Alexander Avtsin News and Interviews

During a pre-season intrasquad scrimmage, Habs' prospect Alexander Avtsin played on a line with Mike Cammalleri and had one goal and one assist. Everyone note that the 20-years-old player managed to learn good English in just one year. And now he knows what the team needs from him. He also fairly judged himself, saying that it’s too early to talk about the NHL, and most likely he will spend another season in the AHL.

"I've spent half of the summer in Moscow, then I left to Montreal to get ready for the new season, I had a strengthening program", Avtsin told in Russian. “I worked with a group of players gathered by my agents. There were many Czech and Slovak players, like Havlat, Michalek"

You did look good in Cammalleri's line.

Alexander Avtsin: "We played with 10 forwards, three lines and one spare. We changed a lot and thus I didn't play with Mike only. I played in any position and with any other player."

Why did you decide to play in the AHL and not in the KHL?

Alexander Avtsin: "Every player has his own path. Every player decides for himself, and decides for what can be better and more needed."

From RussianProspect.com

Alexander Avtsin and Dynamo Moscow decided to break the player's contract as he wants to try and get a spot with the Canadiens, as reported by Sport-Express.

During the last couple of months there was a lot of speculation around Avtsin's contract as he was under contract with Dynamo, but now he decided to report to North America.

Avtsin, 19, will skate in next week's rookie camp with the Habs, and then will skate in the main team's training camp in late August.

The promising right winger had three goals and six assists with Dynamo last year, but a wrist injury in January prematurely ended his season.

In spite of the recent news it looks like Alexander Avtsin will spend the 2010-11 season in the KHL with Dynamo Moscow. Dynamo's General Manager Andrei Safronov declared through the team's official site that all the young players remain property of the new formed OHC Dynamo and all contracts are valid.

"At the end of May the KHL confirmed that all the contracts with our players are valid. Our youngsters will stay. Avtsin and Dvurechensky have a contract up to April 2011 and 2012 respectively. Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes) and Andrei Plekhanov (Columbus Blue Jackets) are among the group of players that will skate in the team's training camp in Belarus.

We will part with Pavel Valentenko. He has a big contract and we can't afford that. According to my informations he plans to get back to North America."

Alexander Avtsin is going to join the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL this summer, as reported by sportbox.ru

The 19 years old wing spent the latest season with the Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, scoring nine points in 30 regular season games, before picking up a wrist injury that shut down his season in late January.

Most likely Avtsin will start the 2010-11 campaign with the Canadiens' AHL affiliates, the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Alexander Avtsin is without a doubt one of the highest touted prospects from Russia. Unfortunately he is not playing now because of a hand injury, and will come back most likely only in one month.

In this interview with Olga Alexandrova, appeared on the official Dynamo Moscow's site, Avtsin explained why he decided to remain in Russia for this season, discussed his own current season's performances and he also told how he met his girlfriend Milana.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Habs' prospect Alexander Avtsin was surprisingly left off the Russian WJC squad and in this interview appeared on Sports.ru he discussed the WJC outcome, tried examinating the reasons of his exclusion from the team and admitted that he could have been useful for the Russians.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the interview with Avtsin.

The latest winner of the Rookie of the week award, Alexander Avtsin, during an interview published on KHL official site, talked about his first goals in pro hockey, about the upcoming WJC and about his plans for the next season.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation:

Best moments of the Week 13 in the KHL, brought to you by RT.com.

Includes goals by Alexander Avtsin, Mikhail Anisin, Maksim Sushinskiy and Vyacheslav Fetisov's comeback.

In case you wonder who is this small player in a dark-blue #22 jersey -- it's Mikhail Anisin of Sibir Novosibirsk.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you the translation of an article about Alexander Avtsin published on Russian site Sport day by day by Roman Sergeev.

The story sheds some light over Alexander's biography and also contains quotes from Alexander himself, his agent and his coaches.

After notching his first KHL goal on Friday during a 4-0 home win against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk and scoring the game-winner against SKA in St. Petersburg two days later, Dynamo's player and Habs' prospect Alexander Avtsin has been named KHL rookie of the week.

Let's remember that he also had an assist in the game against Neftekhimik. In the two games played he finished +3 and had around 7 minutes of average ice time.

The other awarded players were goalkeeper Vitaly Eremeev (Dynamo Moscow), blueliner Vitaly Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk) and forward Mikelis Redlihs (Dinamo Riga).

Dynamo Moscow forward Alexander Avtsin, drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, scored his first KHL goal. On December 11, 2009, Avtsin scored his team's fourth goal in a game against Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Dynamo won 4:0.

"I think it was my best game in Dynamo jersey. I scored a goal, our line got some points too. We will work even harder. Now I feel great not only because I scored but also because the whole team played great," said Avtsin to a Russian site Championat.ru after the game.

Below is the video of Avtsin's first KHL goal.