I'll Be Honest... I Was Completely Wrong About Alexander Radulov
There’s never been any doubt that Alex Radulov is one of the most skilled hockey players in the world. As far as pure talent goes, he’s top 5 in the league. You saw it last night with this goal to put the dagger in King(?) Henrik’s chest to put the Habs up 3-0 in game 3. Intercepts the breakout pass, fights off Kevin Hayes, murders Hank with the Forsberg. There are very few players in the world who are big enough and skilled enough to pull off that entire play. Alex Radulov is one of them. So like I said, there’s never been any doubt about how good this guy can be. However, I’m gonna go back and rehash some of my previous takes on Radulov when he first signed with the Habs.
April 29, 2016: Now here’s the thing you have to remember about Alex Radulov; the man is a cock sucker. A crazy talented cock sucker that is most likely the best player in the world right now not playing in the NHL. But a cock sucker nonetheless. Whatever team he lands with will be taking a huge risk in signing him. Anything more than a 1 or 2-year-contract and you’re playing with fire…So yeah, Radulov is ridiculously talented. He’ll come into the NHL next season and make an immediate impact. But he’ll be an impact player next year, get homesick the next year and then end back in Russia for good after that.
October 7, 2016: “When you bring Alex Radulov to your team, obviously you’re playing with fire. He’s the kind of Russian your momma warns you about. The kind of player that could care less about losing games as long as that paycheck keeps coming in. No heart. No grit. He’s just all flash. But that’s the thing, though. No heart but he has hands for days.”
October 12, 2016: “Trading PK Subban was the dumbest possible thing the Canadiens could have ever done. And not because PK is great and they’ll miss him tremendously on the blueline. But because they got rid of their designated scapegoat. When the team was losing, they can blame PK. When things weren’t going well in the locker room, they could blame PK. But now what? Because you know that bringing Alex Radulov in is only going to end poorly for the Habs. But now Therrien will finally have to take the blame. Pacioretty will finally have to take the blame. Bergevin will finally have to take the blame. It’ll be a beautiful disaster from the outside looking in.”
To be fair, I did pretty much predict that Therrien would get shit canned by the Habs this year. And in that April 29 take, I did say he’d be an impact player this year but then go home after that, which is still yet to be seen. But still. I’m perfectly capable of putting my hand up and saying I was wrong about Alex Radulov. I was wrong to question his heart and passion for the game. You see it every single night he plays. Whether he’s the one making plays or the other guys on the team, the man brings an invaluable amount of energy to the Montreal Canadiens locker room. I’ve never seen anybody get as excited for other people scoring goals than Alex Radulov. I thought for sure that he was coming to the NHL just because the KHL is crumbling with the Russian ruble. I thought for sure he was coming back to North America just to grab a paycheck for 82-games, check out early and head back to the motherland for the summer. But I’d say Carey Price and Radulov are 1A and 1B in terms of importance to the Habs so far this series.
I’d still be wary about signing Radulov long term. You can still never be too sure with the Russians. Especially with the way this Olympics ordeal has been handled. Could he run back home to the KHL so he can play in Pyeongchang? Maybe. But that seems like a pretty reasonable justification for leaving the NHL for about the 7th time. Way more so than the last couple of times he skipped out on the Predators. All I’m saying is that I went into this season thinking that Alex Radulov was nothing more than a better version of Alex Semin. I was wrong. And I’m glad I was wrong because motivated Alex Radulov is the best Alex Radulov. And the best Alex Radulov is fucking must watch entertainment.