Fedor Fedorov breaks the glasses with a slapshot (video) (Photo © Getty Images)

Former Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers player, forward Fedor Fedorov, broke the glass during the warm-up before SKA St. Petersburg’s KHL regular season game on October 16th against Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg.

SKA eventualy won the home game with a 5-1 score, and Fedorov had one assist.

RussianHockeyFans offers you a video of this curious incident:

Artyukhin’s contract with SKA confirmed (Photo © Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Evgeny Artyukhin’s contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL has been confirmed and the player is now free to play, Russian press reports. The 27 years old forward’s signing was delayed due to some heart problems risen during the first medical checks.

Artyukhin, who will play with the #44, is set to debut with SKA today against Metallurg Novokuznetsk.

Artyukhin has been drafted in the NHL by the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2001 Entry Draft. In 199 NHL games scored 19 goals and 30 assists for a total of 49 points. He won a gold medal at both U18 and U20 WJCs.

Nabokov’s agent Isakov: “For Evgeny Russia isn’t an empty word” (Photo © Getty Images)

After the announcement of Nabokov’s signing with SKA St. Petersburg, Russian popular portal Sport day by day had an interview with agent Sergei Isakov, in which he talked about the negotiating with SKA, about Nabokov’s family and about the length of the contract they signed with Alexander Medvedev’s team.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Isakov: “I met SKA’s representatives more than once. At first we couldn’t agree about some fundamental terms of the contract. So there were moments that should have been discussed in detail. But in any case I felt that if SKA would want to approach us again they would have done the right thing.”

– Surely a goalie of Nabokov’s level would interest most of KHL teams. Was there concurrency for SKA?

Isakov: “Honestly speaking SKA was the only team we talked to. We weren’t hasting trying to find a team. As a result yesterday we settled all the problems with SKA. It’s a team with big traditions. They have a good roster. It’s time for them to win the title. And, of course, you can’t win without a good goalie. And Nabokov is the number one.”

– Evgeny played for 13 seasons with San Jose. Maybe it was disappointing for him not to get an offer from the Sharks?

Isakov: “Of course the years spent in San Jose gave him a lot. You might have understood that Evgeny doesn’t like to change places. In his career he played only for Dynamo Moscow and for San Jose. And one year in Magnitogorsk during the lock-out. Regarding the contract with the Sharks, their GM Ron Wilson thanked him for the years spent within the team. And that the Flyers were really interested in him and he was ready to trade his rights. But his agent in the NHL Don Meehan couldn’t get anything concrete.”

– Nabokov’s wife, Tabitha, is American. How ready is she to move to Russia?

Isakov: “I met her two weeks ago in Las Vegas. She told me that she would have come living in Russia with pleasure and that she really wanted that her son and daughter would study in Russian. You know, Evgeny is a good family man. He didn’t only agree with me to transfer to SKA. He agreed with his wife first. This was one of the most important moments before the signing of the contract.”

– In the last interviews I had with Nabokov I had the impression that he’d rather stay in North America.

Isakov: “Maybe. But he give me the task to conduct the negotiating with SKA and thus this mean that he also wanted to play in the KHL. Evgeny knows that, playing here, he would have more chances to play for the Russian national team. For him the word Russia isn’t an empty sound.”

– For how long Evgeny can play for SKA?

Isakov: “The contract is a four-year deal. We signed this specially for the Sochi Olympic Games. He’s thinking about finishing his career in 2010 after winning the gold medal with Russia.”

Evgeny Nabokov signs with SKA of the KHL (Photo © Avelar/AP)

Evgeny Nabokov has signed a 4-year, $24-million contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, as reported by the Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport.

In the 10 seasons he played in California he recorded a 293-215-29 record, with a 2.39 goals against average. He also was awarded with the Calder Trophy of the top rookie of the year in 2001.

SKA offers Kovalchuk $14M per year (Photo © nj.com)

SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL has offered Ilya Kovalchuk a $42M, 3-year contract (which makes its $14M per year), as reported by Russian newspaper Sport-Express.

In case Kovalchuk accepts the offer, he will also get a huge signing bonus.

SKA has long been trying to get Kovalchuk (we wrote about this in November, December and February).

Alexander Medvedev: “I’ll talk to Kovalchuk’s wife” (Photo © Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Alexander Medvedev‘s quest for signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a KHL contract for the 2010/11 season goes on, despite the recent trade that brought the Russian sniper to New Jersey.

This is what SKA St. Petersburg‘s president said to gazeta.ru:

Alexander Medvedev: “Atlanta already regrets that they parted with Kovalchuk. On the other hand New Jersey almost secured themselves a playoff spot. We are still considering to transfer Ilya to the KHL. I’m going to attend the game New Jersey – Philadelphia, I will talk to both Ilya and his wife after the match.”

Read also:
SKA to offer Kovalchuk a contract?
SKA of the KHL is interested in Kovalchuk

Zubov, Esche, Saprykin, Dallman in massive brawl, goalie fights defenceman (Photo © khl.ru)

Former NHL players Sergei Zubov, Robert Esche, Oleg Saprykin and Kevin Dallman took part in a massive brawl in a Sunday game between KHL’s Barys Astana and SKA St. Petersburg.

The game flared up in the end of the 3rd period when SKA scored a powerplay goal to make the score 5-1 to their advantage.

The fans didn’t get a chance to witness a goalie fight but instead they saw a goalie-defenceman fight, as Barys keeper Alexei Kuznetsov faced defenceman Alexei Petrov of SKA.

Update
To watch the famous Avangard-Vityaz 691PIMs fight go here:
KHL game cancelled after bench-clearing fight, teams get 691 PIM

KHL individual stats: goals, assists, points (Photo © khl.ru)

More than half of a season has passed in the KHL and it is time to tally up an interim total.

Below are Top 5 lists of goal scorers, assists, points and plus/minus leaders. Among the highlights are Marcel Hossa of Dinamo Riga topping the scorers rating, Maxim Spiridonov proving his worth after a few bad seasons with 20 goals in 40 games, SKA linemates Maxim Sushinskiy and Alexei Yashin being assists leaders and Sergei Fedorov being the 3rd in plus/minus rating.

KHL Top Goal Scorers

1. Marcel Hossa, Dinamo Riga, 24 goals in 37 games.
2. Alexei Morozov, Ak Bars, 20 in 34.
3. Maxim Spiridonov, Barys, 20 in 40.
4. Maxim Sushinskiy, SKA, 18 in 39.
5. Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, 18 in 36.

KHL Assists Leaders

1. Alexei Yashin, SKA, 32 assists in 39 games.
2. Sushinskiy Maxim, SKA, 29 in 33.
3. Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, 28 in 42.
4. Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant, 26 in 36.
5. Patrick Thoresen, Salavat Yulaev, 26 in 38.

KHL Points Leaders

1. Maxim Sushinskiy, SKA, 47 points in 39 games.
2. Alexei Yashin, SKA, 44 in 39.
3. Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev, 43 in 36.
4. Sergei Zinoviev, Salavat Yulaev, 42 in 37.
5. Sergei Mozyakin, Atlant, 41 in 36.

KHL Plus/Minus Leaders

1. Patrick Thoresen, Salavat Yulaev, +25.
2. Raymond Giroux, SKA, +25.
3. Sergei Fedorov, Metallurg Mg, +22.
4. Vitaliy Vishnevskiy, Lokomotiv, +22.
5. Miroslav Blatak, Salavat Yulaev, +22.

Here are some useful links with complete lists:
Top Goal Scorers
Assists Leaders
Points Leaders
Plus/Minus Leaders

Sergei Zubov: “SKA could defeat any NHL team” (Photo © Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

In the interview posted on KHL official site, SKA St. Petersburg’s Sergei Zubov talks about the differences between the NHL and the KHL, gives his opinion on personal awards and compares veterans’ and youngsters’ contribution to a team’s success.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation of the interview.

Judging by last month’s stats, your needed period of adaptation to Russia is complete.
You can say that, I guess. I’ve spent the first two months to adapt to new hockey and new size rink. I’ve tried to understand the style of my team and of the opponents. Because of this I couldn’t perform up to my possibilities. Now I am rather accustomed and thus I play well. My team helped me a lot – in the last few weeks played simply great. In this team it’s hard not to play well.

When you came back, you remembered the different style of hockey in Russia or you had to start it again from scratch?
It’s something closer to the second thing you said. Hockey here differs a bit from the one I played for long time in North America. The most complicated thing for me was to get used to the biggest rinks, which influences their hockey style.

Did Russian hockey change much since your depart for America in the 90s?
It’s rather changed, but I don’t think it changed radically. In those years many talented Russian guys left the country almost at the same time and Russian hockey suffered a lot for this. But I think that it recovered quickly and Russian League was again one of the world’s best. Now it’s the position of Russian hockey that pleases me, it’s clearly rising. You can see it from the new arenas, built in all around the nation, full stands. They are almost sold-out – except in Moscow.

SKA is a veteran team, at least it’s leaders are not very young. At the same time one can’t say that SKA is a slow team. How would you explain this?
As they say, an old ox makes a straight furrow. I think that as players get old, they can gain experience and mastery, but also remain in good physical conditions. In most of cases it’s the experience that makes you win matches. I seen teams in the KHL who count on quick, talented players, but we defeated such teams, because these guys don’t have yet what it takes during the key’s moment of the match, they don’t know what to do and where to go. I think that an experienced player, who pays attention to his health, trains and acts correctly, isn’t going to have less speed and stamina than younger players. This is why all our “elders” get on ice and play with the main team almost any match.

By the way, about the main team. You are one of the team leaders’ for average time on ice. Did you ask the coach not to spare you or Zubov is thought as indispensable to the team?
I don’t know who thinks what, but I never asked anyone such a question. I’m really pleased to play a lot. And I’m also pleased to show my coaches that I am in good physical conditions.

You have been KHL’s top defenseman for November. How do you like getting such accomplishments?
I don’t pay too much attention to them, I generally don’t care too much about personal acknowledgments. The most important thing for me are the concrete results. For example, I was very disappointed after the loss against Atlant. I was simply destroyed. I don’t like losing, and ever defeat brings me bad memories.

How should a defenceman’s performance be evaluated? Some awards in fact are guilty of considering the best defenseman as the one who scores more points.
Defensemen should help the team defending, and scoring points is for forwards. I think that a defenseman’s tasks should be, qualitatively, work until the final buzzer on defense and, if a possibility arises, go attacking. If I score after I allowed a goal in my net, it still doesn’t redeem my fault.

Nevertheless you regularly manage to upset opposition goalies. So far you have five goals under your belt. But what’s your record in a season?
Can’t say. I’ve never counted or kept in mind. I don’t consider scoring goals my main task. I’ll explain. In any league I go, I want to win it, in any game I hit the ice, my goal is the win. The aim is either reached or not. What do my points have to do with it? There are twenty players in our team, everyone has to step up and give his contribution. I never boast that my contribution is bigger than others’.

And how do you judge the common opinion that the level of Russian hockey isn’t as good as the North American one?
I don’t agree. Playing style is determined by the rinks’ size. Here there are less physical play, less shots because there is more space. And that’s why the game here looks softer and slower.

If we put SKA in the NHL today, could they compete at an equal level?
Yeah, they could. Our team is ready to face and even defeat any NHL team.

Igor Makarov traded to Dynamo Moscow for Oleg Saprykin (Photo © fhr.ru)

After being a healthy scratch in the last few games with Dynamo Moscow, former Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Ottawa Senators and CSKA Moscow player Oleg Saprykin has been traded to SKA St. Petersburg for hot prospect Igor Makarov.

Makarov was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft as 33rd overall pick. The quick winger participied to the Hawks’ training camp a couple of seasons ago, but decided to get back to Russia after he failed securing a roster spot within the main team and apparently refusing to play in the AHL.

This year Makarov’s role has diminished a bit because of SKA’s depth and thus he scored only three goals in twenty-five matches. Saprykin’s season has been disappointing as well, with only four markers in twenty-one regular seasons clashes.