Nikita Gusev

Viral tweet suggests it’s disrespectful for Nikita Gusev to wear Connor McDavid’s number

On Monday afternoon, the New Jersey Devils announced that they acquired Nikita Gusev from the Vegas Golden Knights. While this is a huge deal and yes the New Jersey Devils are looking a little scary, the bigger announcement came when the Devils tweeted Gusev will be wearing jersey number 97.

Why is this jersey number such a big deal? According to local Edmonton producer and DJ, Dean V., it’s actually disrespectful to Connor McDavid. Vince points out that nobody wore number 66 when Mario Lemieux play and nobody wore number 99 when Wayne Gretzky played.

Connor McDavid, according to Dean, is on that level.

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By Elyse Bailey 1 year ago

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Kuznetrick! Evgeny Kuznetsov Tallies Nine Points in Russia’s 14-0 WJC Win Over Latvia

Kuznetsov and his teammates celebrate his hat-trick. (Photo credit: Mike Sturk)

19-year-old Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov had 0 points heading into Russia’s third World Junior Championship game. On Monday, he was shutdown in Russia’s 3-0 victory over Switzerland. On Wednesday, a frustrated Kuznetsov still could not land on the scoresheet despite rifling nine shots on goal against the Slovaks.

Enter Latvia. After not registering a point in the game’s first 27 minutes, Kuznetsov exploded, tallying an insane nine points over the next 33 minutes pushing Russia to a 14-0 victory.

You can check out video of his big night below the jump.

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By Ian Oland 9 years ago

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Kuznetsov, Team Russia Look to Defend WJC Title in Calgary

Team Russia shocked the world by coming back from a 3-0 deficit in the gold medal game against Canada to win the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship one year ago. Tremendous coaching, discipline, and a lot of luck made a good team great. Several players also proved that they were the real deal, including Dmitry Orlov (currently playing in Washington), Vladimir Tarasenko (Blues prospect currently ranked fifth in KHL in goals), Maxim Kitsyn (KHL’s Metallurg Novokuznetsk), Artemy Panarin (Vityaz), and — the youngest of the bunch — Evgeny Kuznetsov. Role players from last year’s team, Nikita Dvurechenski (KHL’s Vityaz), Anton Burdasov (third-line center on the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk), and Nikita Pivtsakin (KHL’s Avangard Omsk), have also graduated to become full-time KHL players.

Unfortunately, age eligibility rules have forced a drastic change to Russia, who is looking to repeat as champions for the first time since 2002 and 2003. The only returning player is Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuzya, the captain wearing #25, is sure to be a major key to success for the Russians. He’s played in the tournament before, scored, and assisted on clutch goals.

Kuznetsov’s been very successful at the professional level this year: he leads the KHL in game-winning goals (5), scored the game-winner in the Karjala Cup, and plays on the first line of the Russian league’s best team, Traktor Chelyabinsk.

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By 9 years ago

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