HftL Does the All-Stars (Eastern Conference): ALEXEI KOVALEV of the Montreal Canadiens

It was just announced this morning that Kovi will be donning the "C" for the Eastern Conference team -- such a nice honor to be captain of the EC All-Star team in front of a home crowd!! YEA, Kovi!!

Alexei Kovalev is another Russian-born player and has played for multiple teams throughout his long career in the NHL. He has his own webpage and organized hockey camps. I guess the following could be listed under either of the titles covered below (but since that's the case, I'll post it here in the beginning paragraph), Kovi began skating at the age of four when his father designed makeshift skates by tying blades to his felt boots; however, he opted to borrow his sister's figure skates which allowed him to develop an "artistic stride." At the age of eight, he developed heart problems, but received treatment and watched what he ate which is the reason he was able to overcome the disease and continue playing hockey.

What's Hot - Kovalev is an older player and seeing as how the league consists mainly of players in their early 20's now-a-days, I find it quite appealing when players like Kovi continue to keep up with the new generation of hockey players (not to mention the fact that he reminds me of the "good ol' days" when I became a fan of the game)! He's beautiful - [again] just look at him! Of course another reason I have a soft spot for him is the fact that he once played for the Pittsburgh Penguins (with whom he recorded a career high of 105 points in the 2000-2001 season).

What's Hockey - Kovalev was a 1st round draft pick of the NY Rangers in the 1991 entry draft (the first Russian-born player to be drafted in the first round of an NHL entry draft); won a gold medal with the Unified Team in the 1992 Olympics and also a bronze medal with Team Russia in the 2002 Olympics; scored his first hat trick playing against the Boston Bruins on December 27, 1992; won a Stanley Cup Championship with the NY Rangers in 1994; named to the WJC-A All-Star Team (1992), played in the NHL's All-Star Game (2001, 2003), was traded three times in his career (by NY Rangers to Pittsburgh on November 25, 1998; by Pittsburgh to NY Rangers on February 10, 2003; and finally by NY Rangers to Montreal on March 2, 2004) to end up where he currently plays in Montreal; signed as a free agent by Kazan (Russia) on November 3, 2004 during the NHL lock-out; during the current season, he led the team in assists (8), points (10) and shots-on-goal (42) in November, was the team leader in December in points (12) and +/- (+10 ); recorded a team-high 39 SOG in December 2008.