UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE
by Ihor Stelmach
New language, homesickness too much for Sushinsky
Maxim Sushinsky went on a wild ride this hockey season. Unfortunately, his inaugural NHL season was over almost as soon as it started. Sushinsky left the Minnesota Wild and returned to his native Ukraine.
A fifth-round selection in last summer's entry draft, the 26-year-old Sushinsky led the Wild with seven goals at the season's quarter pole. But decreased ice time and homesickness were behind his decision to leave. Sushinsky, who doesn't speak English, returned with his wife, Elena, and 6-year-old daughter, Viktoria.
"It's too bad he couldn't mix with the other guys, he was lonesome," said Coach Jacques Lemaire. "He was always very serious and never got in the mold of the team. It's too bad because he's a kid that has talent. But because he couldn't speak the language and understand what the guys were doing, it was tough for him."
Wild teammate Sergei Krivokrasov, a Russian and neighbor in Minnesota, criticized Sushinsky for not trying to adapt to the United States.
"It seemed he didn't want anything," Krivokrasov said. "For me, it was frustrating because it wasn't appreciated. So basically, see, this guy doesn't care, so I might as well not help him at all. He didn't try to learn anything, he didn't do anything."
Second salvation for Khristich
A few things definitely cannot be disputed.
First, Dmitri Khristich was never the right fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Air Canada Center fans let him know it.
Second, the Washington Capitals had been searching for a right-handed shot for Adam Oates' line, one who could also aid their power play. Bingo, a match!
Ten years to the day Khristich left Ukraine to join the Capitals, he rejoined Washington after playing for three teams in between. The Leafs got a third-round draft pick in 2001, and the Caps got immediate results - a goal and two assists in his first two games. Khristich had just three goals and nine points in 27 games with Toronto.
"We've been looking for a right-handed shot with skill," said GM George McPhee, "and they're not easy to acquire. I had some long conversations with (former Cap) Dale Hunter about Dmitri, and Dale likes him a lot. Dale said, 'He made me a better player because he has skill. If you can get him, get him.' I put a lot of stock in what Dale says."
McPhee said the Maple Leafs are paying part of Khristich's salary. One report had the Leafs picking up $1 million in deferred salary. Khristich will earn $3.25 million this season, $3.2 million in 2001-2002 and $3.04 million in 2002-2003.
More Capital developments
The Caps decided not to take a chance on Steve Konowalchuk testing the free-agent waters next summer and signed the valuable left-winger to a four-year deal worth $6.15 million. It is money well spent for the hard-working, unassuming third-liner who is a consistent and regular contributor.
Konowalchuk, 28, got a raise from $850,000 and his new deal is slightly more than the average NHL salary.
Left-winger Peter Bondra became the seventh Cap to play 700 games for the team last December 12.
Ludzik fired by Lightning
Winning in the National Hockey League is tough enough. Trying to succeed with a team filled with youth is nearly impossible. So with the Lightning stumbling along at a disappointing 12-20-5-2 record and the management team seemingly divided on philosophical matters, Coach Steve Ludzik was fired on January 6 and replaced by Associate Coach John Tortorella.
In explaining Ludzik's dismissal, general manager Rick Dudley cited what seemed like a lack of progress in developing the youngest team in the league and Ludzik's preference for a veteran team. Dudley said that Tortorella was hired because of his ability to teach.
The Ukrainian Ludzik, 31-74-14-9 in his Tampa venture into head coaching, said he simply wanted to win as many games as possible. "Your job is to win," Ludzik said. "If you lose, they're going to come at you. I loved the way my guys played for me. Every team we knew we played hard and I hang my hat on that."
This is Tortorella's first permanent head coaching job. The odds are pretty good that Ludzik will get another head coaching job in pro hockey next year. Count on it being back in the minor league ranks for a couple of years.
Hurricane's goal-less defender
Every time Steve Halko plays an NHL game, he establishes a league record. Make that every game he plays and doesn't score a goal. Which, so far, has been all of them. Halko, a 26-year-old defenseman with Carolina, is in his fourth NHL season, though he has spent significant time in the minors each year. With nothing but a donut to show for 47 games this season, he had yet to score an NHL goal in 140 career games. That breaks the old mark of 106 set by enforcer Kim Clackson, who skated with Pittsburgh and Winnipeg during the early 1980s. Halko, who scored nine goals in four years with Michigan, has three American Hockey League goals in four pro seasons - one in 1996-1997 for Springfield and two for New Haven in 1998-1999.
(Quotes courtesy of beat writers Tom Jones, Dave Fay and Damian Cristodero of The Hockey News.)
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PIT | PIM |
| Peter Bondra | Washington | 73 | 43 | 32 | 75 | 52 |
| Keith Tkachuk | Phoenix-St.Louis | 67 | 29 | 42 | 71 | 108 |
| Oleg Tverdovsky | Anaheim | 72 | 11 | 34 | 45 | 28 |
| Steve Konowalchuk | Washington | 73 | 20 | 19 | 39 | 83 |
| Dmitri Khristich | Toronto-Washington | 64 | 12 | 25 | 37 | 16 |
| Tony Hrkac | Anaheim | 70 | 13 | 20 | 33 | 27 |
| Andre Nikolishin | Washington | 72 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 30 |
| Ruslan Fedotenko | Philadelphia | 66 | 13 | 18 | 31 | 70 |
| Dave Andreychuk | Buffalo | 67 | 17 | 11 | 28 | 26 |
| Alexei Zhitnik | Buffalo | 68 | 5 | 23 | 28 | 65 |
| Drake Berehowsky | Nashville-Vancouver | 70 | 6 | 19 | 25 | 102 |
| Richard Matvichuk | Dallas | 69 | 2 | 13 | 15 | 48 |
| Brad Lukowich | Dallas | 71 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 67 |
| Daniel Tkaczuk | Calgary | 19 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 14 |
| Maxim Sushinsky | Minnesota | 29 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 29 |
| Dennis Shvidki | Florida | 37 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 14 |
| Vitaly Vishnevski | Anaheim | 69 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 71 |
| Todd Fedoruk | Philadelphia | 50 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 95 |
| Curtis Leschyshyn | Minn.-Ottawa | 57 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 19 |
| Glen Metropolit | Washington | 12 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| Ken Daneyko | New Jersey | 71 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 71 |
| Joey Tetarenko | Florida | 21 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 37 |
| Mike Maneluk | Columbus | 27 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 20 |
| Wade Belak | Calary-Toronto | 36 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 101 |
| Steve Halko | Carolina | 47 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Stanislav Gron | New Jersey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yuri Babenko | Colorado | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jaroslav Obsut | St. Louis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Peter Ratchuk | Florida | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Darcy Hordichuk | Atlanta | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| Greg Andrusak | San Jose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GP | MIN | GA | GAA | W | L | T | PCT | ||
| Dieter Kochan | Tampa Bay | 10 | 314 | 18 | 3.44 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.87 |
| K. Tkachuk | $8,300,000 |
| P. Bondra | $3,775,000 |
| D. Khristich | $3,250,000 |
| O. Tverdovsky | $2,500,000 |
| A. Zhitnik | $2,500,000 |
| R. Matvichuk | $1,900,000 |
| C. Leschyshyn | $1,900,000 |
| K. Daneyko | $1,850,000 |
| A. Nikolishin | $1,127,500 |
| D. Andreychuk | $1,100,000 |
| D. Shvidki | $1,025,000 |
| V. Vishnevski | $975,000 |
| D. Tkaczuk | $925,000 |
| S. Konowalchuk | $850,000 |
| D. Berehowsky | $800,000 |
| W. Belak | $683,000 |
| T. Hrkac | $600,000 |
| S. Halko | $550,000 |
| R. Fedotenko | $425,000 |
| M. Sushinsky | $400,000 |
| B. Lukowich | $385,000 |
| 4) Dallas Stars | $49,725,000 |
| 8) Anaheim Ducks | $38,475,000 |
| 13) New Jersey | $35,650,000 |
| 21) Calgary | $28,515,500 |
| 30) Minnesota | $15,297,500 |
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 1, 2001, No. 13, Vol. LXIX
| Home Page |