Not an imposing or physically intimidating presence by any means, Komarov skates with pronounced exertion and hits with full intensity. "Those checks he finishes they hurt," said Holzer. "He's getting in there; he's throwing his full weight in there. He's nasty to play against. When the referee's not looking, he uses his stick a little bit to his advantage. He knows how to do it."
Frustrate, that is. Even amongst teammates.
Holzer recalled one instance at practice with the Marlies. Special teams were in the works, Komarov parked stubbornly in front of the net with the power-play unit. "I almost wanted to slash him in the face so bad because he had his [expletive] elbows up and he tried to slewfoot me all the time," Holzer smiled, remembering the incident. "It gets you off your game and you get pissed off at him. He makes it so good that even in practice you're getting rattled."
"We were going up against each other the other day," Gunnarsson added on the subject. "We're buddies, but he's like 'Screw you Gunnar'. I know it's just to get a laugh, but at the same time he's going hard and I like that. He likes to battle."
