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Photo of Alex Kovalev

Alex Kovalev

#27 · Right wing · Florida Panthers

Born Feb 24, 1973 in Togliatti, RUS · 6'2", 222 lb · Shoots left · Drafted 15th overall in 1991 by NYR (round 1)

Trophy case

Stanley Cup NHL Champion 1993-94

Compare with a similar player

The forwards closest to him in points in 2012-13. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Chris Mueller NSH · 5 P in 18 GP Tye McGinn PHI · 5 P in 18 GP Tyler Toffoli LAK · 5 P in 10 GP David Ullstrom NYI · 5 P in 20 GP Jason Zucker MIN · 5 P in 20 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below.

0204060801992-93: 38 points3892-931993-94: 56 points561994-95: 28 points2894-951995-96: 58 points581996-97: 35 points3596-971997-98: 53 points531998-99: 53 points5398-991999-00: 66 points662000-01: 95 points9500-012001-02: 76 points762002-03: 77 points7702-032003-04: 45 points452005-06: 65 points6505-062006-07: 47 points472007-08: 84 points8407-082008-09: 65 points652009-10: 49 points4909-102010-11: 34 points342012-13: 5 points512-13

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
1992-93 NYR 65 20 18 38 -10 79 134 0 0.58
1993-94 NYR 76 23 33 56 18 154 184 0 0.74
1994-95 NYR 48 13 15 28 -6 30 103 0 0.58
1995-96 NYR 81 24 34 58 5 98 206 0 0.72
1996-97 NYR 45 13 22 35 11 42 110 0 0.78
1997-98 NYR 73 23 30 53 -22 44 173 36 0.73
1998-99 NYR 14 3 4 7 -6 12 35 13 0.50
1998-99 PIT 63 20 26 46 8 37 156 82 0.73
1999-00 PIT 82 26 40 66 -3 94 254 90 0.80
2000-01 PIT 79 44 51 95 12 96 307 104 1.20
2001-02 PIT 67 32 44 76 2 80 266 76 1.13
2002-03 PIT 54 27 37 64 -11 50 212 7 1.19
2002-03 NYR 24 10 3 13 2 20 59 18 0.54
2003-04 NYR 66 13 29 42 -5 54 178 58 0.64
2003-04 MTL 12 1 2 3 -4 12 29 8 0.25
2005-06 MTL 69 23 42 65 -1 76 206 46 0.94
2006-07 MTL 73 18 29 47 -19 78 197 43 0.64
2007-08 MTL 82 35 49 84 18 70 230 88 1.02
2008-09 MTL 78 26 39 65 -5 74 209 56 0.83
2009-10 OTT 77 18 31 49 -8 54 165 34 0.64
2010-11 OTT 54 14 13 27 -9 28 123 10 0.50
2010-11 PIT 20 2 5 7 3 16 28 4 0.35
2012-13 FLA 14 2 3 5 -1 6 21 7 0.36
19 seasons Career 1316 430 599 1029 -31 1304 3585 780 0.78

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
1993-94 NYR 23 9 12 21 5 18 71 0 0.91
1994-95 NYR 10 4 7 11 2 10 23 0 1.10
1995-96 NYR 11 3 4 7 0 14 31 0 0.64
1998-99 PIT 10 5 7 12 0 14 24 16 1.20
1999-00 PIT 11 1 5 6 -1 10 37 16 0.55
2000-01 PIT 18 5 5 10 -2 16 44 30 0.56
2003-04 MTL 11 6 4 10 2 8 29 14 0.91
2005-06 MTL 6 4 3 7 3 4 15 4 1.17
2007-08 MTL 12 5 6 11 -4 8 39 8 0.92
2008-09 MTL 4 2 1 3 0 2 12 6 0.75
2010-11 PIT 7 1 1 2 -3 10 16 3 0.29
11 seasons Playoffs 123 45 55 100 2 114 341 97 0.81

2012-13 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
14 2 3 5 -1 6 21 7 0.36 9.5 15:37

2012-13 analytics

Rating

+0.4Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
+0.1Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-0.2Goals above averagethe five parts below added up
Even-strength offence-0.8Even-strength defence+0.7Power play0.0Penalty kill+0.0Penalties-0.1

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-1-0.500.512010-112012-13Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

50.2Corsi for %147 attempts for, 146 against
+4.0CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
48.2Expected goals for %4.7 expected for, 5.1 against
+3.1xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
50.2Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
37.5Goals for %3 for, 5 against
98.2PDO4.1% shooting + 94.1% saves
31Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Forward lineGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Alex Kovalev · Tomas Kopecky · Marcel Goc435:5847.545.10-1
Alex Kovalev · Peter Mueller · Jonathan Huberdeau324:0646.951.82-1
Alex Kovalev · Tomas Kopecky · Shawn Matthias212:5065.267.90-0
Alex Kovalev · George Parros · Jerred Smithson212:4141.751.00-0

The lines he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's lines that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

2Goalsnot counting empty-netters
1.9Expected goalsfrom 31 unblocked attempts
+0.1Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.53 expected goals per 60 minutes20th
Shot quality 6.3% chance per attempt18th
Finishing +0.1 goals above expected55thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of forwards he is ahead of, among the 355 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.511.52Goals 2Expected 1.9

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Feb 22, 2013 @ PIT L 1-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 09:17
Feb 18, 2013 vs TOR L 0-3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 14:44
Feb 16, 2013 vs TBL L 5-6 (OT) 0 1 1 2 2 1 0 12:32
Feb 14, 2013 vs MTL L 0-1 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12:38
Feb 12, 2013 vs WSH L 5-6 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 2 0 14:44
Feb 5, 2013 @ WPG L 2-3 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 15:55
Feb 3, 2013 @ BUF W 4-3 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 17:33
Jan 31, 2013 vs WPG W 6-3 1 0 1 1 0 4 1 16:55
Jan 29, 2013 @ TBL L 2-5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 14:28
Jan 26, 2013 vs PHI L 1-7 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 17:04
Jan 24, 2013 vs OTT L 1-3 0 0 0 -2 0 3 1 21:22
Jan 22, 2013 @ MTL L 1-4 0 0 0 -1 0 1 1 18:30
Jan 21, 2013 @ OTT L 0-4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 16:45
Jan 19, 2013 vs CAR W 5-1 1 2 3 2 2 3 1 16:08