Following the end of the last KHL season, several hockey players announced their retirement from their professional careers. Interestingly, not only famous Russians who played in the league to this day, but also famous foreigners who played in European championships, hung skates on a nail.
In early May, goalkeeper Vasily Koshechkin, defender Yaroslav Khabarov, forwards Evgeny Ketov and Danis Zaripov, as well as foreigners Petri Kontiola, Nigel Dawes and Jarno Koskiranta announced the decision to say goodbye to Russian player careers.
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During the off-season, this roster was replenished with several more prominent hockey players. Not all of them played in the KHL last season, but each of the hockey players who finished their careers managed to leave their mark on the league’s history.
north. Dmitry Sayustov, 35 years old
On the morning of August 25, an official statement appeared on the Telegram channel of the Shumi Babaev hockey agency about the end of his career as the top scorer in the history of Vladivostok Admiral Dmitry Sayustov. “I am grateful for the years spent in great hockey, to all those with whom fate brought me together. Those were wonderful years that I spent in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk. I want to thank Vladivostok, where I spent my best hockey years.
I want to say a special word to Sergei Ivanovich Kokorin, my first coach, Sergei Petrovich Vitman, with whom I worked in Magnitogorsk, Vladimir Vladimirovich Yurzinov, who launched my career in Nizhny Novgorod, and Alexander Leonidovich Andrievsky, with whom I had the opportunity to work in Vladivostok. and Novosibirsk, – quotes Sayustov the agency of Shumi Babaev.
The 35-year-old forward is a 2013 Russian Championship silver medalist, a 2012 KHL Championship bronze medalist, and a 2008 World Youth Championship bronze medalist. The experienced forward has taken the ice in each of the 15 seasons of the KHL history. In total, he played 585 games in the KHL, in which he scored 155 (86 + 69) points. Last season he played 41 regular season games with Admiral and scored 7 (3 + 4) points.
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north. Denis Kokarev, 38 years old
The 2012 world champion as part of the Russian national team was in no hurry to make the decision to end his career for a long time. The two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup played his last game in the KHL with Dynamo Moscow in the 2019/2020 season. In addition to HC MVD and Dynamo itself, during his league career Kokarev managed to play for such teams as Salavat Yulaev, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Vityaz and Spartak.
For the next two years he played in the KHL, defending first the colors of Dynamo Krasnogorsk and then HC Tambov. At the beginning of September 2022, for the third time in his life, Kokarev became a Dynamo player, only now not for Moscow, in whose colors he spent the best stage of the famous striker’s career, but for Belarus. In Dynamo-Molodechno, the 38-year-old striker played 41 matches and, after completing the playoffs of the Belarusian championship, retired.
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v. Ivan Nalimov, 29 years old
For health reasons, at the age of 29, goalkeeper Ivan Nalimov said goodbye to hockey. At the beginning of his professional career as part of the Russian national team, Ivan took part in YJWCH-2012 and MFM-2014. Nalimov made his debut in the KHL in the 2014/2015 season, then he played for the “Admiral”.
During his short career, the goalkeeper of the Continental Hockey League also managed to play for Sibir, Salavat Yulaev, Avangard, SKA, Sochi, Dynamo Riga, Kunlun, Metallurg. In the 2020/2021 season, the goalkeeper played in the AHL with the Rockford Icehogs, since 2022 he has played in the VHL with the AKM. In the KHL he played 176 games, scored 74 wins and conceded 434 goals.
Ivan Nalimov
Photo by: RIA Novosti
“Iván finished his career as a player. He went to St. Petersburg, went to the doctor. Iván was told that he needed a hip operation, recover for almost a year and do it again a year later. Experiments with his health do not lead to anything good, Nalimov made the right choice. He decided to move on to another job and dedicate himself to the coaching field. Now Ivan is a goalkeeping coach, “said his former agent Shumi Babaev to the Championship about the decision to end Nalimov’s playing career.
north. Bogdan Yakimov, 28 years old
Serious health problems long ahead of schedule forced striker Bogdan Yakimov to rest. The 28-year-old forward experienced medical complications for most of his career, but Yakimov eventually ended up with a recurrence of a back injury that occurred last offseason. As a Dinamo Moscow player, in the preseason, Bogdan felt the return of back pain, which did not allow the attacker to play a single game last season.
At the end of December, the blue and whites removed the hockey player from the disabled list, but as soon as it was time to move to the main group and the load increased, the pain returned. As a result, the defender did not give Yakimov the opportunity to play at least one game last season.
Yakimov became the bronze medalist of the world youth championship in 2014. In his career there is a match in the NHL club “Edmonton Oilers”. For Dynamo Moscow in the 2021/2022 KHL regular season he played 19 games in which he scored six points, scored five goals and provided one assist.
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h. Sami Lepisto, 38 years old
In the KHL, the Finnish defender played from 2012 to 2021. Lepisto played for Lokomotiv, Lev, Avtomobilist, Salavat Yulaev and Jokerit. Sami became one of the best defender-scorers of the Finnish club. In total in the KHL, Lepiste played 466 games in the regular season and scored 215 points: he scored 54 goals and gave 161 assists.
After leaving Jokerit, the Finnish veteran spent a season with Swedish club Luleå, and the last team of his hockey career was the Swiss Langnau Tigers. Lepisto was not going to leave hockey, despite his considerable age for this sport. In early June, the Finn decided to return to his homeland and signed a contract with the HIFK Club. But during the off-season medical, the 38-year-old was diagnosed with heart problems that prevented Sami from continuing to play.
Sami Lepisto
Photo: Pascal Muller/Zuma/TASS
“After further investigation, gambling was no longer recommended. The risk is small, but it still exists. My passion for the game was strong and I would like to be part of the team, but of course health always comes first,” the official website of Finnish club HIFK quoted Lepiste as saying.
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h. Georgy Misharin, 38 years old
The experienced defender played in the KHL for all 15 seasons of the league’s existence. The last team in the hockey player’s career was the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo, in which Georgy has been playing since the 2019/2020 season. Misharin dreamed of playing 1,000 games before the anniversary in a career only 16 players in Soviet and Russian hockey history have conquered, but he failed to achieve his goal.
In the off-season, the 38-year-old hockey player did not receive an offer from Torpedo to renew his contract, so he was forced to switch to coaching, ending his playing career at some 958 games at the top. level in the national championships. This figure is the 27th in the history of Soviet and Russian hockey. Now Misharin is a member of the coaching staff of the VHL club Gornyak-UMMC.
PS no. Mikhail Glukhov, 35 years old
The 35-year-old forward played for Ak Bars from 2014 to 2023. In the KHL, Glukhov played 663 games and scored 155 (69+86) points. He also played for Lada, Atlant, Amur. In 2018, Glukhov won the Gagarin Cup with the Kazan club. Due to health problems, Mikhail was unable to help Ak Bars in the last playoffs.
After the end of the season, Ak Bars did not renew the contract with the hockey player and there was talk about the possible return of Mikhail to Lada, in which he played in the KHL in the 2008/2009 season. However, the striker himself rejected this option, since his health did not allow him to continue his career. Officially, Glukhov also announced his decision to end his career, but some media outlets have already done it for him. The striker is expected to continue his hockey activity and get a job at Ak Bars.
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