In
this interview, originally appearing on the popular Russian portal Sport-Express
right before his return on ice, Alexei Emelin talked about playing with P.K.
Subban, life in Montreal, and recovering after the Olympic Games debacle.
- Alexei, did you recover from all
the old injuries?
-
All is good now. The most important thing is that the season started in a good
way.
- How did you like the move to the
left side? You shoot left, maybe the left side is more natural for you.
-
I don’t have any preference, I feel good on either side. I had to part ways
with Andrei Markov, with whom I always played on the same pair, but it hasn’t
been terrible. Changes happen every time and maybe this one will even go to my
advantage.
- More so if we consider that you were
moved to the first pair with P.K. Subban.
-
You need to earn the coaches’ trust. We don’t have such a thing like a first
pair. On a given game, the first pair is Subban and I, then the day after
Andrei [Markov] and Gilbert. I don’t read the press and I don’t know what kind
of meaning they all give to this.
- Is playing with Subban harder than
playing with Markov?
-
There are no cardinal differences. The coaches split us for a very simple
reason: they wanted to have a right-handed and a left-handed defenseman in each
defensive pair.
- Is your reputation of simply a
hard-hitting defenseman just a stereotype?
-
I think yes. Even more so if we consider that our coaches don’t limit
defensemen and are happy if we join the rush.
- In the KHL you did it quite often…
-
Yes, but here I’m just starting. The fact is that here [in the NHL] you won’t
survive without battling for the puck. The game is much harder due to the small
ice surface.
- How do you feel in Montreal?
-
All is good, I’m at ease. Of course, in Canada people feel hockey in a
different way [than in Russia].
- What do you exactly mean?
-
It’s simply much more popular. Even if Kazan is one of the biggest hockey
centers in Russia, in Canada there are much more fans. Especially in Montreal.
At the start it was hard to get used to the fact that in the locker room we had
more journalists, than players. I was also shocked by the fans. Then I got used
to it. It was much easier for my family too, once they grasped the language a
little bit more.
- Do you talk in French?
-
No, for now in English only. But I think that soon my daughter will speak both
languages. She attends an English language school, but French language is in
the mandatory program.
- Is it easier to play in a
non-Olympic season?
-
Yes, of course. Last year I felt so much pressure. I was always thinking if I
would get a sport on the Olympic roster, also because it was our home Olympics.
- Is that bitter after-taste still
there?
-
Yes. And it will stay there for my whole life. You don’t have many of those
chances in your life. I can only blame myself and I think that everyone should
search the reasons of that debacle in himself.
- How did you spend the summer?
-
Nothing special, at home. I went to the seaside, I just rested. And I watched
the FIFA World Cup.
- And how do you feel yourself?
-
I still have to fully recover. This season has been very upsetting.
***************************
Translation by HabsAddict's Russian Correspondent Alessandro Seren Rosso @AlexSerenRosso.
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