Alexander Avtsin: I hope to play some pre-season games (Photo © cyberpress.ca)

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.”

Alexander Avtsin parts with Dynamo Moscow (Photo © rds.ca)

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.

Dynamo’s GM: Avtsin is under contract with us (Photo © khl.ru)

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 leaves KHL, joins Canadiens (Photo © Getty Images)

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: “Playing in the CHL makes no sense to me” (Photo © khl.ru)

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.

Alexander, are there other athletes in your family?
Avtsin: “Yes, my mother is a runner. She used to be a distance runner as she competed in 800 and 1500 meters. My mom really wanted that I became a sportsman and she was happy to bring me every day to the practices.”

And how did you transfer from Vympel to CSKA?
Avtsin: “I knew a coach who worked in CSKA with 1989-born guys. I am 1991. When he started training the guys of my birth year I’ve asked him if it was possible to move into his team. He said that I would have to undergo a try-out. This is how I went into CSKA’s first practice and never came back to Vympel.”

And you liked it there since the start?
Avtsin: “Yeah, since the start!” (smiles)

And how did you turn out in Dynamo?
Avtsin: “I played four seasons with CSKA. The first years were pretty good, but the last one not quite. I was already playing for the Moscow selects and there I befriended many guys from Dynamo. They started asking me to join the team. Then Dynamo’s head coach Ramil Valiulin approached me and said ‘Come on Sasha, join us. I’ll put you in the first line.’ The season was over and I, without hesitation, moved to Dynamo.”

Do you still have friends in CSKA?
Avtsin: “Almost all the guys from my birth year, just like me, parted with the Red Army. Now, of course, I’ve good ties with them, but nowadays most of my friends are my Dynamo team mates.”

The next step was playing for Dynamo-2.
Avtsin: “Yes. I managed to score two goals in my first game with Dynamo’s farm team. I was so happy. We arrived to the farm club close to the season’s end, we played a total of five matches. It was me, Nikita Dvurechensky, Pavel Zotov and Oleg Li. The following year wasn’t so good for us, except for Pavel Zotov, who played very well. But the season after this one was simply great.”

The one in which you scored more than 100 points?
Avtsin: “Yeah, that one. But many other players had an excellent season, not only me. Especially Zotov, Dvurechensky and [Roman] Vasiliev. We all play together now.”

After such a great season you were drafted by the Montreal Canadiens and you decided to report to their training camp, in which you played very well. Why did you decide to remain in Russia, despite they offered you to stay in Canada?
Avtsin: “We thought a lot if it would have been better to remain in Canada or not. We weigh the pros and cons with my mama and my agent. But then we decided that there was no need to hurry. Giving that I have the chance to play in the KHL, playing in the North American junior leagues makes no sense to me. And now I don’t regret a single bit of that decision.”

Do you want to come back there?
Avtsin: “I don’t want to guess the future, but playing in the NHL is my dream since the childhood.”

And for which team did you want to play?
Avtsin: “When I was a little boy here they would talk only about the ‘Russian five’ in Detroit. I made no difference, everyone was cheering for Detroit. I had myself a cap and a jersey of that team. Now I can’t really pick one of the teams in the league.”

Russian press loves you! You are only 18, but you had more interviews than a lot of other KHL players. Doesn’t this great attention tire you?
Avtsin: “I never said even only once that I like the press’ attention. But I’m always willing to talk. Well, sometimes I don’t really want, for example if I am in bad mood because of a bad game. You get out of the locker rooms and they put a microphone in your face and daze you with cameras’ flash. I don’t know how can one appreciate all this… But, of course, I understand that this is part of my job and I try to act in a professional way.”

Did the ‘press training sessions’ in Montreal help you on this matter?
Avtsin: “Yes, in Canada there was a good preparation. They showed us some video clips about the correct way to talk and to act. It was very interesting. But on the other hand in our team there is a player, Alexei Zhitnik, which doesn’t need any course to teach him how to give an interview. He’s a true professional.”

Zhitnik isn’t a true professional only while giving interviews. Nowadays in Dynamo there are many other great players. Do you try to ‘steal’ something from your team mates?
Avtsin: “I pay a lot of attention my partners’ play. I try watching their dekes, their shots and their performances. You can learn a lot from them even during the practices.”

Do you ask your more expert team mates for advices in the locker room?
Avtsin: “Of course, they always help me, no one never denies anything. Zhitnik himself, during the games’ breaks, often suggests us what we should do and how to do it.”

Maybe in Dynamo’s junior team they ask you for suggestions?
Avtsin: “No, in our junior team it’s not like that. We are peers, everyone talks with different people. If you want to, you can advise something yourself, hardly you will have something to ask though.”

In which team do you feel more confident, in the KHL one or in the MHL one?
Avtsin: “For now in the MHL one. I am a leader there, in the important moments of the game they are going to ice me. In the KHL I play in the fourth line, whose main aim is to give some rest to the top-6.”

And what about the game-winning goal you scored against SKA?
Avtsin: “I was lucky. Vadim Epanchintsev gave me a great pass, I only had to tap the puck in.”

But there was also the game against Neftekhimik, in which you scored your first KHL goal and got the man of the match honors.
Avtsin: “I’ll never forget the emotions after the first KHL goal. That was fantastic! It was like being in the fog…everyone was running toward me, but I was running away. Only later I understood that it should have been better to celebrate with my team mates. “

How much important was that goal for you?
Avtsin: “Without any doubt for any young player it’s really important. When you score you are really happy but, more importantly, they are going to trust you more, to give you more ice time. With such conditions any player starts playing with more confidence.”

Are you superstitious?
Avtsin: “Generally speaking, I don’t believe too much in omens. But almost all hockey players pay attention to such things, like the side on which they put the jersey. I am no exception. I always put on my equipment starting from the left side. The skate, the guard, the glove. Always the left side first.”

Can you tell us about some funny sportsman’s superstition?
Avtsin: “Frankly speaking, there are many of them. Many find funny my own superstition: I want anyone to stay off my stick prior the game. I prepare it, I set it up and then no one else has to get any close to it.”

Your girlfriend has a beautiful name, Milana. Can you tell us about the first time you met her?
Avtsin: “We met not in a ordinary way. I was flying to the draft with my agent. In the Boeing my seat was the second in a row of four armchairs, and in the same row was sitting an attractive girl. When I was going to get on my armchair, she approached me and said, in English: ‘Is this your seat?’ I replied ‘Yes’ (in English – ASR) and got to my seat. My agent was behind me. When the plane started to gain altitude, I turned toward her and asked something in Russian, and she instantly reacted: ‘And so you are Russian’. So we begun a conversation and with her that long flight didn’t look that long. So I found out that Milana was born in Riga and her parents live in Canada. She was flying to them. The next time we met we were already in Montreal. During the draft (training camp perhaps? – ASR) she attended all my games and we walked through the city in all the free evenings. Milana showed me all the places of interest of the city.”

How do you communicate now? She lives in Latvia, you in Moscow…
Avtsin: “Milana tries to visit me as often as possible. But of course, most of times we correspond through the internet or Skype. It’s much more interesting that way!” (smiles)

Alexander Avtsin: “I could have been useful at the WJC” (Photo © RIA Novosti/Ilya Pitalev)

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.

On the morning of January 3rd, Team Russia’s fans were shocked as the national junior team just lost to Team Switzerland. Who did tell you about this result?
Avtsin: “We were on our way to Khabarovsk when my mom texted me about the result. We were landing and I read her messages.”

Did this upset you a lot?
Avtsin: (Pause) “Of course this upset me, it can’t be the other way around. In this team there were many players that I faced while playing in the junior leagues. But I “lamented” a bit. We had the match against Amur in front of us. Try to understand me, I wasn’t a player of this team and in my mind there was only Dynamo Moscow and the KHL.”

Didn’t you send a comforting SMS to your friends in Canada?
Avtsin: “No. (grins) The guys would think about it even without my SMS. In such moments, I know by myself, it’s better that others leave you alone. You are one on one with your thoughts. You delve into yourself.”

In the media many experts discussed if Avtsin should have gone to the WJC. What do you think yourself?
Avtsin: “In December I was in good shape, I scored in the KHL against Neftekhimik and SKA. I think that I could have been useful for our team in Canada. I would have give all for the win. But I wasn’t needed and I wasn’t invited.”

It’s evident that Vladimir Plyuschev didn’t consider you part of this team. Maybe there was some conflict with the coach?
Avtsin: “With me? (smiles) What conflict can be there if he’s a coach and I am a player. I was called twice in national team’s camps, when Plyuschev was still working with the U-18 team. I was training in the team’s fourth-fifth lines and thus I was sent back home.”

And didn’t you talk face-to-face with him?
Avtsin: “You know, it seems to me that he talks face-to-face with players from the top two lines only.”

Interesting. Is it normal, in your opinion?
Avtsin: “I can’t reply to this question. My task is to play hockey and not to discuss coaches. Probably it’s what he needed in that moment.”

What do you think team Russia lacked of to get to the semifinals?
Avtsin: “Perhaps just some luck. Yes, the team lost to Switzerland in this one game. But no one could say what happened if the game would be re-played other three or four times. That’s hockey, the better team doesn’t win all the times. And sometimes around the New Year there are sensations.”

Last year’s U-18 team core was made up of the same players from this year’s team. Tarasenko, Burmistrov, Kitsyn, Orlov, Bobkov, Pivtsakin. There were almost no new players. Why?
Avtsin: “We can only try to guess. It’s evident that Plyuschev only trusted the players that played in last year’s U-18 WJC. This is a coach’s choice and we have to live with it.”

Team Russia’s result in this year’s can’t be called anything different from a disaster. If there will be another coach behind the bench and he calls you, will you report?
Avtsin: “I wouldn’t think twice. I’d just pack my things and get to the camp. I say a commonplace, but I will always play for team Russia. But there must also be the desire to see me in the squad from the management.”

Alexander Avtsin: “For now I’m a Dynamo player” (Photo © Sport Express)

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:

Q: Alexander, you’ve been awarded with rookie of the week honors. You started playing successfully only midway through December, while at the start of the season there were a lot of expectations on you
Avtsin: “The season isn’t over yet, we are only at its middle. We only need to go on till the end, win as much games as possible and fight to get the best results. I’m really satisfied for the award. Getting into pro hockey wasn’t an easy deal. Someone adapts quickly, someone else a little bit more slowly. I wasn’t successful since the very start, but gradually the situation is going upside down.”

How did you like scoring your first goal in pro hockey?
Avtsin: “That was an incredible feeling. I’ll remember this for my whole life. Both the goal itself and its celebration. Unforgettable. The guys asked to the ref that puck and Jiri Hudler grabbed it for me. Now it lays at home, as a memory.”

And what about the goal you scored against SKA? That was the game winning goal.
Avtsin: “I was already much quieter. Sure, SKA is a big team, scoring to them was great.”

How did your mood change since the start of your hot streak?.
Avtsin: “Scoring goals and points is always great. The important thing is not to stop and keep on working.”

Is there much concurrency between young players to get a spot on the main team?
Avtsin: “In addition to Nikita Dvurechensky there are many other good players. Roman Vasiliev, Pavel Zotov, Dmitry Goldenkov, Dmitry Lugin, I can’t name them all. We are friends, we always mix up.”

Are you disappointed not to be called for the WJC?
Avtsin: “I really wanted to get there, that is a great tournament. The more so because team Russia is always aiming to a top-3 position, at least. It is how it is. If you don’t get called, then you must not stop and keep on working. The coach felt like he needed other players, I’m not offended.”

What prospects do you have for the next season? Is it possible that you’ll try to get into one of North American junior leagues?
Avtsin: “I haven’t thought that far yet. We’ll see. I’m a Dynamo player for now, and all is good.”

With whom is more comfortable to play for you?
Avtsin: “I’ve already managed to play with some quality partners: Ivan Nepryaev, Denis Tolpeko, Dmitry Shitikov, Anton Krysanov. It’s hard to pick up one only. They all help and give good suggestions. In St. Petersburg I scored after a pass by Vadim Epanchintsev. I just had to put the puck into the empty net. We have a lot of great players in our team, and playing with them is a pleasure.”

KHL video highlights: Week 13 (Photo © khl.ru)

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.

Alexander Avtsin: From Vympel to Montreal (Photo © Bernard Brault, La Presse)

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.

It’s not the first time that this week’s top KHL rookie, Dynamo Moscow player Alexander Avtsin didn’t get a chance to play for Vladimir Plyuschev’s national team. He thus directed his anger to his hometown club as this week he scored two goals and one assist, being picked up as first star in both matches.

Avtsin’s career began in Moscow’s district of Perovo, in the central-eastern part of the city, where he used to play for the local team “Vympel”. The young talent was then noticed by CSKA scouts, who lured him in the Leningradsky boulevard, the headquarters of the popular Russian team, but he was already playing for Dinamo after a couple of seasons.

In spite of his young age, this wasn’t the first year in which he was observed by North American scouts and also Dynamo supporter swere hungry for his KHL debut. Thanks to his excellent stats in the last season, in which he scored more than one hundred points, his name started spreading out as new young star from Russia. Not surprisingly he was drafted last year, by the Montreal Canadiens.

“Playing in the NHL is my dream” – said Avtsin after the draft ceremony in Montreal finished. “Being here I understood how Canadian fans love hockey, their team and hockey players. In the future I will surely try to get into the Canadiens’ lineup, but I intend to spend this season with Dynamo Moscow”.

The experienced coach really wanted to have Avtsin in Canada already this season, but he got back in Russia to fulfill his multi-year contract with Dinamo.

“Yes, our staff liked Avtsin since his first training with the main team during the off-season” – stated this summer Dynamo’s assistant coach Igor Zhilinsky to an interview with Sports.ru. “Clearly he has skills, good hockey intelligence and a bright future in front of him. We count on him already this season. We hope that he’ll bring many benefit to our team”.

After training for the whole preseason with the main team, he started the season as spare. For his development he also spent some time in the MHL. He wasn’t only one of the league’s faces, but he also demonstrated to have plenty of necessary goal scoring spirit.

Dynamo’s head coach Valery Khomutov, who replaced Sergei Kotov in October, supervised Avtsin for a whole month and started giving Alexander more ice time. However it’s not easy to show the hundred percent playing 7-8 minutes a match.

“Alexander is a determined young player” – said his agent, Alexei Dementiev. “Hockey for him it’s the first thing and this gladdens me. He thinks about it 24 hours a day and he dreams about having a great career. He scored his first goals for Dynamo and we have to give him credit for this. Every training makes him better”.

He scored his very first goal midway through December, with an accurate wristshot which got past Vadim Tarasov, who used to be one of the national team’s goalkeepers.

Only two days later he scored on SKA and Maxim Sokolov and his goal was the tie breaker of the intense match between SKA and Dynamo.

“Now I’m significantly more relaxed than in the season’s start. The game in St. Petersburg was a true war. The most important thing for me is to help my team. Scoring to Neftekhimik was good, but with SKA was just better. Dynamo won the match, the fans were happy and also us and the coaches were satisfied. I do hope that these goals won’t be my last this season. I want to score as much as possible”.

All quotes translated by RussianHockeyFans.com

Alexander Avtsin KHL rookie of the week (Photo © Kp.ru)

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).