Alexander Radulov shows maturity in resurgence with Canadiens

LOS ANGELES – With the Nashville Predators, Alexander Radulov made a lot look easy.

As the most talented offensive player on the team, Radulov would use his skill to make passes nobody else on the Preds could make and score goals with moves only a handful of players around the league could attempt.

On the ice, he was a man who could bounce off players bigger and older than him to make a play. But off the ice he still struggled to pay attention to the necessary details that make an NHL superstar successful.

“After a drill was over, keeping his attention to what the rest of the team was going on, I think that’s the issue,” said former Predators assistant coach Peter Horachek, now a scout for the New Jersey Devils. “He was just a young guy who needed to grow up a little bit.”

For a long time, Radulov acted like a kid in an adult’s body playing professional hockey. His moments of greatness were often overshadowed by curious behavior. In 2008, he left Nashville with a year left on his entry-level contract to play in the KHL where he had major success but could sometimes create non-flattering viral moments.

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In 2012, he returned to Nashville and played well but flamed out after he was suspended in the playoffs after following a curfew violation. He returned to the KHL, where he went back to some irksome antics.

But since he’s returned to the NHL this season after signing a one-year, $5.75 million contract with the Montreal Canadiens over the summer, Radulov has shown a better understanding of how to be a pro athlete on and off the ice in North America.

He has kept the exciting ‘edge of your seat’ parts of his game, while also toning down his act. It may have taken Radulov longer than most high-end players, but finally at the age of 30 he has reached a level of balance on and off the ice that can allow him to be a superstar in the NHL.

“I’m 100 percent happy and not even worrying about it and really enjoying being in Montreal and part of that organization,” Radulov said. “It’s an honor for me and hopefully everything is going to work and we’ll get a longer term or anything, but other than that it’s all about playing hockey right now and it’s good to play for Montreal because especially at home, when you have every like – guy or people even in the streets they give you, say welcome and tell you the good words and wish you good luck. You can tell that they’re supporting us so it has meant a lot. At the end of the day we play for fans, and they’re great in Montreal so I really enjoy playing there.”

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When the Predators selected Radulov in the first-round of the 2004 NHL Draft they knew they were adding a highly skilled player to their prospect pool that included future All-Star defensemen Ryan Suter and Shea Weber.

But they didn’t know Radulov would take off to such an extreme degree from a scoring perspective. In his 2005-06 junior season with the Quebec Remparts, Radulov he scored 61 goals and 152 points in 62 games. He was the undisputed superstar of the team, and fans loved him.

“The fans were basically his jet fuel,” Remparts assistant coach Martin Laperriere said. “Whenever they chanted his name, whenever they got up off their seat because he would pick up the puck and start skating and making plays, you could feel the buzz in the air. He fed off the adrenaline that the fans gave him and I mean he was quite spectacular, explosive and at the junior level he was just so dominant with the puck and what he could do, so definitely as far as the spectacle of it, as far as the show on the ice it was quite amazing to watch.”

As Radulov’s offensive numbers rocketed to high levels, Predators brass started to get giddy. They had done a good job drafting and developing defensemen and scrappy two-way forwards, but had never been able to pick a potential offensive superstar like Radulov.

“Any time you draft a player in the first-round those are the players you usually expect to make an impact in the organization,” former Predators executive Mike Santos said. “He was no different, and given our history at the time of drafting defensemen and good defensemen, it was a big pick for us to get a guy with his offensive talents.”

Radulov notched 18 points in 11 games with the Milwaukee Admirals in 2006-07 and then was quickly elevated to the NHL where he had 37 points in 64 games. The following year, Radulov scored 26 goals and 58 points for Nashville.

“You could see how good of a player he was,” Suter said. “He was so skilled and he could score goals. He was just a young, ‘happy-go-lucky’ kind of guy.”

During that stretch, the Predators’ coaches tried to get Radulov to fit within their structure, but he sometimes struggled.

“He was an immature kid. He had everything given to him when he was in Quebec City. He was a big shot everywhere. He just didn’t realize how he had to be,” former Nashville assistant coach Brent Peterson said. “He would interrupt meetings, he would come in late and he would do all these things and we would just let it go.”

Added Peterson, “Rad just, he just was immature and what he did was immature. He just had no maturity to him at all. He had been given everything he wanted. He played however he wanted. He wouldn’t conform to any kind of system without the puck, but he could score goals. He was a pretty good player. Boy, he could score goals. He loved to play the game and loved to be on the ice. That’s what I liked about him.”

After the 2008 season, Radulov decided to leave the NHL with one year left on his entry-level contract to go to the KHL. Overseas he was able to procure more money and not have to deal with the strictness of oversight that came with playing in the NHL.

At the time, such a decision by a current or potential superstar to leave the NHL for the KHL was not common. The Predators were stunned and suspended Radulov, keeping his rights and hoping one day he would change his mind and return.

“When he left and not only when he left, but the way he left, it definitely hurt the organization. He was under contract when he left the first time. It was that simple,” Santos said. “He breached the contract to leave. It was definitely hurtful.”

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When Radulov was in the KHL, there was often this ‘what if he was here?’ type feeling around the Predators. Nashville struggled to score goals and relied on a strict defensive system. Radulov was always seen as the one missing piece that could transform the organization and give them a major draw who could put the puck in the net.

With Salavat Yulaev, Radulov turned into the KHL’s best player. In 2010-11 he won the Gagarin Cup and was named the regular season MVP in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Radulov was often considered the best player not in the NHL.

“He was a hero there and he wasn’t a hero here yet,” Peterson said

Eventually, Radulov started to believe an NHL return was a good idea. The Predators gave him an opportunity to burn the final year of his entry-level contract if he came back after his KHL season ended in 2012.

Radulov returned in mid-March, and put up seven points in nine regular season games for Nashville, a team that had Stanley Cup aspiration that year. He was arguably the Preds’ most important forward in their first-round, five-game victory over the Detroit Red Wings with five points.

Then in the next round against the Phoenix Coyotes, off-ice issues struck Radulov. Teammate Andrei Kostitsyn and Radulov left the team hotel in Glendale and went to Scottsdale the night before Game 2, where they broke curfew. The next game, Radulov was held pointless and NHL on NBC commentator Keith Jones skewered Radulov during an on-air segment.

Radulov and Kostitsyn were suspended for Game 3, and then were subsequently held out for Game 4 by the Predators coaching staff.

Nashville saw Kostitsyn, who was acquired from the Canadiens at the 2012 trade deadline, as the main instigator and Radulov as the follower, but they still believed Radulov needed to be punished to send a message.

“Andrei led him astray. Andrei didn’t lead Rad in the right direction,” Peterson said. “We couldn’t really tell him ‘you can’t hang around with this guy’ but Andrei certainly didn’t help him at all. If he said ‘this is what you need to be doing’ and doing the right things he would have been fine. Instead Andrei said ‘let’s go out, let’s do this, let’s do that.’ And he’s a young kid who is following along with his hero. Andrei certainly was not good for him.”

Later, the team noted that they likely wouldn’t have acquired Kostitsyn, another scoring winger, if they knew Radulov was going to come back. Ultimately it seemed Kostitsyn didn’t just hurt Radulov’s game, but also brought down the level of his brother Sergei, who had seen a career resurrection with the Preds.

Nashville was upset in that series against the Coyotes in five games.

“I think that Andrei – Sergei was so much better and assimilated into the team aspect, but when Andrei got there it affected Sergei in a negative way,” Horachek said. “I don’t know if the older brother comes in and you take a back seat or whatever but Sergei I thought was a great, young kid and it changed him a little bit. So I would say if it was anything it was more the other guy and he kind of jumped on the wagon with him like ‘come on we’re going to go’ and he followed suit. I don’t know that for a face, but that’s my feeling about it that maybe he got influenced by the other guy. ”

After the season, it seemed like Radulov and Nashville simply wouldn’t fit, and the forward opted to go back to the KHL, this time with CSKA Moscow.

“He was with a particular team that had to play a certain way to win and when we did get some talent around him he was fine. I didn’t have a problem with Rad ever. He was the one who chose to go back,” Peterson said.

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Last summer, Radulov started thinking about another return to the NHL. There was a rumor that the Detroit Red Wings were interested in him, but really the Canadiens made the most sense for the player.

Radulov’s experience in Quebec with the Remparts made the market attractive to him, and he had an advocate there after Shea Weber was traded to the Habs for P.K. Subban.

Weber had played with Radulov with the Predators and reportedly vouched that the player could be an asset to Montreal’s offense.

Still, when the Canadiens signed Radulov, there was some skepticism. The team had just dealt Subban in part because it was perceived his personality had become too large for their dressing room. Adding Radulov, who had twice left the NHL, didn’t seem like the type of attitude Montreal needed.

But at the age of 30, Radulov had finally seemed to grow up. He was a new father and the child had supposedly softened him to a degree.

“It has changed a lot of things in my head and I don’t know how to explain. It’s just completely different when you have a baby,” Radulov said “That’s it, you kind of regroup or some things switch. You have to respond, you have to basically lead by example. I have to play grown. He’s one year old and I know the time’s going to go fast. I want to make sure he sees and give him my example on how to be a good person and hopefully he’ll be a hockey player. We’ll see about that.”

He also desperately wanted to make playing in the NHL work this time and not, again, head back to Russia as a pariah in North America.

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So far the fit has been perfect. The fans in Montreal have embraced Radulov with calls of ‘Radu, Radu’ at the Bell Centre during games. His teammates have latched onto his energy and found it infectious. He has even become a leader, trying to impart some of his elderly wisdom on the younger players. Radulov currently has 21 points in 23 games, which puts him on pace for 73 this season.

“I didn’t know him much personally. I knew the player, but he’s a guy who has a lot of passion,” coach Michel Therrien said. “He’s a guy who comes to work. He enjoys everything about the game and his passion lots of time can be contagious for a lot of players.”

There’s still the issue of a new contract for Radulov – which based on his history shouldn’t be taken lightly – but overall this seems to be a common sense marriage where both parties have greatly benefitted. He has played a major role in the Canadiens’ bounce-back season and the Habs have helped him resurrect his image.

“I watch him a lot now in Montreal and I can see, and I’ve talked to some people, that say he has really settled down and his mindset is really good,’ Horachek said. “I love watching him play. He is just a great hockey player. He’s a great hockey player and I don’t really know not being in that locker room where Webs is now, but I watch him and the way he plays and his work ethic is awesome. I just think he needed to mature.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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