Down the street from where Detroit’s Russian Five took the NHL by storm in the 1990s, defenseman Nikita Zaitsev sat down for dinner with his agent and explained that his pain of being passed over in the draft three times was gone.
Just four months into his rookie year with Toronto, Zaitsev realized that not being drafted was the best thing to happen to him.
Chicago’s Artemi Panarin told agent Dan Millstein the same thing as he earned rookie of the year honors with 77 points last season.
Photo: AP
Zaitsev and Panarin are on the leading edge of a generation of Russian stars coming to North America from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in their 20s and making an immediate impact.
Washington’s Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov, and St Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko developed after being top draft picks, while Alexander Radulov returned last year and experienced the kind of NHL renaissance in Montreal that Ilya Kovalchuk hopes to find as he looks to be back next season.
Fledgling franchise Vegas hope they gets the same kind of results from multiple KHL All-Star center Vadim Shipachyov, Colorado are counting on defenseman Andrei Mironov to play right away and Buffalo are figuring the same from Victor Antipin as Russia is proving to be a reliable pipeline for NHL-ready talent.
“Years ago, we had [Igor] Larionov and [Slava] Fetisov coming over and it took them a little time, but in recent years players like Panarin and Radulov and Zaitsev have come over and done very, very well,” Vegas Golden Knights general-manager George McPhee said. “Especially with the experienced players, a bunch of them just got to play in the World Cup in Toronto on the small rink in a huge tournament, and they’ve played in international tournaments over here, so I think just having the experience of playing on the smaller rink has probably helped some of the experienced players.”
A combination of factors has made the NHL assimilation for Russian players quicker than ever.
Millstein said that the comfort level of being able to develop and play professionally at home, combined with improved coaching and the assistance of veterans such as Kovalchuk and former Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk have all contributed to easing players’ adjustments.
Despite thoughts that some Russian players might leave the NHL for the KHL for the chance to play in the Winter Olympics next year, there seems to be an exodus the other way, with top players even taking pay cuts to come to North America.
Some of that has to do with financial turmoil in the KHL, including concerns over late or missed paychecks.
Millstein said the waiting game is not for everyone, such as Tampa Bay leading scorer Nikita Kucherov, who played Canadian junior hockey to get accustomed to North American rinks that are 4.57m narrower than those in Europe.
Undrafted Panarin and Zaitsev needed no such adjustment period before thriving in the NHL as mid-20s rookies.
“It’s always nice to see Russian guys come here, especially undrafted, try to get a shot here,” said Orlov, who quickly became a top-pairing defenseman for the Capitals. “Everybody’s different to come here. Here is [the] best league in the world and I think everyone, you need more time to get used to how you play here and how [the] coach is going to give you ice time and everything like that.”
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