Russian Players In NHL

It took 579 games to Ilya Kovalchuk to score his 600th point in the National Hockey League. In his 579th effort, during the second period of a match between Atlanta Thrashers and Buffalo Sabres, he scored the first goal of the game with a top-shelf wrist shot from the slot.

In this season Kovalchuk scored 25 goals and 47 points in 32 matches, numbers that make him the fourth top goal scorer and the eighth top point scorer in the league. He's also the fifth forward with the most average time on ice with more than 22 minutes a night. He logs in average only eighteen seconds less than the mos used forward, slovak Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers.

Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Bodreau, as reported by Tarik El-Bashir in his Capitals Insider, feels that Semyon Varlamov is quickly improving in the recover from the groin injury he suffered on December 7th.

Bodreau: "Semyon Varlamov is inching toward returning to the lineup. He's getting betterm the week after Christmas, he's going to be playing one of those games. I don't know which one it will be, but it will be one of them."

Semyon Varlamov is a strong candidate for the third goalkeeper spot at the upcoming Olympic Games in Vancouver. This season he has posted so far a .927 save percentage with a GAA of 2.21.

Habs' Andrei Markov and Thrashers' Maxim Afinogenov liked joke when they played for Dynamo Moscow of the KHL in the 2004/05 season, according to their former partner Yakov Rylov.

Rylov gave an interview to Russian site sports.ru where he recollected some stories with Markov and Afinogenov. RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of some parts of the interview.

"Once Max Afinogenov made a bad pass and [Dynamo's head coach] Krikunov exclaimed: "What are you, blind?". The following day the team gathered in a room for the game analysis. Max took a seat in the first row and put on strong glasses. You know, the ones that enlarge your eyes considerably. Krikunov came in and started laughing.

At one moment there were rumors that Mikhail Grabovskiy (now playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs) would get traded from Neftekhimik to Dynamo. First he was expected to come right at that moment, then he was expected to come after the season. So one day there was a practice and Markov and Afinogenov were skating in jerseys with Grabovskiy's surname on the back."

Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuk gave an interview to Russian site sportbox.ru where he talked about the Olympics in Vancouver.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Q. How often do you think about the Olympic Games in Vancouver?
Kovalchuk: "Pretty often, but right now I'm focused on playing for the Thrashers. We got into a functional slump and now have to get out of it as soon as possible."

Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals took part in a photo shoot for Men's Journal.

The photo shoot took place last September in New York.

The photo will appear in the December-January issue of Men's Journal.

Below is a video of the shoot:

21-year-old Russian defenceman, Vladimir Zharkov of the New Jersey Devils scored his first NHL point.

On 4 December, 2009, in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning Zharkov assisted to Niclas Bergfors to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.

So far in the 2009-10 season Zharkov played 3 games having average 13 minutes TOI, 1 assist, 2 PIM, 6 SOG.

Video of Zharkov's assist:

In this exclusive RussianHockeyFans.com interview, New York Rangers' prospect, 19 years old Evgeny Grachev confirms that he won't go to the WJC, talks about his AHL experience and hints that he isn't going to follow Nikita Filatov's route and bolt back to the KHL.

Alexander Ovechkin gave an interview to Anna Nasekina of Sovetskiy Sport in Montreal where his Capitals faced the Canadiens. Ovechkin talked about being a caveman, not caring about what others think of him, the Olympics, girls, and a lot of other funny stuff.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Viktor Tikhonov's father, Vasiliy, gave an interview to a Russian newspaper Sport-Express where he stated that the Coyotes want Tikhonov to come back to the North America.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

- Were there any problems with the Coyotes when Viktor decided to leave for the KHL?
- Yes. In Viktor's contract with the Coyotes there is a clause saying that he can return to Russia if he gets sent to the AHL. We used this clause and now he is going to play for Severstal of the KHL on a loan basis. But recently we have been contacted by the Coyotes, they want Viktor to return to the North America*. They say he has a contract.

- Is he going to return?
- No. We want him to play in the new Russian league. We hope Viktor will do great there.

Update:
* - in the original post I wrote 'return to Phoenix' and some visitors thought that the Coyotes' would grant him ice time in the NHL. Now I changed it to 'return to the North America' because this is what actually was written in the original interview. Beg your pardon.

Alexander Medvedev, the president of SKA St. Petersburg and the KHL, in an interview with Russian newspaper Sport-Express stated that SKA is going to offer Ilya Kovalchuk a contract.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of this brief interview.

- We do have an interest in Kovalchuk. We know that the Thrashers are going to offer him the maximum salary within the limits of the salary cap. But there are differences between the tax systems in the USA and Russia so our offer can turn out to be better. It's up to Kovalchuk to decide where to continue his career.

- Have you talked with Kovalchuk already?
- We're talking!

Alexander Ovechkin talked to media about his knee injury after skating for 4 minutes in today's practice before leaving the ice.

It's not a bad injury. I thought it was going to be worse, but thank God I can walk, I can skate. Of course, it's a little bit sore, but it's not that serious.

I can do nothing about it. It's just a moment of the game. I turned and realize I don't have time to stop.

Why do I have to listen to somebody who say, 'Hey, you have to change your game, and somebody going to kill you'. Well, nobody going to kill me. I just play my game and I just enjoy my time and I enjoy my life. It's me, and it is what it is.

The Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau says that it is hard to tell Ovechkin to change the way he plays, reports Corey Masisak of The Washington Times in his twitter.

He's pretty reckless. It is hard telling a guy who scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays. At the same time, you don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he needs to pick his spots a little better.

I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way. I don't think anything being said will change the way he plays. I don't think there is a malicious bone of him trying to hurt anybody. He just plays hard and he plays to win every shift. It is a really fine line between taking that away from him and I don't see how you can take it away without talking to him.