Radulov is a force. Listed at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, he uses that muscle to ram his way to the scoring areas and make opposing defenses react. He also has an unpredictable nature about him that forces teammates to be creative in the offensive zone.
"We know he loves to play and we know he's a pit bull around the net," Bowness said. "Give him the puck, top of the circle in the offensive zone, and he hangs on and he's fighting through checks and he's throwing pucks at the net -- all of the little things you do to score goals, he does. He's the most creative guy we've got when he's on top of his game, and he's one of the hardest guys to play against because he's just so hungry to make something happen."
Radulov is one of the all-time scoring leaders in the KHL and since joining the Stars as a free agent in 2017, he is second on the team in scoring with 189 points (74 goals, 115 assists) in 220 games for a 0.86 points per game average, also second on the team. He struck up some chemistry with Joe Pavelski last season, and the two this year helped the team get off to a scorching start.
Radulov had 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his first eight games and was plus-8 in that span. However, he aggravated an undisclosed lower-body injury Feb. 4 against Columbus, and he hasn't played since.
Pavelski certainly felt the impact of the loss, even though he has bounced back in recent contests.
"He's a great player," Pavelski said. "He works hard. That's one thing I have always thought of Rads -- he's a gamer and he wants to compete. And going right back to the bubble, we definitely had a compete to us when we were together, that we wanted to produce and we wanted to make something happen on the positive side. That led into this year, and I've definitely missed him when he's been out."
