Alexei Morozov

Alexei Alekseyevich Morozov (; born 16 February 1977) is the president of the Kontinental Hockey League and a Russian former professional ice hockey player.

He played professional hockey with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League (NHL) and in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with Ak Bars Kazan and CSKA Moscow.

He is the former captain of the Russian national team, having held the post from 2007 to 2011, with the team winning 2 gold, 1 silver (missed tournament due to injury, Kovalchuk captained) and 1 bronze medal at the World Championships during this time. He was succeeded, as national team captain, by his Ak Bars team mate Ilya Nikulin, in 2012.

Playing career As a youth, Morozov played in the 1991 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Moscow.

Pittsburgh Penguins Morozov was drafted in the first round, 24th overall, by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1995 NHL entry draft. After being drafted, he remained in Russia and did not join the Penguins until the 1997–98 NHL season. Morozov began his career much like Pittsburgh legend Mario Lemieux, scoring on his first shot on his first shift of his first game as a Penguin. He played seven seasons for the Penguins, totaling 451 games, 84 goals, and 219 points.

In his seven-year NHL career, Morozov earned the nickname The Devil Killer for his notorious success against the New Jersey Devils. In fact, New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur in an interview before a Penguins/Devils game on Fox Sports Net jokingly stated that he had nightmares of Morozov each night before his club would play the Penguins. Brodeur also stated in an interview with ESPN's Dan Patrick that Morozov is the player that he would not like to see coming in on him on a breakaway adding " The kid's got probably over 25 percent of his career goals on me. It's unbelievable." when asked to explain Morozov's success against him Brodeur added " I don't know. If you figure it out, please tell me. When he shoots the puck, I never catch it really clean. When he's going to make a pass, I think he's shooting. When he's shooting, I think he's making a pass. The guy's in my kitchen. He's in my head. I can't get rid of him." He also won an Olympic Silver Medal on the 1998 Russian Olympic Team during his rookie year with the Penguins. Despite these successes, Morozov never fully developed into the player he had the potential to be as he played a majority of his first few seasons in the NHL on the third and fourth lines due to the tremendous depth of a talent laden Penguins team that included stars such as Mario Lemieux, Jaromír Jágr, Alexei Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang among others. Despite a talented roster, Team Russia would fall to eventual Olympic Gold champion Canada in the opening elimination round. As of 2010, Canada and Russia stand tied with the most gold medals of any ice hockey national team with 25 between Olympic and World Championship tournaments.

Despite the devastating Olympic loss, Morozov did not let it bother him on the ice as he led Ak-Bars to their second straight Gagarin Cup as KHL champions. The 2009–10 season was an up and down one for Morozov as he battled injuries down the stretch in the second half of the KHL season where he missed several key playoff games and even had to miss the 2010 World Championships, where Team Russia would lose for the first time in over 3 years without their Captain and have to settle for Silver.

The injury bug would plague Morozov down the stretch of Ak-Bars KHL playoff run as well; however, due in large part to his leadership on and off the ice, Ak-Bars would capture their second consecutive Gagarin Cup as KHL champions. This victory made Ak-Bars the first club in the KHL to not only win the Gagarin Cup but to win the trophy twice and back-to-back.

2010–2013 seasons The 2010–11 season would prove another successful one for Morozov as he was amongst the KHL league leaders in points once more with 56; averaging over a point-per-game for the fourth and final time in his professional career. Although Ak-Bars failed to capture their third straight Gagarin Cup, Morozov had yet another successful playoff season with 5 goals, 9 points in just 9 games.

Morozov strung together another excellent season during the 2011–12 campaign where he scored over 50 points for the sixth and final time in his professional ice hockey career and amassed over 20 goals for the tenth and final time in his professional career. Although Ak-Bars would bow out early in the KHL playoffs, Morozov scored 4 goals, 6 points in just 5 games cementing his place as one of league's best all-time clutch performers.

The 2012–13 season was a successful one for Ak-Bars as they enjoyed a long playoff run before falling one win shy of reaching the Gagarin Cup Finals for the first time since 2010 when they lost to Traktor Chelyabinsk in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Although they wouldn't capture their third Gagarin Cup, the Ak-Bars captain lead the way scoring an impressive 15 points in 18 games in his final season with the club.

CSKA Moscow In May 2013, it was announced that Morozov had signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow. He was named captain of the team later that summer.

On August 24, 2014, after battling through injuries during the 2013-2014 campaign, Morozov announced that he was retiring from professional ice hockey. He leaves behind an impressive legacy as one of Russia's most gifted offensive players of all time as well as several Soviet/Russian league records from his years playing in the CIS, RSL, and KHL.

Among these numerous records and awards are the Russian league record for most points in a season with 83 for his outstanding 2006-07 campaign as well as three championship titles, two of which he earned playoff MVP. Morozov will also be remembered for his outstanding international play helping Team Russia to two World Championship Gold Medals in which he captained the club, a European Championship where he was also team captain, and an Olympic Silver Medal. Morozov has also earned several individual international awards such as Best Forward at the WJC in 1994, Best Forward at the IHWC in 2007, and Best Forward and Most Valuable Player at the ECC in 2007.

Honours

CIS - Rookie of the Year: 1994–95 World Junior Championship All-Star 1996 Best Best Forward at WJC 1997 Olympic Silver Medal (Russia): 1998 Russian Super League Championship: 2006 Ceska Pojistovna: 2006 Kubok Pervogo Kanala: 2006 RSL Goal Scoring Champion: 2006 RSL Playoff MVP: 2006 European Champions: 2007 Best Forward (ECC): 2007 Most Valuable Player (ECC): 2007 RSL Goal Scoring Champion: 2007 RSL MVP: 2007 Best Forward (IHWC): 2007 All-Star Team (IHWC): 2007 World Championship (Russia): 2008 Gagarin Cup: 2009 KHL Playoff MVP: 2009 World Championship (Russia): 2009 Gagarin Cup: 2010

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1993–94 Krylya Sovetov Moscow IHL 7 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1993–94 Krylia Sovetov–2 Moscow RUS.2 49 15 11 26 30 — — — — — 1994–95 Krylya Sovetov Moscow IHL 48 15 12 27 53 4 0 3 3 0 1995–96 Krylya Sovetov Moscow IHL 47 13 9 22 26 — — — — — 1996–97 Krylya Sovetov Moscow RSL 44 21 11 32 32 2 0 1 1 2 1997–98 Krylya Sovetov Moscow RSL 6 2 1 3 4 — — — — — 1997–98 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 76 13 13 26 8 6 0 1 1 2 1998–99 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 67 9 10 19 14 10 1 1 2 0 1999–2000 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 68 12 19 31 14 5 0 0 0 0 2000–01 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 66 5 14 19 6 18 3 3 6 6 2001–02 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 72 20 29 49 16 — — — — — 2002–03 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 27 9 16 25 16 — — — — — 2003–04 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 75 16 34 50 24 — — — — — 2004–05 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 58 20 26 46 30 4 0 1 1 2 2005–06 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 51 23 26 49 69 13 13 13 26 8 2006–07 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 53 34 49 83 36 14 2 15 17 6 2007–08 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 57 30 33 63 34 10 4 7 11 8 2008–09 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 49 32 39 71 22 21 8 11 19 12 2009–10 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 50 26 23 49 24 18 5 7 12 6 2010–11 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 53 21 35 56 24 9 5 4 9 3 2011–12 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 53 21 29 50 24 5 4 2 6 6 2012–13 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 51 12 26 37 20 18 6 9 15 4 2013–14 CSKA Moscow KHL 38 13 10 23 30 4 0 0 0 0 KHL/RSL/IHL totals 665 283 329 612 424 125 47 73 120 56 NHL totals 451 84 135 219 98 39 4 5 9 8

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 1995 Russia EJC 4th 5 3 2 5 6 1996 Russia WJC 7 5 3 8 2 1997 Russia WJC 6 5 3 8 6 1997 Russia WC 4th 9 3 3 6 2 1998 Russia OG 6 2 2 4 0 1998 Russia WC 5th 4 0 3 3 2 2004 Russia WC 10th 6 1 1 2 4 2007 Russia WC 7 8 5 13 6 2008 Russia WC 8 5 2 7 4 2009 Russia WC 9 1 4 5 0 2010 Russia OG 6th 4 2 0 2 0 2011 Russia WC 4th 9 1 3 4 8 Junior totals 18 13 8 21 14 Senior totals 62 23 23 46 26