(courtesy of The Hockey News)
There seems to be some unwritten code between NHL GM’s that no business can be done during the July 4th holiday and so it took the Ottawa Senators just hours to announce their first big signing of the off-season by nabbing Alexei Vyacheslavich Kovalev on Monday.
The one they call Kovy inked a two-year deal worth $10 million after being with the Montreal Canadiens since 2004. The 36-year-old Togliatti native will be entering his 17th NHL season with just his fourth club.
Kovalev who was the captain and MVP of the All-Star game in Montreal last year has notched 394 goals and 547 assists in 1151 NHL games. He will look to feature in Russia’s Olympic squad in 2010 having donned the national jersey since 1992.
It will be interesting to see if the Sens pick up anyone else to help Kovalev produce with the imminent departure of Dany Heatley. He will join fellow countrymen Anton Volchenkov and possibly Ilya Zubov.
