Crazy Alexei

I wasn't watching the game, but during Boston vs. NY Islanders earlier today, there was a really good fight between 42-year-old veteran, and all-round weapon Zdeno Chara, and former Maple Leaf goon, Matt Martin. I've never liked the Bruins, but I've always been somewhat curious about Big Z. This guy has been in the league for-e-ver, and would be a legitimately terrifying presence on the ice. Standing six-foot-nine (not counting ice skates) and weighing in at 113kg, he's an absolute monster - I even heard today his jersey's have a sleeve length of over 50 inches - with that kind of reach, it's no wonder Matt Martin never stood a chance.

Like I said, I've always been curious about this Slovakian God-on-skates, so at long last I did some reading. I know he's been around a long time, and his HockeyDB page confirms that he's played almost 1,500 NHL games since being drafted in 1996. That's a lot, second only to Matt Cullen who's also miraculously still playing. Anyway, I got sidetracked by another interesting name - unheard of to me before today - while looking into how Zdeno ended up wearing a Bruins jersey, since I knew that's not the team who originally drafted him.

The player I ended up reading about is a Russian weirdo named Alexei Yashin, who at one point was a highly-touted hockey phenom, who was drafted by Ottawa second overall in the 1992 draft. He did some cool things on the ice for Ottawa during his time there, and for a time was considered their best player, it's the shady manner in which he and his management acted off the ice that piqued my interest, most interestingly when the matter at hand was his contracts.

Multiple times, Yashin flipped his lid over his displeasure at not being the franchise's highest paid player. Not during contract negotiations or between contracts, but during active contracts he had signed. Such was his irrationality or unwillingness to toe the line, he even refused to report to team meetings, trainings or even suit up for games, which eventually led to his absence from professional hockey while the entire shitstorm was being arbitrated.

Somehow, Yashin came out the other side (not after earning the disdain from his own local fanbase in Ottawa, but from opposing fanbases around the league), and in 2001 he was shipped off to the New York Islanders (in exchange for Zdeno Chara, another player I've never heard of, as well as the second overall pick in the 2001 draft, which turned out to be superstar Jason Spezza). Once he landed in Long Island, then-GM Mike Milbury signed the almost-28-year-old Yashin to a mind-boggling 10 year, $87m contract. Not surprisingly, Milbury now works as an NHL analyst, and no longer has the keys to any NHL team's kingdom.

As many would suspect, the story doesn't end all that well for our friend Alexei Yashin - at least for his playing career, anyway, since the guy still got paaaaaaid regardless, but his on-ice production waned significantly during his years with the Islanders, before eventually disappearing back to his native Russia and playing in the KHL.

From all accounts, Yashin was a great hockey player, though his career was perhaps hindered by a tumultuous life off the ice. He did however earn a hefty chunk of change for his 850-game NHL career, and a suitcase full of USD wasn't the only thing he took home either - during his time in New York, he managed to earn the love and affection of model, actress and apparent puck-bunny Carol Alt, who before Yashin was married to former New York Ranger, Ron Greschner.

So there you have it, the story of Alexei Yashin. That's what I learned today.