Junior Review: Mikhail Kovalchuk

[Banackock 8,074]

 

Player Name: Mikhail Kovalchuk

Birth Place: Volgograd, Russia 

Render: Ilya Kovalchuk 

Height: 6'2.2"

Weight: 199

 

Mikhail Kovalchuk is an explosive new player that has entered the VHLM scene and is looking to expand his last name. Son of former Hall of Fame VHLer and Seattle Bear Legend, Maxim Kovalchuk, who had an incredibly strong defensive career before making the switch to forward and finish their career with 609 points in 576 games played. Those numbers don't seem amazing, but while playing as a defender, his statistics were pretty elite consistently. Now, his son Mikhail, looks to exactly what his father did between S61 and S69. There are going to be tons of questions that land on how Mikhail will play, who the kid is and how they're going to turn out. What skills does the player possess and obviously, a constant career comparison with his father. While it's a forevers times away, you can't help but wonder which is going to have the better career. It would but hard to top his fathers exceptional play, however, Mikhail Kovalchuk has some extra steps in his game and prides himself on being explosively fast AND offensive. 

 

Looking back to give you some ideas on how the player is going to be, we head to the Russian Junior Hockey League (RJHL) where he spent his time between 16-18 before he became eligible for the VHLM draft. During this time, he went from being a player who had potential but even more comparisons and questions about him and his father, to proving at the junior level he was exactly what his last name was telling people he could become. During his first season with the league, he played for the Volgograd Vipers. As a rookie in this league, it's not incredibly hard to be a top talent because Russia is overflowing with it. Top talents have come through this league and either made their way to the NHL or VHL. Nobody goes to the SHL. It sucks. Through the 52 game regular season, he had 9 goals, 18 assists for 27 points, with an extra 44 hits and 93 shots blocked added on top of that. Moving into his second season as a sophomore, you can tell he put the time in at the gym during the off-season. The team also added a bulk load of stronger forwards to increase their odds at a championship. Mikhail and the Vipers, unfortunately, were eliminated from the playoffs in the second round. He, however, had an extremely strong season posting 14 goals, 25 assists and 39 points in 52 games played. In his 3rd and final season, probably like 99.9% of all of these ever written, they won the championship. He also was voted 2nd in D-man voting but you have to remember, Russia is rigged. He lost to Vladdy Putin JR who only had 16 goals, 33 assists for 49 points through 52 games. Mikhail Kovalchuk finished the season with 16 goals, 37 assists, for 53 points in 52 games. On top of that, he had 56 hits (apparently not much of a hitter) and 129 shots blocked. 

 

Mikhail is excited to start his journey heading into the VHLM. Alike so many others, he's also very excited to skip the VHLE and hopes to follows dads trails of playing for the Seattle Bears one day. He and his agent have expressed how excited they are to begin speaking with VHLM managers and get the process underway. He'd like to thank everyone ahead of time for the opportunities.

 

Spoiler

591 words, blah blah. +5 TPE