So great that he celebrates goals like a boss I especially love that trolling smile of his. And I adore what he has done for that locker-room.
Imagine being f.e. Fayne or Carter, and you just managed to assist Kovy. So you go about being happy that team scored and you contributed on a plus side, and then you get to see him giving you the biggest smile on a planet and that bear-hug, as if that was the best assist he has ever seen.
... that selfish, lazy cancer ... has trolled our team inside out
Not sure how popular of an opinion this will be, but the thing I'm happiest with about Kovalchuk is his points split. 30 goals 41 assists. This is only the 3rd year in his career where he has had more assists than goals (the year we acquired him was the most recent, although he had more goals than assists in Atlanta for those 49 games). Pretty clear indication he is out there making the players around him better, and not just shooting all day. I would be thrilled with him scoring 40-50 goals any year. But I love that he's distributing so much. That mentality is going to help make any line he is on that much more effective.
That tends to happen as elite goal scorers get older. Goal totals go down, assists go up as they go through their primes. I think we can expect the trend to continue. He'll still put up a good number of goals, but his linemates will get a lot of good feeds from him. As long as he is producing and playing fairly responsibly on defence, I'm happy.
The way Kovy is playing right now shouldn't be a surprise to anyone when you really think about. Sure he can be streaky sometimes, and that's frustrating and all, but what he has become was the plan right from the very beginning. The growing pains have been well worth it.
When you possess as much talent that Kovy has, have that much desire to win and are surrounded by great coaches and players, you're going to have success.
There is no way that this man doesn't eventually win the Cup. I know that's a bold statement but I truly believe it. He wants to win bad and has the tools (skills, teammates, organization) to do it.
Normally, this would be considered a down year for him production wise.
How? At his pace, he would put up about 91 points over 82 games. He's been at or above that pace 3 other years in his career. This isn't his best season overall in terms of point production, but its definitely in the top half for him. But when you factor in that he has more short handed points than he has any other season in his career, has the 4th best +/- of his career (at the moment), and takes fewer penalties than he used to in Atlanta, I would say his production is on par, if not better than an average year throughout his career so far.
I especially love that trolling smile of his. 
And I adore what he has done for that locker-room. 
