Photo credit: Sport-Express

Everybody loves a triple threat. Example: Brian Austin Green. Dude can act and rap . Not only that, he can marry well too. He is living the American dream.

Then there’s Alex Ovechkin. Not only does our Russian savior crush opponents and score sick goals on the regular, he’s also an up-and-coming musician. Surely you’ve heard him rap. If there were an iPod in heaven, Sasha Belyi’s Champion would be on eternal repeat.

So imagine our joy on Tuesday when Russian websites reported that Ovechkin was making music again.

With the KHL on a break for the EuroHockeyTour’s Channel One Cup in Moscow, members of the Russian national team gathered in Novogorsk for a team camp. Instead of practicing on Tuesday night however, head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov ordered his star players to drop their sticks and pick up the microphones so that they could contribute vocals to two Sochi Olympics-inspired songs Shaybu-Shaybu and We Are The Red Machine. While Russian pop star Irina Allegrova did all of the heavy-lifting, Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeny Malkin, Alex Radulov, and Ilya Nikulin formed a make-shift choir and sang backing vocals. Please, someone leak the MP3′s. We need to hear this.

Now let’s enjoy some excellent photos from the event published by Sport-Express.

Photos

Russian players also received their rings for winning the World Championship last year. See the entire gallery here.

GIF

Created by WelshHockeyFan.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.

Photo credit: dynamo.ru

In one of the biggest KHL regular season games of the year, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and the rest of Dynamo Moscow crew took on Alex Radulov, Pavel Datsyuk, and CSKA on Friday. Ovechkin, who has been on a tear since he scored a hat trick last week, continued his production, scoring a powerplay goal and assisting on an empty-net goal by Nicklas Backstrom. Dynamo would win a barnburner 6-4.

Ovechkin now has 13 goals in 24 KHL games on the season. He’s also riding a 10-game point streak in which he’s scored 6 goals and 8 assists.

Now let’s see this video.

“YEAHHH!” (Photo credit: Dynamo.ru)

In the opening 30 minutes of the game, it appeared as if it’d be smooth sailing for Dynamo, who had a 5-0 lead thanks to Ovechkin’s first period powerplay marker as well as two goals by Marek Kvapil and one each by Richard Gynge and Sergey Soin.

But CSKA refused to give up, scoring four goals in 13 minutes. Pavel Datsyuk, with a third period bout of acute Dangle-itis, scored two and Alex Radulov and Mikhail Grabovski each contributed one.

The teams played 4-on-4 as things got choppy. CSKA pulled their goalie, Ilya Proskuryakov, and Backstrom ended the game with an empty-net goal after Ovechkin leveled Datsyuk during a center-ice battle for the puck.

Video: Dynamo Moscow’s Team Photo

Also, on Thursday, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom took part in Dynamo Moscow’s team photo day. And oh man, are those new blue gloves, Ovi? Sighhh.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.

Photo credit: allhockey.ru

Over the last week, CSKA general manager and former Capital Sergei Fedorov has been a busy man, signing Ilya Bryzgalov, Pavel Datsyuk, and Mikhail Grabovski to lockout contracts. CSKA’s roster, which also includes former KHL MVP Alex Radulov, is much like the New York Yankees: they are rich, and they sign the best players.

Coming into Thursday’s game with Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s Traktor Cheylabinsk, it was obvious who the favorites were. But thanks to a stunning goal by Andrey Popov in the final minutes and a meltdown by Radulov, Traktor prevailed 4-3.

Highlights below.

We start with the game tied 3-3. Anton Glinkin skates behind the net, blindly passing to Popov in the crease. Popov turns his body and sends the puck home off his backhand. How in the world?

A few minutes later as CSKA tried to tie before the end of regulation, Traktor enforcer Andrey Vasilchenko shoved Radulov after a stoppage in play. You do not touch the Rads. Disdainful Radulov threw punches and shouted obscenities at the Traktor defenseman.

While both players seemed to deserve matching minors for roughing, the officials sure didn’t see it that way, only whistling Radulov for slashing. And that’s when Rads lost it.

For shoving the official, Radulov was immediately kicked out of the game and given two misconduct penalties. He finished with 34 PIMs.

Before you judge Radulov, it’s not like he has a history of this kind of behavior.

Oh, right.

Pavel Datsyuk seemed tired, but satisfied, following Russia’s dominant 6-2 win over the Finnish national team. He did not score in the game, but with the victory, Russia will now have the opportunity to win its first World Championship gold medal since 2009.

His good mood did not mean, however, that he wanted microphones in his grill. “Don’t too close,” he said, watching the microphones. “It’s not ice cream, guys.”

Video

The quote’s at the 1:26 mark. (S/t copperboom.tumblr.com for the video.)

Indeed, Pavel. Indeed it is not.

GIF

Created by @broflacco.

This is probably not a week that you want to remember in great detail, things didn’t go, uh — exactly as planned, but don’t worry, we’ll whip right through this quickly and painlessly and move along, there’s another game tonight, so there’s no time for moping. The Caps went 1-3-0 this week with losses against the Lightning, the Canes, and the Sens. Sad trombone. And just because a TSN commentator chose to utter the words “How could things get worse for the Washington Capitals?”, Alex Ovechkin also suffered a lower-body injury, didn’t participate in multiple team skates, and missed the game in Ottawa. Despite all this, the week did end on a good note when Ovechkin caught the Brooks Laich fever and unexpectedly declared himself ready to go, and then promptly scored against Montreal in a game that the Caps won. It’s a huge relief that it ended well, but I think most of us are just glad this week is over.

Elsewhere in the NHL, lots of other people were having bad weeks too. The day after it was revealed that his “upper-body injury” was probably a concussion, Jonathan Toews crashed his car into a pole, Pavel Datsyuk had knee surgery that will put him out for two to three weeks, Vincent Lecavalier is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, and the Maple Leafs goalie tandem is testing their franchise’s patience, Jeff Carter, on the other hand, had probably about the best week that he’s had in nine months as he was traded out of Columbus to the LA Kings, which is good news for him because it’s probably exhausting to keep up a sulk for that long.

In case you were wondering the most important question, though — how does everything in the world apply to the Washington Capitals? — we’ll break it down for you after the jump.

Best of the Week

• Caps fans welcomed Rene Bourque back to town with these masks!
• Four fictional hockey teams probably could have beaten the Caps on Monday.
• Good Evgeny Kuznetsov news: he was on the cover of Russia’s PROSports magazine!
• Bad Evgeny Kuznetsov news: he was injured in a KHL game on Friday.
• Caps fan videos are getting pretty somber these days.

Screengrab via @CarrottBazooka

Since Alex Ovechkin has opted out of the All-Star Weekend (and has better things to do anyway), Dennis Wideman is now Washington’s lone representative in Ottawa. While Wideman is perhaps slightly less likely to don a hat and sunglasses and do trick shots, he’s a Capital, so we love him all the same. We’ll be covering Wideman’s foray into the glamorous life of an All-Star, so check back for updates, because let’s face it, you’re already bored without hockey.

Dennis Wideman was picked in the 15th round with the second-to-last pick that could be used on a defenseman, before only Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler. This means that we can get hipster now if we want and call him underrated. We knew Dennis Wideman when he wasn’t cool. Logan Couture was picked last overall and won a brand new caaaaarrrrr! Somehow it just wasn’t the same without Ovechkin there laughing and taking pictures.

Best Moments

• Pavel Datsyuk went first overall to Team Chara. Erik Karlsson got picked first for Team Alfredsson because he babysits Alfie’s kids, apparently.
• Alfie got confused about what round it was multiple times, leading to excellent cutaways of him asking everyone around him.
• Do the Leafs suck? I feel unsure. I wish that someone would have clarified this.

• Carey Price, clearly not expecting to be picked by a Bruin and a Leaf, had a mouthful of water when he was picked by Team Chara, and spent a good thirty seconds remembering how to swallow. It wasn’t an actual spit-take, but it was close.
• James Duthie somehow talked to Tim Thomas about the White House scandal without ever once actually mentioning what happened. Because, you know, he wouldn’t want to distract from the event at hand.

Best Quotes

• Joffrey Lupul on being booed every time he took the podium: “I like it. I don’t want to be cheered in Ottawa anyway.”
• Jason Spezza: “I owe Malkin 20 bucks. I told him he’d get picked before me.”
• Carey Price: “Is Z going for offense or defense? Wait remember, there’s no defense.”
• Tonight in unintentional rhymes: “Our third pick…Jonathan Quick.”
• Jarome Iginla to Patrick Kane: “Hey, what’s up man?” Kane: “Yeah, you too.”

via penslove.tumblr.com

• Chara to Tyler Seguin after making him wait till the second-to-last round: “Hug it out?”
• Cody Hodgson on ending up on Team Chara “It wasn’t my choice.” Pained face.
• Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson discussing Sedin mythology: “I wonder if him and his brother will have any chemistry in the game?” “Doubtful.” “Aliens.” “They know where to pass the puck without even talking. It’s insane.”
• Alfredsson on Marion Gaborik being picked by Team Chara: “We were hoping Gaborik would be left, but Hank said you can’t score on him anyway.”

Important Questions

• Do they know who each team is going to draft beforehand, or do they just have two of each sweater for everyone?
• Who is most desperately in need of a haircut: Letang, Stamkos, or Hartnell? Discuss.
• What do you call a person who lives in Ottawa? Is it Ottawan? Ottawaian? Ottauan?

After long negotiations, the Russian National Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) has secured the rights to broadcast the NHL on their sports channels (free SD Russia 2 and cable HD Sport 1).

Back when RMNB was in its infancy, I described what it was like to be a fan of the Washington Capitals in Moscow. Staying up until 6am and searching the internet for feeds of Caps games (where there’s no guarantee I will hear Joe B. and Locker), is neither convenient or healthy.

Understanding this shortfall, the NHL started offering a Russian version of their website this season, and they allowed Europeans to watch games on NHL GameCenter Live. The VGTRK deal — which was completed in November — is another step towards globalizing the NHL.

HD Sport 1′s first game was the Detroit Red Wings at Boston Bruins on November 25. The free SD Russia 2 broadcasted the New York Rangers at Washington Capitals game that very same day.

For the first time in 15 years, the NHL is widely available on Russian TV.

VGTRK aired a commercial promoting their new relationship with the NHL. It features the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, and Dmitry Orlov as well as other big-name players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, and renaissance man Ilya Bryzgalov. Below, you can check it out for yourself.

At the end of the commercial, there’s some Russian spoken. The narrator says “The NHL on Russia 2. Nothing cooler than that.” He’s right. Now maybe I can finally get some sleep!

Oh man. How awesome was Saturday night? Did this actually pan out for anyone?

We pretend to hate everyone who isn’t us, but we’re actually sorta chummy with hockey fans across this great land (not including Canada). Through Puck Buddys, we hooked up with The Production Line, a charming operation out of Detroit that runs an entertaining podcast I cannot recommend enough. We’re trying to get to know each other better, so we’re doing something called 5-on-5– a rapid-fire Q&A designed to reveal dark secrets and rankle egos. Our answers are already up over on their site, so go feast your eyes on that action.

Below, check out how Robert Discher of The Production Line handles questions about the nature of winning, Steve Yzerman’s legacy, Pavel Datsyuk’s reliability, and cavemen.

Our questions are in bold, so don’t blame us for the rest.

1. Straight-up: what does Detroit think of Washington? Bonus points if you can avoid the words “fragile”, “groin”, and “golf.”

People forget that before we were this mangorgeous collection of Swedes and rugged Canadian Castoffs, the Wings spent a hell of a long time toiling in mediocrity. I remember in the mid-90’s, everyone was bitching about how Stevie Yzerman wasn’t capable of winning the Cup… how those teams had everything they should need to make a big run but they couldn’t pull it off. The truth is that it just takes time to get to the top of the hill… unless your’e Chicago, in which case you mortgage your entire decade’s worth of building on one season and then crash back to earth the next year. In most cases though, you have to get close… you have to get knocked down a few times… before you can be a true threat to go the distance. I see… and I sense a lot of Detroit fans do too… that Washington is immensely talented. The Shakedown on Saturday that we just witnessed is testament to that. IN SPADES. My sense is that the Caps will eventually break through, especially now that you have Vokoun in net. That guy is a legitimate monster. He’s one of those “missing piece” guys you bring in to put you over the top.

Do we really get concerned about you the way we do… say… the Pens? Not yet. But you’ll get there. A Wings-Caps finals isn’t out of the question. Crawl before you can walk. It’s less an issue of fragility than one of longevity (that’s what she said).

2. Pavel Datsyuk is well into his massive contract (about $46.9M over 7 years). Is he still worth his paycheck, and what are you expecting from him this year?

Photo credit: Ann Heisenfelt

I expect the world out of Pavel. I think that’s fair. He’s a unique talent, a hard worker and, sidenote, a pretty damn funny guy if you appreciate subtle humor (story for another time). He showed up large in last year’s playoffs and I expect him to get back into the league elite, points-wise, during this regular season. Part of this is just pragmatism speaking. We can’t have Phil Kessel leading the league, can we? That absolutely won’t stand, no matter how much hot air from the Toronto press pumps up his tires.

Part of what you have to appreciate with Pavel is how rounded his game is. The man is an absolute panty-dropping thief on the backcheck. It’s what separates him from a guy like Rick Nash, who toils in a b-level market (I’m being generous because my girlfriend is from Ohio) and won’t ever amount to more than being a huge guy with great hands that notches a lot of points. Pavel was out last year for a good chunk of the season. If he stays healthy, despite a slow start, he’ll be a top-25 points getter.

3. Do Red Wing fans kinda-sorta support Tampa Bay just cause of the Stevie Y connection? Please say no, because they’re like our biggest rival now.

Do you want me to lie to you? Sometimes that makes these conversations easier. No? Well… uh…. yea… Detroit fans have a small love affair with the Bolts. Hard not to. Yzerman meant everything to our town. He was an offensive phenom who developed into a true leader with a two-way game. He was the Captain of the Wings for pretty much my entire life until he retired. The Bolts in and of themselves have little to do with this love directed their way. It’s purely based on their association with The Captain. If he were in the car insurance business right now, we’d all be switching over from DC-based Geico. If he were in the shoe business we’d all be wearing Yzerman loafers… WITH the tassel. It’s just part of the game when it comes to Stevie. Man can do no wrong… including going to the Southeast Division.

4. With realignment looming next year, what is the ideal outcome for the Red Wings? Is it a jump the Eastern Conference? Do you need 6 games with Chicago every year? Would it be absurd for Detroit to be in the Southeast Division? What do you want to see as fans?

We talked about this at length on our radio show two weeks back. Great question. We tinkered with everything from a straight-up swap with Winnipeg to a six-team super conference that started with the original six teams and then kicked one team out every year. Actually, the second idea was pretty solid if you’re a Detroit fan. The summary: The Wings land next year in a six-team conference comprised of the original teams. The rest of the league is lumped into one gigantic “other” conference. The original six teams automatically get into the playoffs each year, but every year, the best team from the “other conference” gets pulled into the O6 Conference and we kick out the worst team in the O6 (the safe money is on Toronto for year one). It’s kinda like the Premier League, but with better teeth.

In all seriousness, I am fine with the Wings going to the Eastern Conference as long as we still get to play Chicago and St. Louis and we do a roadie through the better teams in the West. (sit down, Calgary, we’re not talking about you here). While I hate the idea of getting lumped in with the Sex Panthers, I actually like some of the other teams in the SE Division. You guys… Tampa Bay… it’s not a bad setup. Ideally, we’d switch to the Eastern and just do away with the divisional setup. It’s a forced system that’s based on trying to jam rivalries on people. Unnecessary. Bring Detroit to the East. Abolish divisional play. Give us 3-4 games/year against Little Brother down there in Chicago. Done and done.

5. I hear Detroit has lost nearly half of its population since the economy turned to slush. Meanwhile, D.C. has the worst traffic in the country. Who’s got it worse? Side question: It’s totally like I Am Legend in Detroit right now, isn’t it?

You can tell it's the inner loop because that circle of hell goes counter-clockwise.

As a massive Bad Boys fan, I’m rather content with the image of Detroit being populated with a band of Will Smiths driving American super-cars around abandoned streets, wielding excessive firepower. You really know your audience here, Peter. Having lived in DC, and as someone who still can’t quite figure out which way the “inner beltway” rotates, I have to say that Northern Virginia traffic is about as close to the missing ring of hell as I hope to get on this planet. Short story: I once took a redeye back from Vegas… into Dulles… on the back of a bachelor party weekend… on a Monday morning. The hangover’s brutality was somehow outpaced by the sheer discomfort of having to sit on 66 into The District. I lived on formerly-edgy U Street, so I rarely had to deal with this monstrosity, but in the rare moments where I got to experience the Key or GW bridges in the morning, I may or may not have contemplated driving the car off the side of the bridge… or a at least jumping out of it while it was moving, kinda like in the movie Navy Seals.

OT: Five cavemen fight five astronauts in an abandoned quarry. No weapons, no preparation. Who wins and how does it go down?

Cavemen in a landslide. Astronauts are creatures of technology and gadgets. The quarry is prime turf for the caveman and his rugged pragmatism.

SO: What does winning feel like? Please use descriptive language, because we have no idea.

You know that feeling you get when you have that first beer on a Saturday afternoon? Winning the Cup feels like that. …except imagine that beer was delivered to you by eleven topless, lonely Brazilian supermodels riding ponies. No. Actually, they’re all on the same pony. Yea… that’s about right.

Thanks to Robert of The Production Line. Read our answers to their questions.

It looks like six more years of high-fives and tire changes are on tap. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

As all of you Brooks Laich fans kept hitting refresh instead of working Tuesday morning, the Capitals announced that the soon to be unrestricted free agent had re-signed with the team to the tune of six years and $27 million.

“There was never a serious consideration to go anywhere else,” Laich said. “The main core of this team is very young and if you can keep that together, you’re looking at a chance to win a championship for potently the next 10 years, rather than just a window of two to three years. That was a great motivator to get me re-signed.”

With an approximate cap hit of $4.5 million, Brooksie is in for a considerable raise from his previous $2.066 million per campaign salary. In fact, the 28 year-old is due to make more in the first season of his new deal than he did over his entire previous contact. Or, in other words, more than Nicklas Backstrom and just $200,000 less than Pavel Freakin’ Datsyuk will make next year. For a forward who tallied just 16 goals in 2010-11, it sure seems like a significant overpayment.

Laich brings more than just goals though. The versatile, two-way forward is a heart and soul player with skill to boot, on a team the often sorely lacks skaters willing to grind it out, explaining why the Capitals most likely overpaid for fear of losing that. What this means, however, is that Washington now has just under nine million in cap space remaining for 2011-12, according to CapGeek.com, with many players left unsigned (RFAs Troy Brouwer, Karl Alzner and Semyon Varlamov; UFAs Jason Arnott, Marco Sturm, Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon and Scott Hannan).

Maybe Uncle Ted wasn’t kidding after all when he said “don’t be surprised if you see some trades” on his blog. Unlike his owner, however, Capitals General Manager George McPhee wasn’t about to tip his hand and delivered terse remarks when it came to the cap. “We’re happy with where we are,” he said.

But no matter who in the dressing room come October, Laich is as focused as ever on his ultimate goal: hoisting the Stanley Cup.

“The regular season success has been great but now it’s time to take it to the next level which is the postseason and you have to learn that,” said the Wawota, Saskatchewan native. “It takes time for young players, young teams to learn how to win at that time and that’s obviously the next level for us. You just don’t make rash decisions based on one bad week of hockey.”

“I think this year, there’s got to be a lot more accountability amongst our players and to the coaches,” Laich continued. “You come back with one goal and that’s to win the Stanley Cup, and that’s what you work for all year long.”

Today, the World Junior Championships are set to begin in Buffalo, New York, and RMNB’s Igor Kleyner has translated a fantastic one-on-one interview between Sport Express’s Yuriy Golyshak and Capitals 2010 First Round Pick Evgeny Kuznetsov. Warning: it’s another long one.

In the article translated below, we learn even more crucial information about Kuz including his nagging shoulder injury, his thoughts on the slash Braden Holtby delivered to him during Caps Development Camp, and his experience being drafted by Washington. On top of that, we also learn about Kuznetsov’s half a year of driving without a license, his love for McDonald’s food, and his embarrassment on never seeing Alex Ovechkin play live. Check out all of that and more below the jump.

Yuriy Golyshak – The 18 year-old forward of the Russian Junior National Team is likely to become one of the main stars of the World Junior Championship, which begins December 26th in Buffalo, having already become a revelation in the KHL.

Valery Belousov has told me, “As far as his talent goes, Kuznetsov is a second Malkin.”

Evgeny Kuznetsov – I read that. It was a great honor. Both for me and my grandmother. She buys all the newspapers that have even a single line about me. She collects them. Until this season the papers weren’t really praising me. And if I really have the abilities like Malkin – I should be playing in the NHL in two years.

YG – Do you want to leave for the NHL right now?

EK – Of course. But physically I am not ready yet to play in America. Washington is not a team where an eighteen year old can easily get a roster spot. To flounder on the fourth line – that is not my hockey.

YG – Malkin had to run away from Magnitogorsk to achieve his dream.

EK – I am definitely not running from Traktor. Here, we have good people. I was told: “If you decide to leave – come over and talk. You don’t need to run. If a make that decision, I will go and talk.

YG – If I ask you who the best junior player in Russia is, whose name comes to mind?

EK – Probably everyone would think of themselves… let’s skip this question?

YG – Let’s do that. In Chelyabinsk there was a buzz about you skating by yourself at night.

EK – That was some time ago. I quit night time skating. We have 13 games per month. I am never even at home anymore. But those practice sessions help me now. I even skated with a parachute last year.

YG – Andrei Nazarov is a creative coach. [Ed note: Nazarov coached Kuznetsov in 2009-10 with Traktor. He now is the Head Coach of Vityaz.]

EK – It wasn’t Nazarov, I came up with that myself. There is an open air skating rink in downtown Chelyabinsk, so my buddy and I tried it there. He found the parachute somewhere. You have no idea how hard it is – especially the first steps. You just keep shuffling your feet without even moving. You get used to it later.

YG – Did you keep the parachute?

EK – Of course. Maybe we’ll try it again. But that was not the toughest test I’ve ever had.

YG – What was it then?

EK – In America during the Scouting Combine testing, they put you on a bike and made you pedal until complete exhaustion. I was so exhausted, that I couldn’t get out of bed for two hours afterwards. I just felt sick.

YG – Wow…

EK – I wouldn’t say I lost consciousness – I was still breathing fine. But I had unbearable pain in my legs. That’s how they test you for the NHL. Turned out I am capable of something…

YG – Ukrainian Soccer Federation President Hryhoriy Surkis once told me, “I can still do a hundred pushups”.

EK – I am not sure how many I can do. Pushups aren’t easy for me because of my shoulder injury. I do better with abdominal exercises; I can do two hundred situps. During the Combine testing, I had to do pushups, and I was definitely not the worst. Although in my mind I was concentrating on the main one: the bike. With a 70 kg barbell, I did seven reps. I could keep going, they said enough.

~~~

YG – Do you have a lot of memories from the draft?

EK – Yes. The treatment of the players is simply terrific. But during the interviews, [GM's] started asking me questions that made my eyes pop: “You are Russian – so, do you like vodka? Girls? Late night parties?” I told them I don’t like vodka.

YG – And?

EK – They started persuading me that I do like all that stuff. I was close to losing my cool. I told them: “I am done talking about it.” But there was fun stuff as well. During [Caps Development Camp], we went to visit the White House. It was quite interesting. Not at all like the Kremlin.

YG – Have you been there as well?

EK – Yes. Actually, I was surprised there by a lot of things. Washington’s goalie Braden Holtby, who is on their first team now, slashed me when I scored. But that’s all right, all goalies are crazy, they have their own lives.

YG – Are all goalies really crazy?

EK – Some are normal, but a very few amount of them. Then, they took us for a photo session, I misunderstood something, made a funny face – and as a result, my picture was picked as the funniest. Now it’s on the wall at home.

YG – Next to what?

EK – Jaromir Jagr. I played in Omsk when he came over. Sadly, we never got to talk.

YG – You have some relatives in America, don’t you?

EK – My godfather. He is my father’s best friend since childhood. He was already in the US when I was born. He is like family. Now he is coming to the WJC in Buffalo. I will see him again.

YG – Is he rich?

EK – He is well-off. He lives in Manhattan, just a stone’s throw away from Brooklyn. When I came to New York, it was raining hard. But I went into the ocean for a swim. People were looking at me like I was crazy. But then, one after another, some people followed me into the water. It was so cool!

YG – Have you met Alex Ovechkin yet?

EK – When Washington picked me, Ovechkin called the Team GM. He passed the phone to me. Sasha congratulated me. I feel embarrassed to admit this, but I have never seen him play live.

YG – Did you get to keep the Washington jersey after the photosession?

EK – Of course, the jersey is at my parents place framed and up on their wall. I only wore it once.

YG – Which team did you dream to play for as a kid?

EK – The New York Rangers.

YG – Who is the best player in the world today?

EK – Pavel Datsyuk. His stickhandling and passing is out of this world. The distance between me and him as players – it’s like walking to China.

YG – Do you think that your stickhandling tricks make some of the veteran players mad in the KHL?

EK – Yes, I have been noticing that more and more lately! It started last year. The older the player is, the harder he takes being tricked. Some call me names, some threaten. Some just say, “You are young. Calm down.” During the warm-ups when we were playing in Chekhov, Vityaz’s tough guys started posturing in front of our bench, saying what they are going to do to us.

YG – Were you scared?

EK – No. It looked to me like they were mostly just talking. What would be the point for Gratton, Sugden, or Verot to fight me?

YG – Who is the best defenseman in the KHL right now?

EK – Sergei Zubov. He is not playing right now, but last year he was just relaxing on the ice. He did whatever he wanted to. He played like a genius.

YG – Who is the dirtiest player?

EK – Definitely someone from Vityaz. Both with their stickwork and fighting. The hardest hit I have ever received was in Canada when playing for our junior team. I had just gotten the puck, and didn’t see anybody near me. I had just started to move, and then I got hit. I didn’t even understand what happened. It took me about five seconds to realize that my nose was smashed and I had lost a tooth. I didn’t even feel the pain at first.

YG – Who is the best passer in the KHL?

EK – Sergei Zinoviev.

~~~~

YG – You are only eighteen, and have already had a shoulder surgery. What happened?

EK – It’s a mystery for me. I probably wasn’t paying attention as a kid. By the way, the doctors do not like how the surgery turned out. Either it was not completed, or they just made it worse. So, my shoulder is not doing very well.

YG – When did you have the surgery?

EK – May 19th of last year in Moscow. I’ll have to do it again. They know how to fix it in Austria or Germany. I just don’t know when I’ll do it. For now it is not bothering me too much, so I will finish the season as is.

YG – Your current coach, Valery Belousov, told a story about how he was keeping an eye on Alexi Cherepanov when he coached him, and even took away his car at one point. Are you being monitored the same way?

EK – So far he hasn’t taken away the car. And he hasn’t locked me in at the practice facility.

YG – Did you know Cherepanov?

EK – We were friends. We even lived together at a boarding school in Omsk, but I was with my parents then. We were gathering in our room in the evenings, and my mom made pelmeni. We were the only ones with a stove in our room. Lyoshka [Cherepanov] and his buddies were a bit older, and they made fun of me. I just liked listening to their conversations.

YG – Was Cherepanov really a tremendous talent?

EK – His line was always doing incredible things on the ice. But no one was saying that he was a genius. More on the modest side: “a decent kid, and a good prospect”.

YG – By the way, you have a wonderful car: a white porsche.

EK – That is true. There is only one like that in Chelyabinsk. I only had a certain amount of money, and I asked my friends to help. A few days later, I was shown the car. I liked it a lot.

YG – Did they have to bring it from somewhere?

EK – No, it’s used. At first I wanted to get a coupe, and then I realized that my first car should be a bigger one. After all, it’s my first winter behind a wheel. Next year, I am getting a BMW M3. I think I’ll still be in Chelyabinsk.

YG – Is it going to be hard to get rid of a car like that?

EK – Not really. What will be hard for me is leaving Chelyabinsk.

YG – How long were you driving without a license?

EK – About half a year. Never got stopped.

YG – In one of your interviews you mentioned that your dream car is Bentley Continental GT…

EK – I will be able to afford in it Washington. I don’t make enough for a car like that here. It costs about 11 million rubles. When I saw one in the streets of New York, I fell in love with it right away. Once in a while I look at a picture, and I want it even more than before. It’s a little coupe. There is one like that in Chelyabinsk.

YG – Who is the owner – a hockey player?

EK – An oligarch [Ed note: someone who works in the government].

YG – Have you ever driven it?

EK – No, but I got to sit in one.

~~~

YG – Are there any other material dreams in your life?

EK – I want to buy an apartment for my parents. That’s my main goal right now. I even feel sorry now to have bought the car so early. I should have saved more, and bought a place to live for my parents. Right now they live on 30 square meters, and their apartment is owned by their employer. The team promised to at least help with privatization.

YG – Do you also live there?

EK – I live with my girlfriend in an apartment I have been renting for the last month and a half.

YG – Do you have to deal with a lot of female admirers?

EK – Not really. I don’t have a big crowd of them chasing me. Sometimes they write me emails on Vkontakte. [Ed note: Vkontakte is a Russian social networking service. It's very similar to Facebook.]

YG – Dmitri Sychev has almost ten thousand friends on Odnoklassniki.

EK – I have a thousand. And about as many asking to be friends.

YG – Popularity is a great force.

EK – After the game against Spartak where I scored two goals, I walked into a restaurant and people got up and started applauding. I was so embarrassed, and turned red all over. In fact, I tend to stop at McDonalds now more often. No one recognizes me there. We have a big city. No one pays attention to anyone out on the street. I don’t like nightclubs. I prefer movies.

YG – Those two goals against Spartak – are they the most memorable?

EK – The most memorable goal for me was the one I had against Lada. It was my first in the KHL. I could not fall asleep after the game.

YG – Do you have trouble sleeping after games now?

EK – Now I sleep great!

YG – What can you do on the ice particularly well?

EK – Nothing really. I haven’t achieved anything yet. A young player has to keep improvisation to a minimum. Behind you there is always a veteran who will quickly put pressure on you, and will do as the coach says. Although, Belousov does not hold me back.

YG – And what is something you struggle with?

EK – I lose my cool very easily. I hate dirty play. If someone pushes me hard, I can just stop playing. Something like that happened to me in Canada while with our junior team. It took awhile for me to get used to it.

YG – You could have been at Avangard. What happened?

EK – It was quite simple. The coach said he doesn’t like transferred players. My parents and I packed our bags and went home the next morning.

YG – Who is that coach?

EK – Mikhail Anatolievich Komarov. Actually, he is a very good guy, and we are friends now. It wasn’t like that before. Maybe it was my fault.

YG – Your joke about transferring to SKA caused quite a storm on the internet.

EK – It wasn’t my joke! My friends started it with a link to some newspaper, and the headline there was “Kuznetsov traded to St. Peterburg for Kostya Panov.” He is also from Chelyabinsk. It was total nonsense. No way Chelyabinsk is going to let me go to another Russian club.

YG – Is there interest from other teams?

EK – Nobody has contacted either me or my agent for the last three years.

YG – Have you ever talked to Vyacheslav Bykov?

EK – Not yet. I would love to though. My dream is to play for the national team. For now, I only get about ten minutes of ice time per game, but I want to get up to twenty. I probably haven’t reached that level yet.

YG – Maybe you are being protected.

EK – What for?