Detroit Red Wings offer Evgeny Ryasensky a contract (Photo © hcneftekhimik.ru)

Detroit Red Wings offered 23-years-old defenseman Evgeny Ryasensky a contract. As reported by Sovietskiy Sport, he will move to Detroit in September to skate at the Wings’ training camp.

Ryasensky is a physical player who likes to hit and has decent offensive abilities. He was a key part of Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk’s surprize run in the latest KHL playoffs, even if he didn’t score any point.

Later after the season he skated with Team Russia at the Swedish Hockey Games, the last stage of the Euro Hockey Tour, in which he was named tournament’s best defenseman, but he didn’t make the cut for the 2010 WC in Germany.

Ryasensky: “I’ve talked with my North American agent and through him Detroit offered me to play for them. And so in September I’ll go to the USA and report to the training camp. I think at the same time I’ll sign a contract with the team. I think that in the NHL I can grew up to my hundred percent, because of the small ice and the constant physical play – this fits my game. I’m not afraid of spending a part of the season in the AHL.”

Translation by RussianHockeyFans.com

Vyacheslav Fetisov: “I think that one game is enough” (Photo © Sportbox.ru)

Vyacheslav Fetisov‘s sensational comeback didn’t save CSKA from a home defeat against SKA St. Petersburg in a game that saw Maxim Sushinsky score his 300th goal. RussianHockeyFans offers you a translation of what Fetisov said after the game to the Russian TV channel “Sport”.

“I feel really good. It was a bit sentimental, starting with the hymn and going on. I’m a happy man today. I’d like to thank all the fans that attended the game, all the persons and the guys that I played with today. This was an unforgettable game for me. Thank you all!

The game was good, the guys showed a good character in the third period, we came a little short… I wish I could drop about 15 years, to be of more help to the team. The feeling of being in the dressing room with the guys, sharing the same bench – you can’t reproduce it in regular life outside of hockey. I am thankful for having had this chance.
The most important thing we did today was draw attention of people to hockey. What we did today was positive for the image of Russian hockey and Russia itself. There are good people, there is interest for the game, and all this can only grow in the years to come.

I think that one game is enough. There are good players and a good coach and CSKA will be again the CSKA we all know”.

Sergei Fedorov: “No hard feelings against Bowman. Now” (Photo © Elsa/Getty Images)

Former Detroit Red Wing Sergei Fedorov sit down for an interview with KHL magazine “Hot Ice”, where he talked about his escape in the United States after the USSR collapse and about the adaptation towards a new way of live. But the most interesting part was when he talked about his relationship with Scott Bowman.

I understand it now: Scotty Bowman had too many hot potatoes on his hands that he needed to juggle to keep the team successful. But back then, I think North American coaches still hadn’t realized that Russians play every game from the heart, that it’s not routine. For years those reproaches were all we heard: “The Russians have no idea what a playoff is, they haven’t felt the Stanley Cup…” Nowadays, plenty of people have proved that wasn’t the case. Look at Zhenya Malkin! If they had let us show what we could do back then the way they’re letting him in Pittsburgh, there would have been a nuclear revolution in hockey. Although, then the outflow of Russian hockey players leaving for the NHL would have been even stronger. So there were pluses and minuses to that underestimation.

And when he asked if he holds a grudge against Scott Bowman, he replied:

There’s no point holding a grudge for so many years. You only make yourself worse. But I really didn’t understand it then.

He also looked to haven’t forget the popular claim made by his former head coach, who said that “Fedorov has got anything but a big hearth”.

If he really did say something like that, then that’s the only reason. I wouldn’t have understood it then, of course, but I do now. Had he tried to say something like that about a Canadian or an American I think they would have just fired him. But you could say that about a Russian. Whom do we have to complain to?

Fedorov also found the time to claim the superiority of the Soviet hockey of old even over the Canadians:

You know, I’ve been re-watching the 1972 Summit Series. Take a look at how the U.S.S.R. team started played after the guys’ nerves quieted down! They tore Canada apart – 7-3. Look at the merry-go-round they had going in their opponents’ zone, and in the neutral zone, too! There’s no one now who can play that kind of hockey – no one has that kind of mastery, that kind of mutual understanding.