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He was asked how long the lockout would last and he said, "For some reason, they're still refusing to talk about the serious problems, but instead talk about some borderline issues. The main thing is that all the guys have now shown the team owners that they can go and play somewhere, do their favorite thing and not just stay home. If you stay home then you can start getting depressed and clearly the team owners are hoping for that, but I think that this time things will be a little different." Kovalchuk was also asked to comment on Vyacheslav Fetisov's warning that the NHL risks losing superstar talent to other leagues with every lockout. He said, "If there is any sort of reduction in players' pay, then [NHL owners] risk losing them now. I can't say that we're all some sort of superstars, I don't personally call myself that. I've talked with a lot of the guys. We will look very seriously at these options."