In Russia, Ray Emery gets the all-star treatment

When troubled former Ottawa Senators' goaltender Ray Emery went to play for Moscow's Atlant Mystishchi of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), many expected that much of his time there would be spent trying to adjust to a different lifestyle and playing style.

However, it turns out Emery had little trouble in either respect. As a sign of his ability to adjust to the Russian style of play, one needs only looks at his statistics: A goals-against average of 1.97 and a save-percentage of .932--good for eleventh and sixth in the league, respectively. His playing time is limited by regulations mandating that Russian-born players must start a specific number of games, but Emery has compiled a 13-5 record on a Mystshchi squad that is third overall in the league.

About the lifestyle, interviews with the Hamilton, Ontario-born goaltender indicated that--at first--he didn't quite know what to expect. "On my way to the airport, I was like, 'What's going on here?' It sunk in there. 'Oh man, this could be something.' It's gone way better than I thought it would so far," Emery told Scott Burnside of ESPN. And just as he was pleasantly surprised by the ease of his transition into Russian society, he's also found that, in the end, the game he loves is pretty much the same thing wherever it's played. "Hockey's hockey is what I'm kind of realizing," Emery said.

Not only are his teammates happy to have him, the fans seem to be embracing Emery, athletic goaltending style and unapologetic attitude as part of his package. With 11,370 fan-cast votes, he is the leading non-Russian goaltender for the KHL All-Star Game. In all likelihood, he will be the starting goaltender in the historic outdoor KHL All-Star Game in Red Square for Team Jagr--named for Jaromir Jagr, the Czech-born captain of the non-Russian squad in the All-Star Game, and the most groundbreaking free-agent signing any KHL squad made this past summer.

When Emery signed a two-year contract for a reported $2M (all terms U.S.) per season to play in the KHL over the summer, many believed it was simply an opportunity for him to resurrect his career in the hopes of regaining respect amongst National Hockey League (NHL) general managers. However, given the success that Emery has enjoyed and the big city lifestyle available to him in Moscow, he's stated that a priority of his is honouring the terms of the contract that he's signed with the Atlant. By all accounts, his teammates and fans of the KHL wouldn't have a problem with that at all.

(P.S. This post was my attempt at writing in the epic, oft-overstated style of the New York Times. Any comments?)

Nikulin will be gone, but Bell won't go anywhere

Just catching up with Michael Sharp's Binghamton Senators blog (which is, by the way, a tremendous resource for out-of-Binghamton Sens fans), and saw some interesting facts.

First off, Alexander Nikulin is definitely not going to stay with the B-Sens. After demanding a trade after being demoted from the NHL, he's apparently fed up, and will be gone to Russia if he hasn't been traded by this Monday (Nov. 3). This, obviously, doesn't make him very marketable, because if he's this willing to head off to Russia, there aren't many people who'd give up much in exchange. Not a great decision, but I guess we'll see how this works out.

And another story with a Russian angle: Sharp had reported that Brendan Bell had received offers--some very fruitful--from Swiss, Swedish, and Russian clubs, but is committed to fulfilling his contract with the Sens. A very interesting quote in the story from Bell;

"Yeah, there's some big money in other places," Bell said, "but I've got a contract with Ottawa and with Binghamton, and so this is where I am. I'm content here with the way things are going, and the way I've been playing. ... I know a couple buddies of mine have gone over there and done that, and now they're in some trouble. So, I don't look at that as an option right now."

In the same way that Nikulin would rather play in his home country, it seems Bell would rather play on his home continent. Although they would both rather play in the NHL...

Ray Emery is popular (?) in Mystichshi

It turns out that, after a tough first game for Mytishchi, Ray Emery has endeared himself to fans there. After that first loss, 6-5 to Spartak HC in overtime, Emery (or "Раймонд Эмери" in Russian) has compiled a 5-1 record (according to AllHockey.ru), and the team has gone 11-1 overall and is first in the KHL standings.

Emery's been splitting time with the team's other goaltenders, mostly Vitaly Kolesnik, although Dmitry Yakovlev has played once. With 15 goals against in those seven games, his goals-against average is (by my calculation) 2.20.

After celebrating his 26th birthday just a few days ago (September 28, apparently), the Mytishchi Atlas website gave Emery a warm welcome and genuine congratulations. Here it is, roughly translated through an online service:

"Today marks birthday the Canadian recruit of our command, the goalkeeper from Canada Ray Emery.

"We congratulate our beginner on the 26 anniversary!!! Happiness and successes in all good undertakings!!

"Today together with the rest of the team, Ray at 11.00 will rise in the sky and after some hours will land in Astana, capital friendly Russia the states Kazahastana.

"Well and tomorrow, on Monday on September, 29th, in Astana we Atlas will lead a match of the Open championship of Russia against «Барыса» [I don't know]. We wish all command and Ray, in частност [yeah... not sure]!"

I love all the exclamation marks! They must be genuine. A few Emery superfans commented on the Atlas website, including local fans:

• "Happy b-day baby. Hope you are having a fun time in russia and waiting for you to come back...Love you."
• "Happy birthday Ray! I went to a Sens game last week and it just was not the same without you. I wish you the best year - Show them how great you really are! Cheers, Sandy from Ottawa, Ontario."
• "happy birthday/dear Ray!be healthy and defend our goal as great as you do now!hope that my favourite team with you will have the cupwe hope u like our country and stay here longer."
• "Happy birthday to You! Best wishes and good luck on Russian ice! My son is your big fan."
• "I wish you happy birthday, the darling!!!! I wish good luck, health, good luck in career growth, successes on a life)))) I hope that else we will meet in якитории as that time and nevertheless we we will have supper together))) I kiss you."

Yes, the darling Emery, best of luck in your continued endeavours on the Russian ice. I remember the honeymoon period in his first two years with Ottawa... good times. Maybe he'll actually get an NHL contract for next season, but don't count on it including a bodyguard for him.

Fun fact: I got to learn a bit of Russian while writing this article. These articles would be easier if someone would offer an English-language website on the European leagues, notably the KHL. For the record, if you're browsing websites, "Календарь" means game results, or something like that. I think.

Sens chasing players to Russia?

While reading a KHL season preview on the New York Times' Slapshot blog, I noticed just how many former Senators are going to be playing key roles for the various teams in the Russian league. Here is a listing of them:

1. Ray Emery, G, Atlant Mytishchi
   No need to rehash the Emery Saga.


2. Alexei Yashin, C, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
   I don't really want to go over Yashin's Senators' career, either. It's well-documented.


3. Oleg Saprykin, C, CSKA Moscow
   Saprykin was a pretty big part of the fourth line during the Sens' 2007 cup run (even though he only had two points), but it was rumoured that GM Bryan Murray didn't like the qualifying offer issued to him.


4. Alexei Kaigorodov, C, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
   Drafted in the second round of 2002 by the Sens, Kaigorodov was pencilled in as Ottawa's second-line centre for the 2006-07 season, but when things didn't go his way he left North America and went back to Russia. The Sens traded his rights to Phoenix for Mike Comrie.


5. Petr Schastlivy, LW, CSKA Moscow
   Another second-line centre hopeful, Schastlivy played parts of five seasons with the Senators, but never really panned out. He was traded to Anaheim in 2004.


6. Joel Kwiatkowski, D, Severstal Cherepovets
   Kwiatkowski had a few stints with the Senators, but played most of his time with the organization for the Grand Rapids Griffins when they were the Sens' affiliate. He also had a stint with the Binghamton Senators.
   


7. Mike Fountain, G, Lada Togliatti
   Played in two games for the Senators, and 88 for the Griffins. Not spectacular
   


8. Ivan Ciernik, F, Sibir Novosibirsk
   Good ol' Ivan was drafted in the ninth round of the 1996 draft, and played 29 games for the Sens while being bumped around all sorts of AHL teams. Then he went to a German league, and now he's in the KHL.
   


9. Filip Novak, D, Dinamo Riga
   No, Filip Kuba is not the first defenceman named Filip that ever played for Ottawa. Novak played 11 games for the Sens in 2005-06, and 64 for Binghamton in the same season. He did well, too, scoring 58 points for the B-Sens in that season.
   

I guess there's something about the Senators' franchise and chasing players out of the NHL. Which is kind of a shame... good to see Russians like Ilya Zubov and Alexander Nikulin

aren't afraid to try and work their way onto the team.

The last article you'll read about Ray Emery

Please God, let this be the last article we ever read about Ray Emery. He's gone to Russia to play for Atlant Mytishchi of the Continental Hockey League. I guess that North America just isn't cool enough for Ray. It's our loss. Damn that guy was effin' cool... I miss him.

Anyone else annoyed that any Russia-related NHL article plays on some kind of "To Russia with Love" pun? That seems like something that sports writers like...