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
The most difficult thing for me is to leave the New Jersey Devils, a great organization that I have a lot of respect for, and our fans that have been great to me.
I want to keep growing. I should take a couple steps every year if I want to be one of the best players in the league.
I don't care about [being a star]. The most important thing for me now is just do my job.
He took a stupid penalty. He's an 18-year-old kid, and he's got to learn he can't play like this.
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.
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.
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.
It felt good to be back on the ice tonight,
These guys scored a lot of goals against Washington, ... We didn't do the right things. We didn't work hard.
This is a huge point for us. A team like Washington is physical and a team that's fun to watch.
You can't play perfect for all 82 games. It wasn't our best time, but now I think we're going to make a final push for the playoffs.
I don't think about how many goals I'm going to score. I don't care. I would give up all my goals for the eighth playoff spot.