I wish that I knew what I know now,
When I was younger.
I wish that I knew what I know now,
When I was stronger.

So goes the lyric from the old Faces song, and it couldn't apply more perfectly than it does to Montreal Canadiens forward Alexei Kovalev. For the past 15 years, Kovalev has arguably been the most prolific talent in the NHL, a mesmerizing combination of speed, strength, stickhandling ability, and offensive creativity. But though he's boasted physical attributes the envy of nearly every contemporary, his inability to perform at a consistently high level has been his primary legacy. Until this season...

Kovalev has completely turned over a new leaf this year, emerging as not only the Habs' most consistent forward, but also as a respected team leader. It seems improbable, but the 79 points he's scored this season (in 77 games) is the second-best total of his career, surpassed only during the 2000-01 season (when he played alongside Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr with the Eastern Conference finalist Pittsburgh Penguins). His plus-17 rating is also the second-best of his career (he registered a plus-18 for the Stanley Cup champion 1993-94 New York Rangers). And perhaps most importantly, Kovalev leads the NHL with 44 power play points, confirming that his strong plus-minus rating isn't simply a matter of him having a positive risk/reward ratio.

Last Thursday night, Kovalev (and about 10,000 Canadiens fans) invaded the TD Banknorth Garden and put on quite the show, scoring two beautiful goals in pacing the Habs to a decisive victory. On the first goal, he spun past All-Star Bruins backliner Zdeno Chara and flipped the puck past Tim Thomas to open the scoring. He victimized Chara (and partner Dennis Wideman) again shortly thereafter, deking between them before tucking the puck between Thomas's pads. And on both goals, Kovalev demonstrated newfound patience, waiting for the defensemen to commit before accelerating past them and taking on Thomas one-on-one. Always amongst the game's most creative offensive talents, Kovalev appears to have done a nice job of compensating for the negative effects of age and numerous surgical procedures on his knees.

Just about one year ago, Kovalev was at center of a raging controversy stemming from comments he allegedly made to a Russian weekly magazine, including assertions that head coach Guy Carbonneau dislikes Russian players and that he gives preferential treatment to Francophone players. Kovalev denied saying any such thing, and Carbonneau stood by his player afterwards. "There are two sides to a story. Before making a statement and decision, I wanted to talk to Alex one-on-one," Carbonneau said last March. "Now I know it's not true and we can turn the page." One can only guess as to the impact of Carbonneau's loyalty, but it's probably no mere coincidence that Kovalev followed up that tumultuous campaign with one of the finest single-season performances of his 15-year NHL career.

Always very charitable with his time, Kovalev leases a Bell Centre loge for the use of sick and underprivileged children. And he has stepped up his efforts this season with the release of a new training DVD demonstrating the hockey tips and training methods he uses, donating 100 per cent of the profits from the DVD project to charities that promote cardiac care for children.

When the Rangers made their successful run to the Stanley Cup in 1994, Kovalev was one of the most important contributors. And he was similarly critical to the Penguins in 2001, for their Cinderella run to the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, the Habs are in first place in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of the Pens with five games remaining. Much has already been made of rookie goaltender Carey Price, whose meteoric rise to the starting role has sparked comparisons to former Habs legends Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. But while Price has shown himself to be quite capable of keeping the puck out of the net, Kovalev's ability to lead the offense will prove just as critical to the Habs' success.

The Eastern Conference appears to be more wide-open than it's been since 1993, when the Canadiens came out of nowhere to defeat Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings to win the Stanley Cup for the 24th time in franchise history. Three Canadian teams have reached the Finals since then (the '94 Canucks, the '04 Flames, the '06 Oilers, and the '07 Senators), but none have emerged victorious. With Kovalev sparking the league's finest power play, and with Price evoking memories of legends past, this could well be the Canadiens' year. And with a league-high 21,273 fans packing the Bell Centre every night--and traveling en masse, as to Boston last Thursday--it could be fairly argued that no fan base is more deserving.