Taking Your Puck and Going Home

This holiday weekend has been rather odd in the hockey world, as two players were unhappy with their current situations and decided to walk away. It's safe to say that neither will be seeing anymore time on the NHL or AHL level, as both are repeat offenders.

First up, Alexander Burmistrov. You may remember him as a former first round pick of the then-Atlanta Thrashers in 2010 that left for Russia after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season due to butting heads with then Winnipeg Jets coach Claude Noel. He returned in 2015 to the Jets, only for him to eventually butt heads with current Jets coach Paul Maurice. Last season, it came to a head, and he was sent down to Manitoba of the AHL, only for the Arizona Coyotes to claim him off waivers. He did not sign with Arizona after the season, opting to sign with the Vancouver Canucks prior to this season. Now, this bit of news from Pass it to Bulis, as Burmistrov was once again, unhappy with his playing time, and after getting scratched from the team's last game for a seventh defenseman, he has decided to retire from the NHL. Yes, at the age of 26, Burmistrov has decided to pack his bags and head back home.

Next up, Steve Moses. Undrafted after spending four years at the University of New Hampshire, he would begin his professional career in 2012-13 with Jokerit, and would play with them for three seasons, including their first year as a member of the KHL. In the off-season of 2015, he would sign a one-year deal with Nashville with the expectation that he would be on the NHL roster. However, prior to the start of the 2015-16 season, he was sent down to Milwaukee of the AHL, and was unable to get noticed enough to even crack the Predators' roster. That December, his contract with the team was terminated so he could return to the KHL, this time as a member of SKA-St. Petersburg. He would spend the rest of the 2015-16 season, as well as all of 2016-17, with the team until signing with Rochester of the AHL prior to this season. His time with Rochester would be short lived however, as he was suspended by the team recently for breach of contract, and as of right now, he is now signed with Jokerit again.

As odd as the two instances of walking away have been, it was hardly the first, as Vadim Shipyachov had been signed with the Vegas Golden Knights prior to the season, but was sent down to Chicago of the AHL. His complaining about not being in the NHL was fairly well-documented, and his NHL contract would be terminated soon after so he too, could return to the KHL.

I don't know what to make of this, but it is clear that the level of play between North American hockey and European hockey can be too much for certain players to take, and while it is notable that the players gave it a shot, leaving in the middle of a season does them no favors when it comes to future North American opportunities.

69 Years Later...

Since their formation in 1946, SKA Saint Petersburg (under their original name SKA Leningrad) has never won a major championship domestically.  That has officially changed thanks to their Gagarin Cup Finals series win over a very good Ak Bars Kazan team in five games.  Getting to this point wasn't easy, as they had beat Torpedo in the first round, and from there, to overcome their arch nemesis Dynamo Moscow in the Conference semi-finals, as well as a 3-0 series deficit to CSKA in the Conference Finals to make it here.  Evgeny Dadonov set a KHL record for most goals in the playoffs and Ilya Kovalchuk was named playoff MVP, something that he handed off to Dadonov in a show of team unity.  It was a long season and an even longer wait, but the city of Saint Petersburg finally has a championship and the second largest city in Russia is out of Moscow's shadow for this moment.

The SKA Report: Time to Put on the Big Boy Pants

With word that Ilya Kovalchuk is going to miss a month after getting injured during the game Sunday at Vityaz, SKA faces a stretch where they will need everyone else to step up.  Things did not get off to a good start Tuesday at Nizhny Novgorod, as Torpedo took it to SKA from the word "go."  Daniil Zharkov and Jarkko Immonen put Torpedo up 2-0 after one period, with Immonen adding what would be the game-winner to begin the second period.  Yury Alexandrov would pull SKA within two, but Torpedo put the game away with goals by Immonen (for the hat trick) and Mikhail Grigoryev, rendering a Artemy Panarin goal late in the period moot, as Torpedo won 5-2.  Alexander Salak took the loss in arguably his worst game since joining SKA prior to the season.

Salak would get redemption, as SKA took on Ak Bars in Kazan, Russia today.  A scoreless first period gave way to the two teams exchanging goals, with Evgeny Skachkov scoring for SKA and Artyom Lukoyanov evening things for Ak Bars.  SKA would take over in the third period, with Dmitry Yudin and Alexei Ponikarovsky scoring, giving SKA a much needed win to close out the road trip.

SKA comes home next week for games on Monday against Amur, Sibir Novosibirsk on Wednesday, Metallurg Novokuznetsk on Friday, and a Sunday game against expansion Admiral Vladivostok.

Kharlamov Division

In an effort to get on time for the 2013-14 NHL season preview without too many things going on at once, today and tomorrow, I will run down the rest of the KHL by division as opposed to individual teams.  Today is the Kharlamov Division of the Eastern Conference in the KHL.

Ak Bars plays their home games in Kazan, Russia and was the first KHL champion, as they would go on to win the first two Gagarian Cups in the KHL's existence.  The team's origins date back to 1956, and the team has played under the Ak Bars name since 1995.  Their current roster features WHL alumni such as Shaun Heshka and Tomas Vincour, as well as Alexander Burmistrov.

HC Avtomobilist plays their home games in Yekaterinburg, Russia, and is a relatively new franchise, starting play in 2006 and joining the KHL in 2009.  Players such as Eric Belanger and Sami Lepisto are on the current roster.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk plays their home games in the Chelyabinsk Oblast region of Russia and has been a hockey team since 1955.  The team is notable for the fact that former NHL coach Mike Keenan is the current coach of the "Foxes."

HC Neftekhimik plays their home games in the city of Nizhnekamsk, located in the Tatarstan area of Russia, and have been a team since 1968.  The "Petrochemists" feature players such as Martin Cibak and Nikolai Belov on their current roster.

Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod plays their home games in Nizhny Novogorod, Russia, and is one of two franchises in the Eastern Conference to have been founded in the 1940's (they were founded in 1946).  Tim Brent and Wojtek Wolski are among the players on the current roster.

HC Traktor plays in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and is the second oldest franchise in the Eastern Conference, having been formed in 1947.  They were the runners-up in the Gagarian Cup Finals last season, losing to HC Moscow Dynamo.  The current roster is set to include the likes of Andrei Kostitsyn, Stanislav Chistov, and Jan Bulis.

HC Yugra plays their home games in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, and has been in existence since 2006.  Their KHL debut happened in the 2010-11 season, and their current roster features the likes of Jonas Andersson and Mikhail Yakubov.