Alexei Kovalev says he’s a scapegoat for Senators troubles

Alex Kovalev is not very happy. He hasn’t had a point in six straight games, the Senators are struggling to get their act together, and head coach Cory Clouston has moved him to the team’s fourth line to punish him for poor play. The 37 year-old has seven goals and seven assists this year for Ottawa and while 14 points doesn’t sound impressive, it’s good for fourth on the team in scoring, just four points behind Daniel Alfredsson for the team lead.

With the team unable to generate any consistent offense and the losses piling up, Ottawa is in a bad way and Kovalev isn’t pleased with being moved down in the lineup. He’s so upset that he’s calling Clouston out saying he’s being made an example of. Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun gets the grumpy words from Kovalev.

Frustrated with his demotion to the fourth line, Kovalev went public with his anger at the club’s game-day skate Friday afternoon. Kovalev said he feels like he’s being singled out as the scapegoat for the underachieving club.

“It looks like it right now,” said Kovalev. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m not the only one not playing well and he decides to pick me. It’s been happening my whole career. I accept that.”

In his first public comments since being moved to the fourth line earlier this week, Kovalev denied he has asked to be dealt.

“Sometimes it’s hard because you always find (yourself) as the goat to blame it on,” said Kovalev. “Like I said, I’m used to it, it’s been happening my whole career. I accept that.”

This certainly doesn’t sound like a pleasant situation and with the team playing as poorly as they are, it’s making a bad situation worse. As for Clouston, he says that there is no scapegoating going on and that he just wants better play from Kovalev. Kovalev, however, was a bit more coy about who he thinks the problem is in Ottawa. Garrioch with more goods from Kovalev.

“I just don’t understand because sometimes when you start playing well, and everything goes well, they start brain-picking again,” said Kovalev. “I don’t know why it keeps happening and why they don’t just let me play like I can. I don’t know if it’s some kind of jealousy or something else.”

Jealousy, hurt feelings, and even more hurting egos. A team in turmoil is never a good thing for the home fans, but for the beat writers and curious onlookers it makes for great theater. If Kovalev can use this supposed slight to motivate him into scoring goals again that’s great for Ottawa. If he sulks and the situation festers and grows, Kovalev might just find his way out of town whether he wants to go or not.