Andrei Nikolishin donning a Caps jersey in 2000.
Andrei Nikolishin, who is currently playing in his 21st season of professional hockey, has had a long career. From 1996 to 2002, he was a Washington Capital. In 1998, along with teammates Dale Hunter, Peter Bondra, and Olie Kolzig, he helped the Caps reach their first ever Stanley Cup Final.
When the NHL lockout hit in 2004-05, Niko continued his career in Russia and eventually became a teammate of Evgeny Kuznetsov, playing with the Caps prospect in Traktor Cheylabinsk for two seasons in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
For this reason, Andrei, who now plays for Sokol Kyiv of the Ukrainian Professional Hockey League, was approached by Sportbox.ru to share his thoughts on the KHL playoffs and his former teammate’s decision to stay in Russia another year. My translation of his comments are below.
