[VIDEO] Alexander Mogilny: The Lost Shifts (A Look Back at Another Tremendous Former-Canuck)

[Hockey Fever]

Yeah he was a great player, as for the video highlights i felt like it was more of a Brodeur/Roy highlight package than Mogilny, but still fun to watch.

[Rick Rypien]

Being born in 94 and not getting to see these guys play night in night out, I appreciate it! Great work man, keep it up!

[Edge]

I forgot the Naslund wore #22 for a time. Great compilation video. Next up, Larionov please. ( oh yeah, flying skate jersey still the best )

[Shoot the Puck!!!!]

Saw him at 8 rinks just after NJ won the Stanley Cup. Nice guy.

I agree, he was a more all round player than Bure.

Sure woulda been nice to see the two of them together(healthier) longer.

Mogilny lit it up every contract year.

[Grapefruits]

Who wins?

[Lancaster]

I remember Larschied saying that Mogilny was actually faster or quicker than Bure. I guess Pavel with the quick acceleration and Alex with being more shifty.

Mogilny is the type of player that brings your team to the next level, but not really a player to build your team around (a la Fedorov).

That being said, it was a shame he was on the Canucks during the dark days of Keenan and Messier. Just the year previous, it was him, Linden and Hirsch basically carrying the Canucks to go toe-to-toe with the stacked Avalanche team. Probably would have won had they had Bure in the lineup.

[Lemieux]

Mogilny was the ultimate goal-suck. Would never go back to his own zone. Always try to hover and get that breakaway pass. His tenure here made the team so horrible to watch. Russians need to stay where they belong.

[Gurn]

After all the discrimination of the french, your username talks about Russians?

[Grapefruits]

Mogilny was the ultimate goal-suck. Would never go back to his own zone. Always try to hover and get that breakaway pass. His tenure here made the team so horrible to watch. Russians need to stay where they belong.

[Zissou]

Mogilny had more talent.

Bure did more with his.

Keep in mind that Mogilny had fear of flying and being moved to a west coast team probably affected his play.

[JoGuitar]

He had such a deceptive style of Stickhandling.. So shifty.

[Clonedanielsedin]

Mogilny was my favourite Canuck growing up. I remember watching games with my dad and seeing him in his prime.

[Slegr]

He also had some off ice problems after his defection from the USSR.

96 was the first year I started watching the Canucks (5 years old) and I quickly became a huge Mogilny fan (I've got a black skate Mogilny jersey.) I'm in a Political Science class at university that is about organized crime. Mogilny's name actually came up in one of the lectures:

"In the 1990s, a number of Russian players in the NHL were forced to pay the Moscow underworld protection money for their families back home. One unidentified Russian player was quoted as saying: “Russian players aren’t safe anywhere in the world. The Russian Mafia leaders are in league with the former directors of the Communist party. They have all the contacts and control all the channels”1. A good example of this is the case of Alexander Mogilny.

Alexander Mogilny was the first Russian hockey player to defect from Russia to play in the NHL. He also became the first Soviet player in the NHL to reportedly be hit with extortion demands. Mogilny’s story started when he met Sergei Fomitchev at a hockey World Championship in Sweden in 1989. Mogilny talked about the possibility of playing for the Buffalo Sabres in the West. Fomitchev helped with Mogilny’s plan to escape from USSR. A couple of days later, Fomitchev had hidden Mogilny in a hotel, while his wife, fluent in English, called the Buffalo Sabres, who had drafted his rights. Things started off well enough in America for both of them. Mogilny gave Fomitchev half of his $150,000 signing bonus and the Sabres hired Fomitchev to live, travel and translate for the young star. Fomitchev kept hanging around, trying to trade on their association to meet other hockey players. However, Fomtitchev had never been able to build from that, while Mogilny went on to become a star, wearing number 89 to celebrate the year of his freedom.

Problems began for Mogilny when in March 1994 Fomitchev threatened the hockey player for money. Fomitchev wanted $150,000, but the hockey star refused. Mogilny later testified in court that the reason Fomitchev had to ask for money was that “he blamed me for ruining his life… and asked for money” 1.

During the trial, Fomitchev admitted to having said, “In your sport, your legs are very important.” Mogilny recalled him asking: “How would you feel if someone stabbed you in your legs or shot you in the back?” Thus, Fomitchev pleaded guilty and served two months in an Erie County jail in Buffalo. He also pleaded guilty to charges of visa fraud and the immigration judge ordered him deported 2."

Obviously that only focuses on his time in Buffalo, but I'm sure some of that followed him to Vancouver.

Thought some of you guys might be interested. I had no idea about any of that until I too this class.

[the boards]

One of my favourite players, even before he came to the Canucks.

Also a reminder of Brodeur's brilliance...

Thanks for the post!

[hap_leaf]

AlMo was my favorite Leaf and I've enjoyed reminiscing with you on this amazing player. I was in search of some good Mogilny pictures for my desktop and wanted to take a moment to give a Leaf fan's perspective. It doesn't seem that long ago since he was a Leaf and let me tell you, most nights he was our best player.

What a gifted player with the puck. I can still picture some of his moves - extremely fast stickhandling in tight situations. Able to adjust speed to the next gear to bypass a defender with inside-outside moves and then a quick release on net.

In 2001-02 playoffs he was just insanely motivated. It was a huge series against the Islanders and Sundin had broken his wrist. He carried the team in his absesnce (with Roberts as well). Along with Quinn's heart issues against Carolina I think he really brought the team together through adversity. He finished with 8 goals in 20 games. That is how I will remember him - a leader when called upon.

He was also so funny with the press. He would get asked questions after the game and look at the reporter completely deadpan and say something totally unexpected with a straight face. Nobody would know if he was serious or not until he started to grin. He had some really funny quotes.

His impact in Toronto was Huge. Only Sundin has made a more impactful presence over the last 10 years and fans recall Mogs with a lot of great stories. I'm glad to see that the same is true in Vancouver but I can see he is more of a distant memory for you than for us where I would say he is a recent memory.

[Westcoasting]

Almo was great when he showed up, but other games you wouldn't even notice him out there. The first number of years he played he was a force every night and gave 110 %. After the big dollars came his way his work ethic on the ice was only sporadic.

[lowest common denominator]

Linden, Mogilny, Nazzy(wearing the tutu) with Bure and Lumme on the points? Wow Don't know what kind of stats they put up but that has to be the canucks all time beastliest PP unit.

Thanks for posting this.

Someone said it earlier but AlMo had some kind of fear of flying or airplanes so I always thought it was funny that he would end up on the most travelled team in the NHL.

Would love to hear the details behind the struggles russian players had in coming to N America what with the russian mafia n all the corruption over there.