Ovechkin's agent is landing in Moscow today

There is still a large probability that the upcoming NHL season might not take place because of the lockout. The current agreement between NHLPA and the league expires on Sept. 15. On this day it will become clear whether NHL players will come to play in Russia or not.

Andrei Safronov, GM of Moscow Dynamo, gave updates to gazeta.ru about the situation with Alexander Ovechkin and his possible signing with the team:

"It seems that most likely the season will still be canceled. In this case, of course, we will try to reach an agreement with Alexander Ovechkin. Of course we want to see him in our team, but you have to find out under what conditions and whether we will be able to meet them.

We have already talked to the parents of Ovechkin, but not with him personally. Alexander's mother recommended us to communicate with his legal representatives. His lawyer is arriving to Moscow on Thursday.

If we can find a common language he will play. The Dynamo's facility doors are always open for Ovechkin. I understand that there will be a competition for signing nhl players, but I think that players should pay tribute to the club where they were nourished and brought up."

Source: http://www.gazeta.ru/sport/2012/08/30/a_4745653.shtml

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Another low for Ovi?

Some bad news for Alex Ovechkin from his alumni club Moscow Dynamo. Arkady Rotenberg (the link has reference to him), their new president, is a Russian billionaire who is also Vladimir Putin's judo buddy. It is obviously translates into a huge financial and political support for Dynamo. Ton of money, but is there some for Ovi in event of NHL lockout? Apparently not...

This is what the new Dynamo president Arkady Rotenberg said on Saturday to Sovietsky Sport writer Dmitry Nesterov:

I think that Ovechkin is not needed. I even talked to his mom. She called about Sovietsky Sport article with GM Andrey Safronov who said, "if we'll call Sasha we are not going to offer him a whole lot of money, it's better to invest the money in the junior sports school".

Mom said, "Is my son going to play for Dynamo for free so that you will finance juniors?" But in essence Safronov asked me about Ovechkin and I told him that we would not going to outbid other teamsw. It's better to spend three millions [Ovechkin] is asking on juniors. They are our future.

Sasha's mom said, "What if he will want to play for another team where he will be paid differently?" I said, "No problem. But personally I am not ready to pay such money."

Pavel Lysenkov:

On the one hand one can understand Rothenberg's position. Dynamo didn't spend too much money last year and still became playoff champion last season. And now, with the new president of the club, they are not going to change the strategy either.

Yes, this is not 2004. Now there's a very different attitude towards the NHL players in Russia.

But then again ... I can't imagine Ovechkin not in Dynamo's uniform. He is the most famous alumnu of the club. A man who never forgot his first team, a man who held the post of vice-president of the club. A man who helped Dynamo's junior sports school. And suddenly... bye bye Ovechkin.

Here it is, the end of the world.

Source: http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/547889

Update: Mikhail Golovkov, who used to be Moscow Dynamo's president and now the president of Moscow region HC Vityaz, has expressed an interest in case Dynamo won't sign Ovechkin.

I am pretty sure Ovi will get something and maybe for even more than 3 mil a season.

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Igor Kravchuk talks about his job as team Russia's scout in North America

The first of this season team Russia's training camp will be held on August 19 -24 in Switzerland. Igor Kravchuk, appointed last year as a chief scout of team Russia in North America, talked to AllHockey.ru about his new responsibilities and why it is neccessary to watch the games with Alexander Ovechkin. Here are some excerpts from that interview...

  A year ago you became team Russia's scout in North America. In May our team won the world championship thanks in part to the game of their NHL players. Sounds like you've done a good job?
As for winning, you have to realize that these guys are playing, not me. I just try to be very objective in my scouting reports.

  What is the main subtlety of your job?
The fact that I have to compare two different hockey systems. You send a report about a person with specific recommendations, taking into account not only the specifics of European hockey, but the scheme that head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov is using. You have to think through certain situations in advance. You look at particular player and think, "How he will be behave in this situation? How he will look on Olympic size rink?"

    And how the decision is made?
Of course, the final choice is by Zinetula Khaydarovich. It's great that Malkin, Varlamov, Kulemin and Emelin came earlier. They had time to recover and play together, to see what's here and there, rather than jumping from the plane right on ice. Of course there were fears that some guys that Zinetula Khaydarovich made a bid on would not play well. Nobody expected that Perezhogin and Popov would be so good, right? Take my word, for many it was a surprise.

It is clear that in Russia very few follow, say, Slava Voinov and Andrei Loktionov, who won the Stanley Cup. Here your assessment of their play is of the enormous weight. Do you devote the same attention to stars like Ovechkin, Kovalchuk and Malkin?
Of course, I watch their games. Maybe, perhaps, not with so much attention. For example, you watch one period with Yevgeny Malkin and all is clear, he is carrying the team. He is like a locomotive. But Sasha Ovechkin had a very difficult season. There was a change of coach, and much more. He had big swings in his game. Ovechkin was probably the second in the number of games that I watched.

  Who's the first?
It was Emelin. It is because he plays here in Montreal. But I watched Ovechkin a lot. One must understand that you can't just blindly invite Ovechkin to the national team. Why that? He's a good hockey player, right? But the thing is that he might not match the concept of the game team Russia has chosen. That's why you have to watch out and this is what I did. I have not missed his single game in the playoffs. Along with him I watched Sasha Semin. I can say that in Boston series Semin played just brilliant. He was very strong. Even stronger than Ovechkin. It was evident throughout all his actions, his hockey sense, and how he was playing without the puck, how he would get open to receive a puck. But in the next series with Rangers Ovechkin, on the contrary, played better, and it was not the best series for Semin.

And then you sit down with Bilyaletdinov, and ...
And here we sit down with Zinetula Khaydarovich, and I am telling him, for example, here is our situation with Semin. I say it as it is. This is my job. I take on this responsibility. I can't say, "Come on, Zinetula Khaydarovich! Take him to the team, he's so experienced! He'll be fine ". You can imagine that there were already such moments, when the stars would come to the World Cup and fail in the tournament completely.

Let's look, for example, at Dima Orlov. I honestly said to Zinetula Khaydarovich that he did not play a single game in the playoffs, even though the season he looked pretty cool and is a talented guy in general. I really like him. Yes, of course, he makes mistakes because he is young and is just learning. But he has a potential, he has a future. However he did not play in the playoffs and inviting him to the national team should not be considered automatically. Since they did not trust him, since he was sitting and not playing, how can you tell if he will fit or not?

There should be no resentment on the part of the kids. Because everything that is done is done for the sake of victory. At the world championships and at the Olympics the country should be represented by the strongest.

Source: http://www.allhockey.ru/articles/127179/

Wikipedia on Igor Kravchuk:

Kravchuk started his NHL career in 1992 with the Chicago Blackhawks, who drafted him 71st overall in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. He would also spend time with the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers.

Kravchuk was also a member of the Unified Team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Two days after his 21st birthday Kravchuk was the lone defenceman facing a 3 on 1 in the final game of the 1987 Canada Cup. Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Larry Murphy skated in on goaltender Sergei Mylnikov and Lemieux scored the game and series winning goal at 18:34 of the third period.

He now resides in Montreal, and formerly coached for Harrington College. He has two sons; Ilya and Christopher. He also has a daughter.

Igor Kravchuk was also the first Russian born player who reached Stanley Cup finals in 1992 with Chicago Blackhawks scoring 8 points in 18 playoff games that season.

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Alex Ovechkin, Maria Kirilenko and Dmitri Orlov

Ovechkin's interview in London, where he brought with him a personal fitness trainer and is training every day.

While rooting for his girlfriend in London, he helped her to win the bronze medal at the Olympics and to raise in the world tennis ranks. She is now world no. 14 in singles and world no. 7 in doubles.

Yearly Rankings History

2006 30
2007 30
2008 29
2009 62
2010 20
2011 28
2012 14

Look at this jump, from 28th last year to 14th now.

Here what Nadia Petrova, Maria Kirilenko's doubles partner said about Ovi:

We began to feel the special support from the very first match with Alex Ovechkin rooting for us. With him we were like behind the stone wall. I had the feeling that he was with us on the court! His contribution to this medal is difficult to overestimate.

Meanwhile Washington Capitals Dmitry Orlov has shared his expectations about the Russian national team training camp to be held in August in Switzerland:

I have been previously told that there may be a summer camp and that I could be invited. Igor Kravchuk, team Russia's scout, told me about this summer camp in Switzerland when he came to watch our games. So I knew that most likely I would be invited. The purpose of this camp is to work out, get to know the training process, meet with the coaches.

it was very pleasant to receive this call. I know half of the guys who will be in Switzerland. It's because there will be younger hockey players with whom I've played. However, the guys who play in the KHL have already started training while NHL hockey players are just beginning to skate. The players will be in different shape, I think. We'll see...

Any problems with Washington Capitals letting you go to the training camp in Switzerland?
I don't think there will be any obstacles. Moreover Capitals training camp starts in September. I will attend the national team camp with pleasure. Especially since this is my first national team's trainig camp and I was summoned there for the first time in my career.

How your preparations for the season will look in August?
On August 10th I will be flying to Washington, DC. Will stay there for 10 days and will train with the coach like last year. Then I'll fly to Switzerland for a week, will train there. On my return to Washington I will continue training with a fitness coach. I will gain the form gradually.

Source: http://sport-nk.ru/?cat_id=1&news=11365

Caps prospect Yevgeny Kuznetsov will also attend the training camp in Switzerland.

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Alex Ovechkin. The boyfriend.

This is what probably Ovi's London Olympic badge says :-)

Alex Ovechkin. The boyfriend.

Congrats to Maria Kirilenko for winning the bronze medal in doubles.


ovi8: Maria!!!! Nadia!!! Medals!! and Me!! Hahahaah!


ovi8: Thats my prize for Olympic games...we going back to Moscow. We gonna have a gr8 time there!!!hhaahah!!bronzeeeeee


ovi8: we going home!mi edem domoy!!!!hahaha

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Maria vs. Maria, Ovi vs. Kobe...

Alright, this is going to be fun, Maria vs. Maria, Ovi vs. Kobe... :-)

ITF Tennis:

The all-Russian all-Maria clash in the semifinals will certainly be a noisy affair, but the result is more difficult to predict after Kirilenko gave a fearless demonstration in her straight-set defeat of 2011 Wimbledon champion Kvitova earlier in the day. They meet for the sixth time with Sharapova claiming the 3-2 edge. Kirilenko’s most relevant defeat of Sharapova was in the first round at the 2010 Australian Open.

ovi8:

Me and my friend get ready for Maria match!!!!haha!!

Who Kobe will be rooting for? My guess is for former Lakers Sasha Vujačić's fiancee...

Wikipedia on Kobe:

Following O'Neal's departure Bryant became the cornerstone of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise. He led the NBA in scoring during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons, setting numerous scoring records in the process.

Wikipedia on Vujačić:

During the 2005–06 season Vujačić made the go-ahead three-pointer in overtime to give the Lakers the lead for good in a win against the Utah Jazz.

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Ovi brought his fitness trainer with him to London

Good news for all Ovechkin and Caps fans, according to Jim Iovino, who chatted with Ovi in London, Alex Ovechkin is going to the gym every day in London under guidance of his fitness trainer. Unfortunately we don't know the name of the fitness trainer at this time.

He is also saying that he is not engaged with Maria... yet.

Read more...


ovi8: me and maria near the olympic stadium!!! had a gr8 time!!



ovi8: Me and Novak Djokovic ....guess who took a pic??hahahaha



ovi8: Me and Serena Williams!!!we gonna trade rackets and sticks!hahaha thanks u


Watch out, Maria!:-)

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