No it is not Alex Kovalev, the Canadiens have a new young stud in town and his name is Andrei Kostitsyn... (and please not that ridiculous spelling Kastitsyn, I know in Russian the "o" for us is pronounced like an "a"...Ovechkin in Russian is pronounced Aiviechkin, Kastitsyn, Kostitsyn, whatever...)
Kostitsyn, a former 10th overall Canadiens pick back in '03, is finally blossoming into the young superstar the club wants him to be.
He has 1 goal and 6 assists in 13 games so far with the Canadiens and has received ludicrous time on the powerplay and scoring lines.
In fact, he's been so good, Alex Kovalev is now the league's most expensive 4th liner...
When the Canadiens ever-famous second line made it clear it was not working and that Sergei Samsonov was not the force the club signed him to be, Bob Gainey recalled Andrei Kostitsyn from his minor-league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs.
The fans here in Montreal have been high on him ever since he was touted with the 10th overall pick, however things started to get questionable with the young Belarusian as he failed to impress with his callup and duty on the 2nd line with Alex Kovalev at centre and Alexander Perezhogin on the right wing.
He showed limited offensive instinct and was invisible without the puck.
He did however give those fans some hope with his speed and slick puckhandling skills.
That was not enough to keep him in Montreal and on the 2nd line.
After 2 games he was returned to the Hamilton Bulldogs and impatience grew with Kostitsyn.
In his first 14 NHL games he failed to show why he was a 1st-round pick by amassing 2 goals and 1 assist in his first 14 games while going -1.
It seemed as if he had been destined to become yet another Pavel Brendl.
Brendl was also highly touted and was selected in 1999, 4th overall, behind the Sedin twins and "he missed it!" Patrick Stefan.
In 4 days when he turns 26, Brendl is set to become one of the many European bust the great game of hockey has seen come and go. If you're interested, he's currently playing in the Swedish Elite League and is having the kind of season the Flyers, Rangers, Hurricanes and most recently, the Coyotes wanted out of him.
He's putting up the kind of numbers these teams wanted out of him, namely 57 points in 54 games with 34 goals.
He did not come close to that production in the NHL, accumulating just 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 78 career games...
Kostitsyn was labeled "Pavel Brendl" by many a few months ago but not anymore.
He's finally flashing the speed and scoring he's showed in the minors with the Bulldogs...the way he's going, there's no telling what can stop him.
All we can do now is wait and see into the excellent player he'll surely become.
Up next for the Canadiens "to-fully-develop list" is Mikhail Grabovski, who's a potential "team-maker" for next season.
Ah, the enigma of European players: they're either (insert name here) or Pavel Brendl.
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