalev returns to Russia after 18 seasons in the NHL. He has signed a two-year contract with the Gagarin Cup finalist “Atlant”. As Canadian press marks, it’s not surprising, because Kovalev, who signed a $10-million contract with the Senators in 2009, never came close to fulfilling expectations. Nevertheless, Alex was a real star in the NHL – during his long career he scored 428 goals and 596 assists in 1,302 regular season games and had another 45 goals and 55 assists in 123 playoff games.

CEO “Atlant” Andrew Ropes said he had called Alex, as soon as he learned about his intention to return to Russia. “The conversation went very businesslike. I immediately outlined his role in our young and ambitious team, which desperately needed leaders – experienced and respected players. He knew right away I became interested. He was attracted by the figure of a new head coach “Atlant” Gustafsson”, – marked Ropes.

He added that Alex would join his new team in the coming days. “He himself can not wait to begin preparations for the season”, – said Ropes (according to “Atlant” official web-site).

Does anyone else remember the good ol’ days of the All-Star weekend when it was eagerly awaited?  In an attempt to make the game better with more parity and greater fan appeal, the game is tweaked each year.  Yet it seemingly only appears to continue to lose its luster. With that in mind, I have some of my own suggestions.

  - Let the players choose the participants.  Who knows the talent better than those who play against these guys?  GMs picking the roster?   Seriously, guys.  It’s gone downhill since they switched the selection process.  Yes, I know why it was done, but it probably wasn’t the best solution.

 - Allow competitors into the skills competition that may not make the All-Star team.  We know there are exceptional skaters, stick handlers and shooters that don’t always make the squad.  Let’s see more talent represented there.  That might woo audiences a bit more.

-  Speaking of wooing audiences, can we get rid of the lame breakaway goal competition?  It was a big flop, in my opinion.  Trying (largely unsuccessful) trick shots on non-NHL goalies did nothing for me.  Of course, Alexander Ovechkin did bring some character to the game with his silly props and use of long-time enemy Evgeny Malkin to assist him (although I found the actual story behind the “make-up” of these two much more interesting.)  However, call me old fashioned but I preferred the class that fellow Russian Alexei Kovalev displayed in the All-Star game the next day, taking the game seriously, giving it his all and showing the fans what a fantastic stick-handler he is.  So, let’s bring back skill competitions where real skills are highlighted.

 - Finally, as we move back towards more intra-conference play, let’s resurrect the North America vs. The Word format.  East-West has little intrigue to most people, but pitting the two different playing styles against each other gets Don Cherry and others ranting about the non-North American players and at least resurrects a real rivalry.

So what do you say guys?  You have two years to think about it.