Moscow (AFP) – Russian winger Artemi Panarin has come a long way since North America’s NHL teams first snubbed him at the draft.
Now after a stellar debut season with the Chicago Blackhawks, the 24-year-old forward is in the race for the league’s best rookie award and is looking to guide Russia to glory at the World Championship on home ice.
In Russia’s first four group games he netted three goals and notched up six assists as the team won three and lost one after launching the tournament in Moscow.
“We are all working for the same goal,” the curly-haired player said after a national team practice this week.
The Russian team will be boosted when forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov arrive from the United States on Friday. Their team, the Washington Capitals, was eliminated in the NHL playoffs earlier this week.
“We are of course waiting for them,” Panarin said. “They make the team stronger.”
Russia face Switzerland on Saturday in their fifth preliminary round game and currently rank second in Group A, trailing the Czech Republic.
– Calder nomination –
Panarin’s impressive first NHL season, during which he scored 30 goals and had 47 assists, earned him one of the three nominations for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, which will be awarded next month.
He had played in the Russian-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for seven seasons before signing a two-year contract with Chicago last spring.
Panarin is up against 19-year-old Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who is 23, for the Calder Trophy.
Panarin shrugged off the prospect of winning the trophy, which is often the prelude to a successful career in the world’s top league.
“I played here in Russia, but it’s not like they were playing kids’ hockey over there,” Panarin said of the two other Calder contenders.
Chicago’s signing of Panarin was a gamble, a professional scout for a Western Conference NHL team told AFP, because of possible adjustment issues of a well-established KHL player.
“There’s a lot of question marks on signing these types of players,” the scout said, asking not to be named as he cannot discuss individual players.
Some hockey experts say Panarin, at 5’11” (180 cm) and 170 lbs (77 kg), went undrafted because of his small stature and lack of strength.
Craig Button, the former general manager of the Calgary Flames who now serves as director of scouting for Canada’s TSN sports network, told AFP that Panarin would have had a better chance at being drafted had he not been Russian.
Many NHL teams, he said, worry Russian players will struggle with the smaller North American ice surface and physical play, or that they will have difficulty adapting to life outside Russia.
– Playing with Kane –
Although Panarin still speaks to the North American media through a translator, he seems to have embraced his life in Chicago and has become a key player in his team’s line up.
“It’s a first-class organisation,” he told reporters last month. “It’s comfortable here.”
Panarin’s Chicago teammates have given him an unusual nickname — “Bread Man” — in reference to the US-based Panera Bread restaurant chain.
“It’s all in good fun,” Panarin told reporters last month. “Now Russian fans have started calling me things like ‘bun’.”
Part of the Russian winger’s success can be attributed to his linemates, league MVP nominee Patrick Kane and defensive-minded centre Artem Anisimov.
“I think he’s on a team that put him in a situation where he can have success,” the professional scout said. “I’m not sure he would get the same opportunity on certain other teams.”
But hockey experts say that Panarin, who had assists on half of Kane’s 46 goals this season, has not only been on the receiving end but has proven talented enough to contribute to Kane’s league-leading points total.
“You have to have a very high talent level to be able to play with Patrick Kane,” the scout said.
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