Alexei Yashin

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Position Centre
Shoots Right
Nickname Yash
Height
Weight		 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
230 lb (105 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams		 New York Islanders
Ottawa Senators
Nationality Flag of Russia Russia
Born November 5, 1973,
Sverdlovsk, USSR
NHL Draft 2nd overall, 1992
Ottawa Senators
Pro Career 1992 – present

Alexei Valeryevich Yashin (Алексей Валерьевич Яшин, Aleksej Valer'jevič Jašin) is a professional hockey player, born in Sverdlovsk, USSR, now Yekaterinburg, Russia, on November 5, 1973. He gained his initial fame after being the first ever draft pick of the expansion Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (2nd overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft).

Contents

[edit] Ottawa Senators, 1993-2001

After remaining in Russia for the 1992-93 season with the Dynamo Moscow, Yashin arrived in Ottawa for the 1993-94 NHL season, the same year as Ottawa's other touted young phenom, Alexandre Daigle. Yashin soon eclipsed Daigle as the team's brightest young star, scoring 79 points in his rookie season and earning a nomination for the Calder Trophy.

Subsequent seasons saw him emerge as a star, helping Ottawa make the playoffs for the first time in 1997. In 1998, he scored a key overtime goal against the New Jersey Devils that helped the Senators secure their first ever playoff series victory.

Yashin was eventually named team captain, and the pinnacle of his career came in the 1998-99 season when he scored 94 points. Yashin was runner-up for both the Hart Trophy for the NHL's most valuable player and the Richard Trophy for the highest goal scorer. At the conclusion of the season, he was named an NHL Second Team All-Star. Despite Yashin's regular season dominance, the Senators were swept in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres.

Off the ice, however, Yashin's stay in Ottawa was tumultuous. Management initially supported Daigle, who had been picked first in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. While they hesitated in giving Yashin a five year, $4 million contract, they signed Daigle to one of the largest rookie contracts in history and touted him over Yashin for the Calder Trophy at the conclusion of the 1993-94 season.[1] Several nasty contract disputes developed between Yashin and the team, beginning when Yashin refused to play the start of the 1995-96 NHL season unless he was given a contract similar to the Daigle's. The holdout caused some Senators fans to sour on him. Some commentators have justified Yashin's anger at being paid less than Daigle since Daigle never even approached his potential.[2] Yashin's offensive numbers exceeded Daigle's in every season they played together on the Senators.[3][4]

Tensions reached a high point after the 1998-99 season when Yashin refused to honor the final year of his contract and demanded a trade, on the advice of his agent Mark Gandler.[5] Yashin, who was coming off of an MVP-nominated season, was only receiving $3 million per year and was paid far less than other leading NHL centers, such as Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic, who each made around $6 million.[citation needed] The Senators refused to trade Yashin and argued that his refusal to play constituted a breach of his contract. Consequently, Yashin spent the entire 1999-2000 NHL season practicing with a team in Switzerland. An NHL legal panel ruled that Yashin still owed the Senators one more season, and Yashin returned to the team for the 2000-01 season. The dispute cost Yashin the team captaincy (Daniel Alfredsson succeeded him) and over $3 million in salary.

In 2000-01 year, despite initially being jeered by the crowd, Yashin had a solid regular season. The Senators entered the postseason as the second seed in the Eastern Conference and were paired against the seventh-seeded Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the Leafs swept the Senators out of the playoffs. Yashin himself had a poor series, as he was unable to perform offensively while being shadowed by the Leafs' Shayne Corson. Assuming he had played his last game in Ottawa, Yashin did not attend the final team meeting of the season.[verification needed]

In 1998 Yashin had promised to give a million dollars to the National Arts Centre, the Centre's largest ever donation.[6] When the NAC learned that one of the conditions of this donation was for them to pay Yashin's parents $425,000 in consulting fees for "loosely defined" services, they balked and Yashin cancelled the deal.[7] The failed arrangement served to further damage Yashin's already strained relationship with the public in Ottawa.

[edit] New York Islanders, 2001-Present

On draft day, 2001, Yashin was sent to the New York Islanders for defenceman Zdeno Chara, forward Bill Muckalt and the second overall draft selection, which the Senators used to draft highly-touted centerman Jason Spezza.[8] The Islanders signed Yashin to an enormous 10-year, $87.5 million USD contract. Although his contract was reduced 24 percent due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) signed in 2005, Yashin is widely considered overpaid and virtually untradeable.[9]

Since joining the Islanders, Yashin's point production has declined. While he helped his new team make the playoffs for the first time in eight years in 2001-02, the Islanders have been unable to advance beyond the first round. The Isles bowed out to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a hard-fought seven game series in 2001-02 and then lost in five games to Ottawa in 2002-03 and the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning in 2003-04. Yashin's play was generally praised in 2001-02, as he carried the team's offense for stretches during the season. The following years, his mediocre point production led people both inside and outside the Islanders organization to question his effort and salary.

Prior to the 2005-06 season, the Islanders lost several key players to free agency or retirement and significantly retooled their roster. Captain Michael Peca was traded to free up room to sign free agents such as high-scoring wing Miroslav Satan.[10] Yashin succeeded Peca as team captain.[11] Journalists suggested that the team had finally been built around Yashin and would sink or swim with his performance. A common defense of Yashin's decreased offensive output had been the lack of a legitimate first line winger to play with him. Satan and Yashin showed signs of chemistry early in the season, but generally produced disappointing results. When Satan was moved off Yashin's line, his offensive output increased markedly. After the season ended with the Islanders out of the playoffs for the first time since his arrival, Yashin acknowledged that he needed to score more. After the' season ended, there had been speculation that the Islanders would buy out his contract and rebuild in a different image, but the team decided to retain him.

An October 2006 article in Newsday suggested that Yashin must "make a difference" in 2006-07 or he will be bought out at the end of the season.[12] By the 20 game mark, Yashin was earning praise in the local media for the first time in recent memory, and his point totals were among the league leaders.[13] On Saturday, November 25, 2006, Yashin suffered a knee sprain after taking a knee-to-knee hit. He initially returned after a few weeks, but his effectiveness was reduced, and the team revealed that the knee was not 100%. Early in February, Islanders coach Ted Nolan decided to rest Yashin until his knee was completely healthy, which prompted questions about whether team still had faith in Yashin and whether the re-injury was legitimate or a pretext for benching him.[14]

[edit] Career statistics

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM PP SH GW GT Shots Pct 

2006-2007 Islanders  27 12 22 34 17 18 1 0 3 0 109 11.0 

2005-2006 Islanders  82 28 38 66 -14 68 10 0 2 0 253 11.1 

2003-2004 Islanders  47 15 19 34 -1 10 3 0 1 0 148 10.1 

2002-2003 Islanders  81 26 39 65 -12 32 14 0 7 1 274 9.5 

2001-2002 Islanders  78 32 43 75 -3 25 15 0 5 0 239 13.4 

2000-2001 Senators  82 40 48 88 10 30 13 2 10 1 263 15.2 

1998-1999 Senators  82 44 50 94 16 54 19 0 5 1 337 13.1 

1997-1998 Senators  82 33 39 72 6 24 5 0 6 0 291 11.3 

1996-1997 Senators  82 35 40 75 -7 44 10 0 5 1 291 12.0 

1995-1996 Senators  46 15 24 39 -15 28 8 0 1 0 143 10.5 

1994-1995 Senators  47 21 23 44 -20 20 11 0 1 0 154 13.6 

1993-1994 Senators  83 30 49 79 -49 22 11 2 3 0 232 12.9 
 
NHL Totals:   819 331 434 765 -72 375 120 4 49 4 2,734 12.1 
 
 
===Career Playoff Stats===  

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM PP SH GW GT Shots Pct 

2003-2004 Islanders  5 0 1 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 

2002-2003 Islanders  5 2 2 4 -1 2 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 

2001-2002 Islanders  7 3 4 7 -2 2 1 0 0 0 29 10.3 

2000-2001 Senators  4 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 

1998-1999 Senators  4 0 0 0 -4 10 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 

1997-1998 Senators  11 5 3 8 -6 8 3 0 2 0 42 11.9 

1996-1997 Senators  7 1 5 6 -2 2 1 0 0 0 21 4.8 
 
NHL Totals:   43 11 16 27 -16 24 5 0 2 1 163 6.7

[edit] International play

Olympic medal record
Men’s Ice hockey
Silver 1998 Nagano Ice hockey
Bronze 2002 Salt Lake City Ice hockey

On the international stage, Yashin has represented his native Russia in the 1996 and 2004 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. He has won Olympic silver (1998) and bronze medals (2002). Yashin also represented Russia at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

[edit] Trivia

Yashin is in a long-term relationship with actress and model Carol Alt.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] External link

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/news/2001/08/08/sayitaintso_senators/
  2. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/news/2001/08/08/sayitaintso_senators/]
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ http://www.mcgill.ca/news/2003/fall/meehan/two/
  6. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/1998/03/03/yashin980303b.html
  7. ^ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011900
  8. ^ Mark Long (2001). Yashin first of many draft-day trades. USA Today. Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
  9. ^ How long? It's 15 for Isles, DiPietro (2006). Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
  10. ^ Peca to join Pronger in Edmonton. ESPN.com (2005). Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
  11. ^ Player Bio - Alexei Yashin. NewYorkIslanders.com. Retrieved on September 26, 2006.
  12. ^ Here we go again. Newsday (2006). Retrieved on October 8, 2006.
  13. ^ http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/ny-spisles124972604nov12,0,2996421.story
  14. ^ Yashin benched to rest knee. Newsday (2007). Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
  15. ^ Facing off with Alexei Yashin. ESPN. Retrieved on November 23, 2006.
Preceded by
Randy Cunneyworth		 Ottawa Senators captains
1998-99		 Succeeded by
Daniel Alfredsson
Preceded by
Michael Peca		 New York Islanders captains
2005 – present		 Incumbent
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/l/e/Alexei_Yashin_e4f5.html"