“There are many who are trying to send Ilya Kovalchuk to retire” – Kommersant FM

Famous Russian player Ilya Kovalchuk played his first official match with Spartak after resuming his career. The star hockey player, who received his usual number 71, scored a goal against the Kunlun Red Star team in the third period. Spartak eventually won – 5:2. Kovalchuk’s return was monitored by Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov.

The return of a player of such a level as Kovalchuk became a landmark event not only for Spartak fans, but also for the entire Kontinental Hockey League. Of course, there are many who are trying to send Ilya to retire; after all, he is 40 full years old. But in the Russian championship, to put it mildly, there are not many active hockey players about whom feature films are made, so the message of match commentator Alexander Khavanov, who himself played more than one season in the NHL, was clear:

“You can try to hide the elephant in the china shop as much as you like, but today there is probably no bigger news in the KHL – Ilya Kovalchuk is returning. Many things change with age, but competitiveness never goes away. And the hockey player Kovalchuk has always been simply magnificent.”

During the match between Spartak and Kunlun Red Star, commentators also followed Kovalchuk closely and remembered all his titles, led by the Olympic gold medal, not to mention the famous contract with New Jersey in 2010 for $100 million. More fresh exploits and the championship as part of the Omsk Avangard in 2021 were also not forgotten.

So now we are all watching another historic attempt by the forward to accomplish the impossible and take the Gagarin Cup with Spartak. While it’s difficult to call Kovalchuk’s performance enchanting, the striker still scored his goal.

True, Kovalchuk hit an empty net when Spartak was leading 4:2, and besides, after his mistake, Kunlun Red Star scored one of their two goals, but this hardly spoiled the mood of the red-and-white fans who came to this day at Luzhniki. But the Spartak coaching staff will have a hard time, hockey expert Igor Larin is sure:

“An older player is always a problem for a coach. This is a very subtle question. Russian hockey is rapidly getting younger, we have a very tough regular season, a lot of matches. The trend towards increasing the number of games primarily affects veterans, and Kovalchuk will, of course, have a difficult time here. But a lot will depend on the fine work of coaching, on how to integrate a veteran into the regular season, into the team, and into the realities of modern hockey. We’ll keep an eye on this.”

But no matter how things work out for Kovalchuk at Spartak, there will be no less attention to the striker. Personal sponsors almost stand in line. Kovalchuk has already become an ambassador of the bookmaker company Liga Stavok, which launched a charity event, and will transfer 100 thousand rubles each. for every puck or assist by a forward, for the construction of a hockey rink for orphans in one of the regions of the country.

It turns out that now every action of Kovalchuk in Spartak, which will lead to a goal, is also charity. And fans, of course, will be more active when going to Spartak with a bright star in the lineup. So it’s a relatively modest contract under which the player will receive 15 million rubles. per season seems like a good deal for the red and white, at least for now.