Valeri Kamensky and Alexei Kovalev are not prototypical superstars in the National Hockey League like a Paul Kariya or Eric Lindros, but both have shown in the playoffs that they can be just as important.

Valeri Kamensky by Meredith Martini

Kamensky missed the last month or so of the Colorado Avalanche regular season and the entire first round of the playoffs due to a broken forearm he received from some stickwork by Detroit's Kirk Maltby. Without Kamensky the Avalanche was still a good team. The addition of Theo Fleury helped ease the absence of the Russian winger, but by the second round of the playoffs it was evident just how important Kamensky was to the team.

The Avs lost the first two games of the series to Detroit, and all the while it seemed like something was missing. That something turned out to be Kamensky. He returned to the lineup for Game 3, and Colorado took the next four from Detroit.

Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round of the playoffs, Kovalev's importance showed. Kovalev was a major factor in the team's wins in Games 1 and 3, including a blocked shot in the waning seconds of Game 3 that sealed the victory.

Unfortunately, that blocked shot cost Kovalev the next two games of the series with a bruised foot. In his absence, the Penguins' struggled both offensively and defensively. It was no surprise that, without the Russian cosmonaut, the Pens lost both games.

Kovalev wasn't 100 percent, but he still managed to play in Game 6. His mere presence lifted the spirits of his teammates. His incredible snapshot goal in the first period lifted the team to a 2-0 lead.

The Pens lost that game, and therefore the series, but the Penguins had a much better chance with Kovalev in the lineup than without.

Both he and Kamensky might not be stars. They might not even be first-line players. But their contributions to their teams are severely underrated.

The main advantage both players give is depth. The addition of Kamensky to the Avalanche lineup means Adam Deadmarsh can move down in the lineup to play third-line center. This may sound like a demotion, but Deadmarsh plays much better at center than he does on wing, where he played in Kamensky's absence.

With Kamensky in the press box, the Avalanche third- and fourth-line players struggled to produce points. And in the playoffs, points from third- and fourth-lines are crucial. But once Kamensky came back, coach Bob Hartley was able to move the talented Deadmarsh down to help out the third-liners. In turn, the move allowed the fourth line of Odgers, Rychel and Hunter to be reunited and to create havoc for opponents.

Kovalev's injury forced Penguins coach Kevin Constantine to move Matthew Barnaby up to the second line with Martin Straka and German Titov. Barnaby's a swell guy and all, but there's no way in hell he should be playing on a line with skilled players like Straka and Titov. Kovalev fits perfectly with those two. He is able to set them up with great passes, and he's able to put the puck in the net when they dish him the biscuit.

Kovalev's return reunited the second line that killed the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs. It also meant Barnaby could return to the third line, where there was less of a chance for him to take a stupid penalty or get the Leafs fired up.

This all just goes to show that every member of a lineup is important in the grand scheme of things. If one player goes out of the lineup, it disturbs the chemistry of the entire club. When Jaromir Jagr left the Pens during the Devils series, Pittsburgh fans wondered where the offense was going to come from. The team looked to the second line of Straka-Titov-Kovalev that had clicked so well during the latter half of the season. And sure enough, the line carried the Pens until their hobbled leader could return. Kovalev wasn't just along for the ride on that line. He was the major force behind it.

Just because one player on a team steals all the headlines, it doesn't mean he's the only important player on the ice. During the Devils series, New Jersey constantly was worried as to how it was going to stop Jagr. Every time he was on the ice, defenseman Scott Stevens was right there with him. However, while everyone was concentrating on Jags, no one realized it was players like Straka and Kovalev that were getting the better of the Devils.

The same could be said for Kamensky. His mere presence caused the attention of the Red Wings to shift from just one line to trying to worry about handling three strong ones.

Presence. It is an attribute you can't teach a young hockey player. It is something that evolves inside of him. It is somewhat stealth, somewhat deceiving. But when players look back and try to figure out how another team knocked them out of the playoffs, they'll see it was the mere presence of players like Kovalev and Kamensky that was the deciding factor.

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