A portrait of Chris Simon taken by the KHL’s official magazine, Hot Ice

After leaving the Washington Capitals in 2002, Chris Simon played for five different NHL clubs over the following seven seasons. He received four suspensions during that time, including a 25-game ban for slashing Ryan Hollweg in the face and a 30-game sit down for tripping Jarkko Ruutu and then stomping on his leg with his skate.

In 2008, Simon opted to have a clean slate and joined the KHL. He signed with the league’s toughest team, Vityaz Chekhov. Known as the “Indian” among Vityaz fans, Simon quickly became a fan favorite and was named captain of the team. With Vityaz, he participated in the mega-brawl against Avangard Omsk, which resulted in both teams accumulating 600 PIM and a cancellation of the match. However, Simon’s scoring totals steadily grew every year in the KHL (eight goals in 2008-09, 13 in 2009-10 and 16 in 2010-11) and he was recently named to the 2011 KHL All-Star Game. Rumors that he would be traded at the deadline were circulating and finally, five days before the All-Star Game, he was traded to UHC Dynamo Moscow, who were looking to add some grit to their line-up for the playoffs. The second seed in the East, Dynamo was upset by Dinamo Riga in the first-round in a heart-breaking six-game series. Shortly after, Sport-Express spoke with the former Cap.

Below the jump, RMNB’s Igor Kleyer has translated the rare Simon interview. The 39 year-old talks about what it was like to learn Russian, who helped him settle in with his new team and why he decided to become a “tough guy” in the first place.

Question – Once you admitted that you had bought yourself a CD for learning Russian. What happened to it?

Chris Simon – Turned out there was not just one CD, but six of them. I opened the box, and got one disc out to start learning. I honestly tried to do the exercises, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. So I put the disk away. Some time afterwards, I tried to do it again. The same result. A couple of months ago, my family came to visit me. My wife came across the box, opened it, and could not find the third disc. When she asked me what I did with it, it was so funny. I realized that I started learning Russian with the third disk. Why I did not begin with the first one – I still have no idea. I decided that this summer I will try again. This time definitely starting with the first disc.

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Q – We have heard a few entertaining stories about your life in Chekhov. Like the one about you trying to pay at a local store. The cashier told you the amount in Russian, you did not understand and started leaning over toward her in order to see the numbers on the monitor. The girl was so scared, she slammed the cash register closed. Is that true?

CS – Total nonsense. You know, Chekhov is a small town. Many people know me. Everybody is very friendly. I never had any problems, including at the stores. If I don’t understand how much I need to pay, the cashier just turns the monitor my way, so I can see the total. That’s all.

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Q – Do the media often write things about you that are false?

CS – You know, I have only given a couple of TV interviews in Russia, and the same for print. But when I go on the internet, I see about 50 interviews that I never gave. But, honestly, I don’t care. I am not concerned about what they write or say about me. The most important things for me are my family and my team. If they are all right, I am happy.

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Q – Can you give an example of finding an interview that you never gave?

CS – Just take the story about me being traded to Dynamo. I never gave any interviews on the matter, but somehow my words appeared on the internet. I understand that the journalists have a job to do. But I absolutely remember who I talk to and what I say.

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Q – Your linemate, Leonid Komarov, has mentioned more than once that he would like to be like Jarkko Ruutu. Given your complicated history with that player, did you explain Leo that he has chosen a bad example for himself?

CS – I never met Ruutu in life outside of hockey. I am sure he is a good guy. We had a lot of run-ins on the ice, when I played for Calgary, and he was at Vancouver. And he always did everything underhandedly. So we had a decent feud going. But he is not a fighter, so I could never fight him. There are some players in the league who are dirty. Ruutu, Hollweg, Avery. The referees don’t give them much attention for some reason, and they get away with everything. By the way, when I see Ruutu playing in international games, surprisingly, it turns out he can score and pass.

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Q – And what can you say about Leo Komarov?

CS – He plays a very interesting and physical game. Goes to the net, smashes the opponents into the boards, instigates. That’s how he earned the admiration of the fans. When Vityaz played against Dynamo, Leo played his game. And I always wanted to catch him and make sure he would not bother us anymore. But when you end up on the same team, you realize that you are pulling the same wagon together. And that is great. His style allows us to find the other team’s weaknesses and achieve the needed result. And generally speaking, Leo is a pleasant and friendly guy. He helped me out when I just joined the team.

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Q – What do you think about Dynamo’s head coach Oleg Znarok?

CS – I had never met him before. Although Sandis Ozolinsh, who I played with in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup, told me that Znarok is a great coach and a wonderful person. I have not spent that much time at Dynamo, but I already realize Oleg is a coach who is concerned about his team. He cares about his players. And every player pays him back the same way. All players are determined to do as the coach says. During my career, there was only one coach with similar qualities. That was Ted Nolan. He did everything he could for the players to feel a part of the team and give it all they can. It’s always a pleasure to see a coach care more about his players than himself. I think a team like that will succeed sooner or later.

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Q – Alex Karpovtsev is proud of having fought you once, and thinks he won that fight. Although he said he would not like to run into you again on the ice. Have you thought about a rematch?

CS – I remember the fight. Karpovtsev fell down rather quickly. He really surprised me by not refusing to fight. Karpovtsev is a big guy, well built physically. If he thinks he won, let him wear the crown and enjoy the glory. I pretty much don’t care what he thinks about that fight.

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Q – One of the main characters from Dumas’ “Three Musketeers”, Porthos, answered the question why he fights by saying “I fight because I fight.” How would you answer this question?

CS – Honestly, I don’t know that writer. But to answer the question – I fight because I do it well. When I see my teammates picked on, I understand that you have to punish those people. And if someone runs into your goalie, a fight is unavoidable. You have to be able to do a lot of things in hockey. When a guy can fight and accepts a tough guy’s challenge, I respect that person. To be a tough guy is a serious and respectable choice. Maybe even as respectable as choosing to become a goalie. When a goalie makes a mistake – it’s a goal. When a fighter makes a mistake – it’s a smashed face and a lot of pain. There is a lot of pressure on a tough guy. When I came to Russia, I realized I will have to play different hockey here. I train a lot to improve my game. And I have had some success. For example, during the All Star game I won the shooting accuracy competition. But it wasn’t anything astounding, because I practice all the time.

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Q – We heard when the list of players in the shooting accuracy competition was announced, a lot of people were surprised to see your name.

CS – You know, for someone like me to be invited to the All-Star game is a bit unusual. But when people look at your stats, they think – why not? I was a bit nervous coming out for the contest. When I watched the replay, it was obvious that I was a bit shaky. Maybe that’s why I hit the crossbar. But with my fifth shot I made up for it. And won the contest. In any case, I enjoyed my All-Star Weekend. It was a good celebration of hockey. Especially enjoyable was seeing the guys I used to play with.

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Q – Like Valeri Kamensky? Did you talk about the past?

We won the Stanley Cup together. A victory like that connects people on the team. I was very hapy to see him again. He is an interesting person, a very strong leader. A very skilled player. But first and foremost – a great human being. His personal qualities left an even bigger impression on me than his hockey skills. He always cared about other people. And we were good friends while playing on the same team. And not just on the ice, but family friends as well. I remember his son often came to the games. During the All Star game Valera told me: “Si, my son doesn’t remember many of those who I played with, but he always remembers you.” I was touched. Because his son was a little kid then. But he remembers me.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin and Ian Oland.

Darcy the Fighter (photo via KP.ru)

UPDATE 12/11, 3PM: Suspensions have been doled out. Belokon has been suspended for 13 games, Verot for 12, Gratton for 15, and Larin for 13. Avangard will pay 100k RUR (3.3k USD) to the KHL, and Vityaz will pay 400k RUR (13k USD). Justice is served. Go about your day, citizen.

Editor’s note- Fedor is a total fanboy for Avangard. This is not dispassionate reporting.

We’ve written before about the Avangard-Vityaz rivalry and how it all started back in ’09. After almost two years and two fight-ful games, 12/10/10 begins a new era in the rivalry. For the newbies, here’s a little background:

• Vityaz Chekhov (stars: ex-Cap Chris Simon, ex-Bear Brandon Sugden, ex-Cap Darcy Verot, Josh Gratton) is the toughest team in the KHL, full of provokers and shameless punks. They were rumored to have signed the legendary Chris Chelios a few weeks ago. They are dead last in the West– 8 points behind the next spot, 17 points out of the playoffs. Their coach is the best Russian fighter in the NHL history, Andrei Nazarov.
• Avangard Omsk Region (stars: ex-Cap Jaromir Jagr, Martin Skoula, Marek Svatos, Kari Ramo) is one of the most successful and richest teams in the league.  They are currently fifth in the East.

How is this fight unlike its predecessors? For the first time, one team didn’t fight at all, the Hawks (Avangard’s nickname) were simply pummeled by the Vityazes (Vityaz is a Russian knight). Vityaz started their thugs (Verot, Simon, Sugden, Gratton) and sent them after Avangard immediately following the opening face off.

Get ready to  say “OUCH”.

Roman Cervenka and Martin Skoula of Avangard ended up in the hospital. Also, take a look at Verot’s disgraceful behaviour against Karri Ramo. Avangard scored twice on the resulting powerplay and won the game 3-2.

This is how a KHL site writer from Omsk described the fight in a live update:

On the sixth second of the game, five fighters from vityaz [sic] went for Avnagrd’s “playing” [Ed. Note - Russian term for players who are not fighters] players, guys from Omsk fell as those contiuned to pound them even when they fell.

Avangard released a letter to the KHL requesting lifetime suspensions for all Vityaz’ coaches and players. The point is that– according to the letter– Vityaz had already purchased tickets to Moscow for their fighters because the team know they wouldn’t continue the road trip due to suspension.

We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.

RMNB wish Cervenka and Skoula fastest recovery and hopes that anybody who can be blamed for their injuries will get fair punishment for their actions.

Washington Post’s Katie Carrera observed,

After his first fight in Washington, it’s hard to imagine many teams will want to take many liberties against the Capitals this season when King has dressed for a game.

This is the good-as-gospel rationale about enforcers we keep hearing: by virtue of having one on the roster, our guys won’t get smacked around quite so much. At the risk of echoing  a lovely piece by Stephen Pepper on Japers’ Rink last year, I just don’t see it.

Think about it rationally. Much like Warren G and Nate Dogg, an enforcer must regulate. In order to regulate, however, there must be something- someone- to regulate. That means someone on the other team must be acting naughty- getting up in Sasha’s grill, snowing Varlamov, or calling Jeff Schultz unkind names. That’s when, with 16 in the clip and one in the hole, D.J. King hops over the boards and makes some bodies turn cold.

But that’s just a reaction. In this story, Ovechkin’s noggin has already merged with the dashers, and there’s already a Mike Green-shaped stain on the glass. King’s only job at that point is retribution. King having suited up didn’t stop that from happening, but at least he’s here to spill a pint of the other guy’s blood.

The argument of enforcer-as-deterrent is unfounded. Enforcers don’t dissuade the other team from thuggery, they perpetuate it. They escalate it. Because like Brashear before him, King’s paycheck is implicitly tied to the violence he can deliver. If the fight doesn’t come to him, he’ll go to it– sort of like he did with Thornton. Who’s the thug in that story?

D.J. King averaged just 5:29 on the ice during his time with the Blues.  Compared with the 09-10 Caps, he’d rank at the very bottom of ice time. And in addition to his admittedly awesome fighting prowess, King doesn’t really have the hallmarks of a well rounded player.  He’s not like my hero, Chris Simon. King isn’t going to lead the team in goals like Simon did in 99-00, he’s just going to lead the team in penalty minutes (like Simon also did 99-00).

Maybe I’m just being grumpy. Please tell me if I am. I just didn’t see the D.J. King-sized hole on the Caps roster. And maybe D.J. will do something terrific in the coming months that will put me as deep in the tank for him as I am for Matt Bradley†. But was the team’s chemistry really beckoning for a pugilist? And does having that pugilist now do anything substantive to improve the team’s chances?

Here’s how you answer those questions: name a game that Caps would have won last year if D.J. King was on the team then.

Couldn’t think of any? Me neither. Get off my lawn.

† Here’s our latest bet:  Matt Bradley will have more GWGs than total goals this season. I took the affirmative, Ian took the negative. Winner owes loser an order of pub fries.

Russian fans are very, very passionate about hockey. If you need proof, look no further than the buildup for the upcoming KHL game between heated-rivals Avangard Omsk and Vityaz Chekhov. Avangard’s best player is former DC malcontent Jaromir Jagr, while Vityaz – known more for its boxing than hockey skill – has former Caps Brandon Sugden, Chris Simon, and Darcy Verot filling out their ranks.

The team’s beefs with each other have been simmering for a while now, stemming from one sad event. During the 2008-09 KHL season, Avangard’s Alexei Cherepanov passed out on the bench during a game against Vityaz in Chekhov. He later died. The cause of his death filled headlines in Russia for years, with both teams getting their fair share of the blame. Wikipedia’s wordy explanation is the most fair:

Cherepanov died in Chekhov, Russia on October 13, 2008 after collapsing on the bench during a Kontinental Hockey League game with his club Avangard Omsk against Vityaz Chekhov. There was 2:55 minutes left in the game. He played a shift with teammate Jaromír Jágr, and the two were talking on the bench shortly after they left the ice, when he suddenly collapsed. After being attended to on the bench, he was carried to the dressing room where he was revived for several brief moments before finally being rushed to an intensive care unit, but it was too late. The ambulance that is normally at all games had already departed and had to be called back; doctors arrived on the scene a full 15 minutes after Cherepanov collapsed, and the battery on the defibrillator used to attempt to shock Cherepanov’s heart back to life was drained. It took approximately 20 minutes to get him to a hospital. While in the care of Chekhov doctors, he was again resuscitated briefly on two occasions. He woke up for another 2 minutes, only to collapse again. Before ultimately dying 2 hours later in the 2nd City Chekhov Hospital. Reports say that the ambulance didn’t have a defibrillator and andrenalin shots with them and that heart massage didn’t help. They still were able to start the heart 5 times and after one of them Cherepanov even got conscious and recognized his teammates, but then his heart stopped again.

The exact cause of his death was originally a cause of dispute, with a regional investigator citing he was diagnosed with chronic ischemia, but medical professionals and league sources stated it was caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Russian lawmakers said the following day that there would be investigations of negligence on the part of the responding paramedics, with the possibility of a criminal investigation being opened as well.

On December 29, 2008, Russian investigators revealed that he suffered from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and that he should not have been playing professional hockey, however this has been disputed by the NHL after Cherepanov’s testing at the NHL Combine. The federal Investigative Committee also announced that a chemical analysis of Cherepanov’s blood and urine samples allowed experts to conclude “that for several months Alexei Cherepanov engaged in doping.” Official sources have stated the banned substance taken was nikethamide, a stimulant, and that it had been taken 3 hours prior to the game in which he died. A report by the Investigative Committee stated that “It is impossible to determine how and with what aim this medicine was administered.” The same report also revealed that Cherepanov was not doping but was instead using cordiaminum probably used to treat his condition. As of 2009, nobody has been charged relating to the death of Cherepanov, however the President, General Manager, as well as a team doctor for Avangard Omsk have all been suspended from the KHL indefinitely. Another Avangard doctor was suspended for 2 years, and the president of the host team Vityaz was suspended from the league indefinitely over health related complaints.

In the teams’ first meeting since the Cherepanov death in the 2008-09 season, the game was cancelled four minutes in by officials when a mega-fight broke out. Over 600+ penalty minutes were given to the players.

Here is video of the brawl from the KHL show “Golevaya Peredacha.” If you speak english, you should fast-forward to the 1:05 mark:

Even the gentlemanly Jagr was forced into fighting:

On September 23rd, the two teams will meet again. It should be interesting.   A YouTube video uploaded by a newly registered user calling himself to MrXtort has stirred up some controversy. I first noticed the video Friday on Sports.ru’s website.

The translation of the type in the video is as followed:

4th home game [of the season for Vityaz]. 9/23. They’ll come to Podolsk [now Vityaz plays in Podolsk, not in Chekhov]. [Avangard logo]. They killed Alexei Cherepanov (newspaper titles about Cherepanov and doping in the background) and tried to blame… VITYAZ! 9th of January 2009. They wrecked the game in Chekhov after Bardin’s [Avangard GM] command… Because he needed to ‘compen$ate’ cansellation of his lifetime suspension [he was suspended during the investigation of Cherepanov's death, but was later discharged]. CORRUPTION, COWARDICE, MEANNESS, DIRT. Enemies are near our gates! HATRED, FURY, REVENGE. All of these for them! 24 inglorious bastards! [photos of Avangard players and GM] 9/23/10. Vityaz – Avangard. 7PM. Blood on the ice.

The most interesting question is who actually made this video? Yeah, the video says it was made by Vityaz fans, but I’ve heard they don’t have guys who are experts in video editing. Some say it’s Avangard fans who want to give their team a reason to fight. But I, a proud Avangard supporter, don’t believe that theory. My opinion is that this was made by some third-party fans (Dynamo, maybe) who hate both teams and want to see them fight.

No matter who is behind it, this is one of the fiercest rivalries in sports, a blood-soaked hatred that makes any Caps-Pens beef look timid.  We’ll be following this story as it develops. What do you make of it?

STICK
Chris “Stick” Blake is a player in the NHL prominently featured in the majority of the top 10 hockey fights on YouTube. He just got suspended from his team, and now has to attend court ordered anger management classes. He’s not a bad guy… he just loses it when people are bullied. After an old friend shows up with a life-threatening problem, Stick focuses his considerable energies on solving it and discovers a new line of work—helping people that the law can’t. From writers Mark Altman & Steve Kriozere (“Castle”) and Executive Producers Steve Stark (“Medium,” “Girlfriends”) and Russ Buchholz (FACING KATE). From Universal Cable Productions.

This raises many questions:

• Will the NHL license/endorse a show whose main character is a shamed ex-player famous for fighting?
• Will that player have been suspended under the new headshot rule?
• Can the player be a Capital? (Please!) Will the show be set in D.C. (or Vancouver passing for D.C.)?
• Can Chris Simon act?  Is Donald Brashear available for cameos? (Answer: yes)
• If picked up, how many episodes in before an ice skate is used as a murder weapon? If it happens, even odds that the victim is an official.

Just because a show is picked up in pilot season does not guarantee it ever gets produced or makes it to air.  In fact, most shows that we hear about are so apocalyptically awful, we never here from them again.  We’ll keep you posted on STICK.

We Miss You, Sergei.

Anyways, below the fold is a huge table full of stats and information on all the Former Caps in the KHL.