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ARLINGTON, Va. -- Ilya Kovalchuk is a minutes-eating machine. The Russian forward with the incredibly rigorous offseason workout regimen is a freak of nature, it seems, in how much time he plays per night.
Earlier this season after Kovalchuk played more than 30 minutes in one game -- that's just nuts -- Adam Gretz took a look at Kovalchuk's insane endurance level. He asked the question: Does Kovalchuk ever get tired? Perhaps not.
"He's got an engine that I've never seen on a hockey player before," Devils coach Pete DeBoer said. "You watch him get stuck out there on a two-minute power play and all of a sudden he'll take another rush and find another gear. You have no idea how he's still managing to get around the ice. He's a special athlete."
Let's try to put what Kovalchuk does on average into perspective. Kovalchuk is 10th in the NHL this season in time on ice per game with 25:46. No other forward is in the top 65 in the league; it's all defensemen. John Tavares is the closest forward to Kovalchuk with 21:50 per game, 67th most in the NHL. That's a tremendous gap.
It's only further underscored when you see things like the fact that Kovalchuk played 13:45 in the third period alone in Thursday's win over the Capitals in Washington. His average shift length was 1:57 that period. Mere mortals in the NHL would be too pooped to pop after that. Clearly Kovalchuk isn't like mere mortals.
"I actually felt much better in the third period, to be honest with you," Kovalchuk said. "It's fun when you play a lot of minutes in all different situations. It's great when the coach trusts you a lot."
That's certainly true. It's great. And with the Devils winning enough to be two points back of the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Canadiens, it's hard not to say it's not working.
But, when is it too much? Do the Devils need to consider pulling the reins back? Longtime Devil and leading scorer Patrik Elias believes there is probably some kind of balance.
"We all know he can [play that much] but just because he plays all those minutes doesn't mean that they're the right minutes," Elias said. "Most of the nights when he plays a lot of minutes it's because of the power play and he stays out there the whole time but eventually everybody gets tired. I don't know if it would be better if you played him less so he has more energy.
"He plays a lot of minutes. Most of them he's effective, some of them he's not. When Jacques Lemaire was here he played a lot less minutes and was more effective than I've ever seen him play in those less minutes, so there's balance. You got to find a way. It's up to the coaching staff and up to him to kind of realize that and see where he's comfortable."
The coaching staff knows it, too, so it's not like Elias is expressing a belief that hasn't been shared already. DeBoer acknowledged the team wants to try and decrease those minutes.
"The number of hard minutes, 5-on-5, we're going to try and make a conscious effort to scale it back a little bit," DeBoer said. "But the game dictates that, too. If we're down by a goal going into the third we're going to want him on the ice."
As Elias noted, much of Kovalchuk's TOI is dictated by special-teams play. He's excellent on the power play and usually plays the full man advantage. He's also improved and plays a good amount of time on the penalty kill. So the more special-teams focus there is in a game, the more Kovalchuk is going be asked to play.
But before we praise Kovalchuk too much for converting his game to the point that he can play this much, Elias cautioned there's still more to do.
"I think he's still got a long way to go to be honest," Elias said. "He's still learning. He was brought up as an individual player and did that in Atlanta before he was brought here, so it's hard for him to adjust. But he tries and he's been here for two years and he's getting better in certain areas, he's playing PKs and all that. He's getting more responsibility. It comes from management, it comes from coach and it comes from teammates, the way we play and demand that."
It stands to reason that the more somebody plays and the more they are potentially fatigued, the errors will increase. That can be a concern, especially for a player who is still growing on the defensive side of things.
Perhaps it seems like Elias was being a bit critical, and maybe in a way he was, but this is the way it is in New Jersey. This is the type of franchise they have built and why it has been so successful for so long. You have the veteran players who keep pushing, keep testing their teammates. It's a culture of winning and always getting better, the point that Elias was trying to belabor the most, I believe.
The Devils are pushing Kovalchuk a bit more than he ever has been pushed before -- "Back in Russia they're different minutes, the rink is bigger. You skate way more than here" -- but it's not like the results are bad and Kovalchuk seems to prefer it that way. Still, you have to wonder if at some point it catches up to the Devils, particularly in a condensed season with so many games in short order.
It's the balance the Devils will have to weigh. However, there are worse problems DeBoer and company could have.
Elias to the Hall?
In the past week talk surfaced about Elias being a Hall of Famer once he retires. DeBoer believes he's already bound for the Hall as the Devils' all-time leader in points and goals.
"I don’t think there is any doubt he’s a Hall of Fame player," DeBoer said to the Star-Ledger. "It’s a great luxury to have him on the ice and in the dressing room. He thinks like a coach and he has a world-class player’s skills. When you’re building a hockey player, you can’t ask for much more than that."
What does Elias think? Is he flattered?
He laughed.
"I heard it, my friends texted me and I said 'I'm still hoping I have a long way to go!' I feel good out there and I just want to enjoy it. It's nice.
"No question [it would be nice to add another Cup to the resume]."
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