Kovalev given time off

From TSN:

Struggling veteran Alex Kovalev has been given some time off by the Montreal Canadiens.

General Manager Bob Gainey said Tuesday he met with Kovalev to tell him he won’t be on the team’s trip this week for games Wednesday night in Washington and Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

His status for a home game Saturday against Ottawa remains uncertain.

Read the entire story here.

The Habs are getting made over right now.  Yesterday they acquired Mathieu Schneider to solidfy a back-end that needed some offensive and defensive help.  Additionally, the team sent Sergei Kostitsyn down to the AHL today.  But this is the big story, as Kovalev is the arguably the best offensive player on the team and the most enigmatic.  This move seems to be the writing on the wall for Kovalev as he has been given numerous chances to succeed in Montreal.  In essence, it appears that Gainey is making over this team.  Kovalev and Kostitsyn are seen by many as having bad attitudes and clearly Gainey has lost patience with them as well as the entire squad. 

The next logical move appears to be a trade of Kovalev from the Habs.  Which teams would be interested and what they Canadiens would get back is anyone’s guess…

Update: More Kovalev stories have been added to the IC trade deadline page under the Habs.