NHLers playing in the Russian Superleague

[rh71]

From: http://www.rushockey.com/

by Sergei Balashov

Alot of attention has been paid to those NHL players that chose playing
in Russia over sitting this season out. The question is, were they
really needed and did they make any positive impact on their teams and
hockey in general? The answer is definitely yes and we're not only
talking about improving the quality of the game of hockey and taking it
to a higher level. Most teams have really rich sponsors that didn't
seem to think twice before opening up their wallets and showing
everyone that cash is really a four letter word. Ak Bars and Dynamo
were in the vanguard on this movement. These teams landed such high
profile players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Aleksey Morozov, Pavel Rosa,
Nikolai Khabibulin, Vincent Lecavalier, Darius Kasparaitis, Alexei
Kovalev and Pavel Datsyuk. This list could go on and on and on. One
might think that with such a mighty roster any team could win the
championship easily. However, the season showed that having a whole
lineup of big namers doesnt guarantee anything. If we look at the top
three scorers we'll see Maxim Sushinski (18+36), Alexei Kaygorodov
(15+33) and Drmitri Zatonsky (23+24). Only Maxim Sushinski's had NHL
experience, but it was brief as he played less than a seaosn with the
Minnesota Wild before returning home. Aleksey Morozov tops the NHL
returnees with 20 goals and 25 assists in 58 regular season games, if
he was on this path in the NHL he'd get 27.88 goals and 35.34 assists
for 63.22 points in 82 regular season games, which isn't that bad.
However, his stats isn't what matters most. He showed some awsome
hockey skills that allowed him to set up many a goal for Ilya Kovalchuk
and other Ak Bars players. He considerably improved as a hockey player
and can be more of a helper for the Penguins whenever he returns to
Pittsburgh. Kovalchuk was expected to burst out with a heap of goals,
but he managed to score just 19 times in 53 games. It doesn't seem that
good especially after seeing him win the scoring title in the NHL. On
the other hand, it's not that bad if we compare it to what other stars
from Kazan amassed in terms of goals and assists. Vincent Lecavalier
played in 34 games (including playoffs) and beat the opponent's goalie
8 times, which makes for the average of 0.23 goals a game. On same
path, he'd get just 19 goals in an NHL regular season. Dany Heatley was
a bit better but it didn't matter that much. Despite playing the grand
total of 15 games and scoring 5 times (the average of 0.33 a game or
one goal in every 3 games) he couldn't find the back of the net when it
mattered the most in game 4 against Lokomotiv. Heatley scored the game
winning goal in the shootouts in game three but it was a useless effort
as Ak Bars lost the next game and kissed the playoffs goodbye. The
reunion of Heatley and Kovalchuk in Kazan brought great expectations
but the dynamic duo didn't live up to them. Ak Bars got their last goal
of the season with seconds left in game 4 in Yaroslavl. It was their
only one in that game and it was scored by a who-dat named Vitali
Proshkin. Fans in Kazan are certainly unhappy with the outcome of this
season. One might ask if the players really care, but it seems like
they're glad they got a nice vacation in the snowy city of Kazan. They
have alot of stories to tell, however none of them are about hockey.

Dynamo seems to be better off, especially after today's huge win
against Avangard. The Moscow team also chose signing big namers as a
reliable way of building a solid team and showing great results. It
seemed to work as Dynamo finished first and sweeped Neftekhimik in the
first round of playoffs. Pavel Rosa, a former Los Angeles King, topped
the team in points with 44 in 54 games. Pavel Datsyuk put up a strong
perfomance during the regular season and proved to be a worthy addition
to the team. He amassed 15 goals and 20 assists in 47 games which tied
him with Vyacheslav Kozlov and Valeri Kamensky for 15th spot among the
league's top scorers. Dynamo considerably improved it's game compared
to what we could see last year and has a solid chance of winning the
championship. Lada Togliatti is viewed by many as Dynamo's most likely
opponent in the finals. This team is a totally different story. Lada
did sign a few NHLers, but we didn't see any superstars like Jagr or
Heatley among them. Lada brought in goalie Jussi Markkanen, forwards
Dainius Zubrus, Alexander Semin and Victor Kozlov. No one doubts that
these guys are extremely talented, but none of them can offer a resume
that could match that of Dany Heatley, Kikolai Khabibulin or Ilya
Kovalchuk. Petr Vorobiev built an awsome team from what he had and
these offseason additions turned out to be the perfect fit for the team
from Togliatti. Markannen has been consistently outstanding and Lada's
defense might be the best in the league, which was a big factor in
Lada's strong performance during the regular season. Alexei Yashin, who
arrived in Yaroslavl prior to the playoffs, is completely overshadowed
by Lada's D that can offer nothing but a collection of no namers like
Grigori Panin, Dmitri Vorobiev, Maxim Semenov and Alexander Titov. No
matter how much you take form the talent pool, coaching and leadership
are always the deciding factors.

However, there is more to it than that. Besides hockey itself we should
also look at the marketing opportunities that singing an NHL superstar
can bring. Every major newspaper of Russia, Canada, U.S.A. and other
countries covered Jaromir Jagr's decision to move to Russia and play
for Avangard. Fans all over the World quickly learned what Avangard
Omsk is and that there is hockey in Russia. More so, teams are wealthy
enough to lure NHL's greatest player of the mid 90s. No one cared how
many games he would play, if he would score a goal, everyone was dying
to see him play in Russian Superleague. We could see jerseys with #68
on the back going off the stock even before Jags stepped on the ice for
the first time. Jagr is a skilled player and he proved it once again
having the best point-per-game average with 1.18 (38 points in 32
games). Maxim Sushinski, who finished 1st with 54 points in 50 games
posted the average of 1.08 points a game. After playing in 5 playoff
games, Sushinski has 10 (4+6) points and Jagr has 9 (4+5). Having #68
on the ice guaranteed extra attention from mass media and from the
fans. It applies not only to Avangard but to the whole league in
general. Superleague is still below the NHL level in terms of hockey
talent, but bringing most of the top NHL players certainly boosted
attendance and built positive circumstance for development. However,
none of these opportunities seem to be taken advantage of as we don't
see any big TV contracts signed with international broadcasters which
is another drop of salt on the wound created by the NHL lockout.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

In Soviet Russia, Hockey plays you.