Kovalev Struggles to Fulfill Potential

A dramatic rush up the ice, a path-clearing stiff-arm and a power move to the net. A quick left-to-right fake, a cat-like juke to the left and a high shot into the corner of the net. We marvel at the skill and drool over the possibilities every time we see a player who can provide a Michael Jordan moment.

But too often these moments are fleeting, leading to unfulfilled expectations and disappointment when they aren’t repeated as often as we would like. New York Ranger winger Alexei Kovalev is the perfect example of a player who has whetted our appetites, only to come up short the next time he is in a position where he could--and should--dazzle us again.

When Kovalev recorded nine goals and 12 assists in 23 playoff games during the Rangers’ 1994 Stanley Cup run, it appeared the 6-foot-2, 200-pound right winger was ready to compete in the same stratosphere with such contemporaries as Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne and Pavel Bure. But something has been lost in the translation between Kovalev and the rest of the hockey world.

“He is a difficult player for other teams to defend,” Ranger General Manager Neil Smith says. “The problem with Alex is they don’t know what he’s going to do, and we don’t either.”

Ask Coach Colin Campbell about Kovalev and you will get one of those raised-eyes, why-me expressions. Campbell has tried benching Kovalev and talking to him about being more team-oriented. Mike Keenan once kept Kovalev on the ice for four minutes (a shift generally lasts 30 to 45 seconds and anything longer is punishment) to get his attention.

“I don’t want to change anything. I think I did everything right,” Kovalev said last week when asked what he had learned from being scratched for a game against Tampa Bay.

“It was a strange feeling (to be scratched). I thought, ‘What’s happening?’ ”

What’s happening is that Kovalev is being shopped around the league. The Rangers are about to give up on this talent, a prospect that causes Smith to measure his words carefully. “We would rather not trade him,” he says. “He has so much skill, he’s so multitalented, he’s so dominant in practice. ...”

Wayne Gretzky had delivered the same frustrating description only minutes earlier--with the same pause at the end. If someone could figure out how to get inside Kovalev’s head, the result might be another Jagr. But Kovalev can’t figure out his role, let alone someone else’s.

“A player like Jagr is a franchise player,” says Smith, who has held out hope that Kovalev could develop even a sliver of Jagr’s consistency. “There are other European players who have it figured out. They know they are there to score goals, because when you come down to it, the object is to put the puck in the net more than the other team.”

Kovalev, 24, bristles when he is questioned about listening to Campbell. “I’m not playing for him,” he says. “I’m playing for the Rangers, my teammates. I play for myself, and I play for my teammates.”

There’s something wrong with that picture. If you can’t play for your coach, then the chain of command--the system--breaks down and you are better off elsewhere. And that is one reason the Rangers have no choice but to trade their enigma--because in this case potential does not necessarily translate into production. Kovalev’s underachieving total of seven goals in the first 40 games is solid proof.

The Rangers have given up trying to figure out what button to push next. Kovalev was rumored to be headed for Vancouver for another underachiever, Alexander Mogilny.

Slumping Carolina right winger Geoff Sanderson (seven goals in 37 games) also has been offered. But the player Smith and the Rangers really want is Edmonton center Jason Arnott, who has only five goals in 33 games but is righthanded (a commodity in short supply on the Rangers’ roster).

Arnott is another of those players, like Kovalev, who give you that glimpse of brilliance and then leave you hanging. Sanderson, 25, scored 36 goals last season and 34 in 1995-96. He scored a career-best 46 goals in 1992-93, followed by a season of 41.

Arnott, 23, broke into the league with 33 goals in 1993-94, but he hasn’t come close to matching that total since.

Most trade talk and rumors are dominated by names associated with unfulfilled potential and underproduction. In the end, we see that scouting NHL talent and spotting future stars requires a lot more than just a great eye for talent.

It also requires great instincts--and a Ph.D in human behavior doesn’t hurt. When the Rangers finally trade Kovalev, look for them to go to the wire in an attempt to get Arnott. Look for them to sweeten the pot, adding a defenseman like Jeff Brown, the Rangers’ 1996 first-round draft choice.