News Article: Makarov Likely to Return to Russia in 16-17

[dugman]

Or maybe you are russian who played for Sabres?
Skudra is Latvian and he played 27 seconds in October 20, 2000 game against Ducks.

I still regret having bought that jersey.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

He doesn't figure into the team's future, so let him walk after his contract is up.

Some of his answers are a little....arrogant? entitled? I am not sure. Petulant? He is clearly disgruntled....

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

He never took the pro step. He looks really good when he's on or focused but that's rare and he's just inconsistent and not all mentally there. I do remember myself
And some people years ago being super high on him

 

[lifeisruff]

Makarov comes off as incredibly delusional in that interview. He doesn't know why Lieuwen is getting more playing time than he is? How about because Lieuwen has a .938 SV% in 13 starts since December 1. Good riddance.

I wonder if something got lost in translation. Or Makarov never thought this would get back to the states. Either way this goes beyond "you need to be confidant to be a professional hockey player"

 

[OscarsCards]

I still regret having bought that jersey.

I feel so sorry for you, why did you do that?

 

[UnleashRasmus]

Honestly, he came out of nowhere in the CHL to be signed to make the AHL. Some goalies never go that far. He had his cup of coffee, but really never made enough noise to justify having a bigger role. The NHL is dominated by goalies 6'3" and taller. With exception to Quick and a few select others (Enroth). For the most part it is just part of the stigma. He's been admirable at various stints and had his chance in North America. The whole situation with Russians and the Sabres isn't really a fair point. Zadorov for all his troubles still has a bright future. If he was not traded we'd be talking about him as a top four caliber defensemen. Grigorenko was rushed and forced his hand to make it to Colorado. Either way, it is what it is.

 

[missingmika]

I think it might just be (1) that we haven't had very many Russians play for us, (2) we haven't had very many good Russian players play for us for any length of time, and (3) we weren't the final destinations for some folks. When you think of Sabres players that settle here, it seems like they fall into one of a few categories: (A) Spent most of their career here. i.e. Ray, Barnaby, Smehlik, Gare, etc. (B) Finished up their career here and decided this area was a good one to settle down in. Craig Rivet immediately comes to mind here. (I mean... he played so long for Montreal!)

I was curious if this would bear out. So I went through all Sabres rosters from '91 to 2001 to see what manner of Russians we've had, how successful they've been, and what happened to 'em.

- Yuri Khmylev: Drafted by Buffalo, played 3.5/5 NHL years for Buffalo, returned to Buffalo after retirement. Currently in organization as pro scout. Attractive daughter also in organization family.
- Viktor Gordiouk: Drafted by Buffalo, played 2/2 partial NHL years for Buffalo, then IHL, then bounced back to Russia.
- Sergei Petrenko: Drafted by Buffalo, played 1/1 partial NHL years for Buffalo, then bounced back to Russia.
- Denis Tsygurov: Drafted by Buffalo, played 1.5/3 partial NHL years for Buffalo, then LA Kings for one more partial year, then bounced back to Russia.
- Andrei Trefilov: Played 1.5/6 partial years for Buffalo, mostly a journeyman with little success anywhere, then back to Russia.
- Alexei Zhitnik: Technically Ukrainian. We know this story. Great career here in Buffalo. Lives on Long Island (where we traded him). He did have one more stop, but this kind of feels like the Craig Rivet situation.
- Maxim Afinogenov: We know this story.
- Peter Skudra: Played one game for the Sabres. Journeyman.
- Vladimir Tsyplakov: Played two partial seasons for the Sabres. Then back to Europe.
- Dmitri Kalinin: Played 8/10 years for the Sabres, then back to Russia.

Mogilny aside, the NHL players who had the most success were Zhitnik, Khmylev, Afinogenov, and Kalinin (probably in that order). They spent most of their time here. 1/4 remains in the area. 2/4 are reasonably organization affiliated.

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That all aside, if we look at the number of Russians drafted by the Sabres since Mogilny...

Viktor Gordiouk (1990), Mikhail Volkov (1991), Yuri Khmylev (1992), Denis Tsygurov (1993), Sergei Petrenko (1993), Sergei Klimentiev (1994, Ukrainian), Alexei Tezikov (1996), Maxim Afinogenov (1997), Dmitri Kalinin (1998), Artem Kryukov (2000), Denis Denisov (2000), Vasily Bizyayev (2000), Maxim Schevjev (2002), Denis Yezhov (2003), Pavel Voroshnin (2003), Vyacheslav Buravchikov (2005), Mikhail Grigorenko (2012), Nikita Zadorov (2013)...

That's 19 total Russian picks including Mogilny (unless I've missed one, which is possible). Most of those players were late round picks who never played a game in the NHL. Bold for the ones with any kind of NHL career (five total). Italicized for players currently in the game. Only three were drafted in the first round (Kyukov, Grigorenko, Zadorov). Most of these were drafted before 2003 and many of them in the period between Mogilny and 2000 when Mogilny, Bondra, Bure, and company were doing their best work.

For sake of comparison... I count only 21 total Russians drafted by the Maple Leafs during that same period. The Rangers have drafted 32 total Russians during that same period, but 24 by 2000 (including six in one year!!) and only eight since then. The Red Wings have drafted 23 total Russians during that same period, but 18 by 2000 and only five since then.

Going by the eye test, with the exception of the real dynamite players drafted by the Red Wings and Rangers in the early 1990's, most of these players haven't done much of anything at all. Even the stars were mostly late round choices, and many recorded zero NHL points.

I should probably check out a few more teams and see what else pops up.

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Which is to say that I don't know that your contention that the Sabres do particularly poorly with Russians is true.

Needs more Antoli Semenov, who was born in Moscow I believe.