Dmitri Kvartalnov in Boston

[zaratustra]

Hi,sorry for my english)

who can tell me why Kvartalnov played only 2 seasons for Bruins and then dissapear? AHL, then europe... He has pretty good stats:72 points and 30 goals in first season,
19 pionts in 39 games in second.

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[Gator Mike]

Because he needed a map and a compass to find his own end of the ice.

 

[Johnny Engine]

The Bruins held his rights for a long time, up to the point where he was on their unprotected list in the expansion draft for Columbus and Minnesota in 2000.

His numbers were excellent in 1993, but he only played a half season for the Bruins in 1994, and played 23 games in the AHL that year as well. Does anyone know whether he attended any Bruins training camps in the years that followed? Or did he just leave after his (probably quite frustrating) 1994 season and never come back?

 

[Theokritos]

From an older thread:

He lacked completeness. He was soft, one dimensional, and just not good enough for teams to ignore that.

i used to get him an nikolai borschevsky of the maple leafs mixed up. both were older, small skill guys who initially did well, until defensemen around the league figured out that they only had one move. maybe if they had come over at a younger age, they could have adapted their games and had longer NHL careers.

He was a Lonny Bohonos/Hnat Domenichelli-type smallish, very soft skill forward who lucked into a ridiculous set of linemates for the 1992-93 season and had good enough hands to put up pretty solid numbers alongside that group.

What happened?

1) He laid an egg in the '93 playoffs as Boston was swept out by the Sabres, convincing many (including likely Brian Sutter) that he wasn't a guy you could win with in the playoffs.

2) Cam Neely returned for 1993-94 and displaced Kvartalnov as the prime sniping winger option on the top line/#1 PP unit for Boston.

3) Taken off Oates' line with Neely's return and playing 2nd line minutes, Kvartalnov was exposed for what he was - a small, soft defensive liability who didn't bring enough to the table to be a solid contributor without an Oates-calibre center feeding him the puck.

I watched just about 70% of the games that he played in...and to be honest, he was soft and defensivly weak....but that bolded statement is kind naive. The guy had a lot of skill. Just cause you have a great passer feeding you the puck does not mean you can finish (just look at the bruins this year). He knew where to put the puck when he got it, unfortunatley his game was not at all suited to play in the NHL. He just was not physical at all.
Also, you do realize that in his second season he was put on the 4th line (meaning 4th line minutes) and his line mates were brent hughs (a pugilist) and dave reid (a defensive guy who had not yet come into his own). Unless you are an ovechkin/malkin/crosby type....you aint putting up good numbers with those line mates and 7-9 minutes a game.

Kvartalnov was a one dimensional small winger who wasn't good at protecting the puck. He could score goals but that was it. His game was better suited to European leagues.

A player who was never seen in the defensive zone wasn't a good fit to Brian Sutter's defensively oriented team. For a player like Kvartalnov it is hard to thrive when put to fourth line.

Kvartlanov was probably one of those guys who simply did not adjust well to the new league. His rookie season may be a bit deceiving playing with Oates and Juneau as mentioned, but perhaps he was just not cut for the NHL - and that's not meant to be read in a way that implies something about his skill.