Quote:
Originally Posted by malkinfan
Announcement per bimbo Bob Mckenzie. Not sure how old the news is but NHL GM Mike Smith who for whatever reason has a Phd in Russian studies will be Working with Lokomotiv. He will serve as administrative consultant, which is just a fancy title. Basically he will be assisting the team in acquiring the best possible free agents (probably from the NHL).
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When I heard this on TSN, I thought it was perfectly in keeping with Mike Smith's track record.
He was the GM of the first edition Winnipeg Jets for 5 years starting in 1988 and was VERY pro-russian in his approach.
Politically, high end Russian players were available in abundance to North American teams by the time of the 1992 NHL draft, and Mike Smith drafted a LOT of russian players that year:
Sergei Bautin(1st rd.) Boris Mironov(2nd rd.) Alexander Alexeev(6th rd.)
Artur Oktyabrev(7th rd.) Andrei Raisky(another 7th rd. pick) Nikolai Khabibulin(9th rd.)Evgeny Garanin(10th rd.) and Andrei Karpovtsev & Ivan Vologjaninov, both in the 11th rd.
Mike Smith invested 4 of the Jets' 10 picks in 1991 and 5 of the Jets' 13 picks in 1993 on Russian players.
He drafted Alexei Zhamnov in the 4th and Sergei Selyanin in the 11th rd. of 1990.
Mr. Smith was also the first NHL general manager to bring in a Russian assistant coach; Zinetula Bilyaledtinov and even a Russian for the Jets' communications dept; Igor Kuperman.
Interestingly, with the exception of Zhamnov and Khabibulin, none of the Russians Mike Smith drafted had a major impact on the NHL.
Both Boris Mironov and Sergei Bautin played in the NHL for a few years. Interestingly, Mr. Smith created a buzz at the 1992 draft; going "off the board" by drafting Mr. Bautin with the Jets' 1st round pick. It turned out that Sergei Bautin, being at least 26 years old, could have been signed as a free agent by Winnipeg, allowing the team to invest their 1st round pick elsewhere.
