Ilya Kovalchuk
Ilya Kovalchuk
Ilya Valeryevich Kovalchukis a Russian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. He debuted in the Vysshaya Liga with Spartak Moscow, before continuing his career in the National Hockey League. Drafted first overall in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrashers, he began his NHL career with them in 2001–02. After eight seasons with the Thrashers, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils in February 2010, and later...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth15 April 1983
CityTver, Russia
I'm excited to return to Atlanta and look forward to getting back on the ice and helping my teammates, ... We have a lot of offensive talent and I can't wait to contribute and help lead this team to the next level.
On the power play, I'm in a really good position, ... Guys are giving me the puck for the one-timer and I get good chances. I played the point back when I played in Russia. It's a really good spot, you know. I have lots of shots and lots of chances. I practice a lot at it and it's working. The goals are coming and the wins are coming.
Yeah, Dany scored four goals earlier for Ottawa, ... so I wanted to do the same thing.
Yeah, but you never know though. I don't want to tell you because maybe they're going to call me again and they're going to get a penalty.
I'm just going to play my game, you know? Because the rules have changed right now, I think there's been more room for offensive guys and a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities.
We just play together. We have so much energy, we just want to win.
We've got a lot of great players - experienced guys. They know how to play hard and how to win, so we can make this final push and be in the playoffs for the first time.
This was one game, ... We should just forget about it tonight, watch the video tomorrow, work hard and fix the problems and find our game.
I don't think we've played our best hockey yet.
He takes those stupid penalties all the time. He's an 18 year old kid, and he can't play like this. He starts yapping about his teammates in the newspapers ... I don't know, he should play really hard on the ice and keep it at that.
That's my job, to score goals and score as many as I can. I don't know if I'm going to be the leader of scoring or not. I just want to help my team win as many games as I can. Maybe I'm going to block the shot and we're going to win the game.
The most important thing is for us to win, ... We've got a really good chance to make the playoffs this year, so that's the biggest challenge for us.
That's pretty much our last chance. We have to do our job and then think about other teams who can help us.
It's an unbelievable feeling to know that (Sunday) we're going to fly there and all the best players are going to be there. It's going to be an exciting tournament and a really good experience.