Slava Kozlov was the guy you went to if you wanted the truth about Ilya Kovalchuk. When Kovalchuk was a young star in the NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers, Kozlov was the wise veteran teammate who had Kovalchuk's complete respect and minced no words when it came to analyzing Kovalchuk's game.
If he thought Kovalchuk wasn't focused enough on defense, he said so. If he thought Kovalchuk needed to do more for the team to win games, he let him know.
They were tight and nobody knew the young star better than his fellow Russian.
In January of 2009, Kovalchuk was named the captain of the Thrashers. He was given a leadership position with the franchise that drafted him and there was talk of a long-term deal that would keep him in Atlanta for the next decade. Assuming, of course, the team stayed.
That January, he was heading to Montreal as the only Thrashers representative on the All-Star team, his third career All-Star Game at just 25 years old. Things were looking pretty good for the young star and his position in the game.
Then, during a conversation with Kozlov, a dose of reality was injected.
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