Selivanov tries to sell his game again in Columbus

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001

By Lucas Aykroyd

Sometimes Alexander Selivanov must wonder if his career is doomed to consist of a series of bad jokes. Last season, playing for the Edmonton Oilers on a line with Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth, the 29-year-old Moscow native led the NHL with 18 goals at the quarter pole, only to slide into a massive drought for the rest of the year. The year before, he had been acquired by the Oilers from Tampa Bay for Alexandre Daigle of all people, arguably the biggest bust of a number one overall draft pick ever. The year before that, Selivanov was visiting San Jose with the Lightning when the Sharks mascot began to mock him on the scoreboard screen about the recent theft of his Mercedes. In any case, the streaky 6-0, 205-pound right wing will have to hope the only laughs he elicits this year are screams of glee from the coaching staff of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who signed him as a free agent on 22 November 2000. He got off to a slow start, entering the New Year with just three goals in 18 games. It’s dubious the seven-year NHL veteran will challenge his single-season best of 31 with Tampa Bay in 1995-96. EuroReport caught up with the onetime Spartak forward after he logged 12:17 of ice time in a 4-3 road loss to the Vancouver Canucks on 6 January.

EuroReport: Twenty games into your season, how are you feeling out there?

Alexander Selivanov: I’m feeling much better than when I started. My game’s coming along. Every game it gets better and better.

EuroReport: What do you need to do to start scoring the way you did at the start of last year?

Selivanov: First of all, I’d like to have a little bit more ice time. Maybe I need to shoot the puck more, too.

EuroReport: Why do you think Edmonton decided not to re-sign you?

Selivanov: That’s still a big question. Nobody knows, and I don’t know either. I could have been signed, but nothing happened up there, so I guess that’s the business. They just didn’t want to or something.

EuroReport: Did you and your agent talk to a lot of teams over the summer?

Selivanov: Oh yeah, we talked. I almost went to Montreal or the Islanders, and we talked to Boston in the summer. So, it was a long road over the months. The last team we talked to was the Columbus Blue Jackets, and we made the deal here.

EuroReport: What do you enjoy most about playing in Columbus?

Selivanov: It’s a very nice team, good guys, beautiful city, and a very nice facility. We have unbelievable fans and we have a good time there.

EuroReport: You’ve got guys from nine different countries on this team. Do you feel like Dave King’s international experience helps him as far as coaching such a diverse group?

Selivanov: Definitely. Dave King worked over in Europe for lots of time, and he’s been the coach of Team Canada in the Olympics. He’s been everywhere: Moscow, Sweden, Finland. Now we have lots of Europeans here, and it’s good. We work together and we have fun.

EuroReport: Back home in Russia, what will it take for your old team Spartak to move back up into the Russian Superleague?

Selivanov: I hear it’s a difficult situation with Spartak now. Financially, everything. I know the team’s been struggling the last two years, and I wish good luck to them. I’ll always be part of that team, because that’s where I started to play hockey. I hope they can get it together and take it to a high level.

EuroReport: What reports have you heard about the play of Ilya Kovalchuk?

Selivanov: Ilya Kovalchuk? I don’t know him.

EuroReport: He’s a junior star with Spartak, and he may go number one overall in the NHL Draft this June.

Selivanov: Well, I actually don’t get too much news from over there! So maybe he’s good, if that’s what the scouts say.

EuroReport: What do you talk about when you get together with your father-in-law, Phil Esposito?

Selivanov: He only gives me one scoring tip all the time. It’s “Shoot the puck!” That’s all. He was good at that. He says, “If you don’t shoot, you don’t score.” That’s my biggest problem right now. I’ve been missing too many nets, and it’s frustrating because usually I hit the net all the time.

EuroReport: With the 1972 Canada-Russia series in mind, did your wife Carrie have a tough time convincing him to let her marry a Russian hockey player?

Selivanov: Phil is a great guy. When we got to that point, he just said, “Go for it. You guys have been together for a long time, so do it when you feel like it.” And that was it. He’s good with us and to our kids. We always have a good time together.

EuroReport: Finally, what is it going to take for this Blue Jackets team to be successful in the second half of the season?

Selivanov: I think we’re going to play better in the second half. We need to create more offensive chances and that’ll help us to get better.