Sergei Zubov

Sergei Alexandrovich Zubov (Russian: Сергей Александрович Зубов; born 22 July 1970) is a Russian professional ice hockey coach and former defenceman. Zubov played for the Dallas Stars, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League as well as SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL. He won the Stanley Cup twice: with the Rangers in 1994 and the Stars in 1999. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2019.

Playing career CSKA Moscow, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins Zubov was drafted in the fifth round of the 1990 NHL entry draft by the New York Rangers. Prior to this, he played for the Red Army's hockey team, HC CSKA Moscow, in Russia. He continued to play for the Red Army until 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Although Sergei spent some of his rookie season with New York's AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Rangers, he played forty-nine games as a rookie for the Rangers, scoring 31 points, considered then to be above-average for a defenseman. Zubov's high-scoring ways continued, as he scored 12 goals and earned 77 assists during the 1993–94 season, which led the team in regular season scoring. He contributed 19 points to the Rangers' playoff campaign, as he, along with Alexander Karpovtsev, Sergei Nemchinov, and Alexei Kovalev became the first Russians to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Zubov continued to play well for the Rangers, but on 31 August 1995, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Petr Nedvěd for Ulf Samuelsson and Luc Robitaille. Zubov only spent one season in Pittsburgh, it was rumored because he and team captain Mario Lemieux didn't get along, especially on the powerplay where both men wanted to be in control. He was traded to the Dallas Stars on 22 June 1996 for Kevin Hatcher.

Dallas Stars

Although Zubov never again reached the scoring height of his 1993–94 season with the Rangers, he earned all three of his trips to the All-Star game with the Stars. He never again reached an 80+ point total, but had 11 consecutive years of 40+ point seasons and 30+ assists. He only recorded a negative plus/minus four times in his career, with two of them within his first three years in the league. In the 2005–06 season, Zubov posted 71 points for his highest outing in over a decade, and also received his first Norris Trophy nomination. Zubov missed nearly half of the 2007–08 NHL season with a sports hernia injury and most of the 2008–09 NHL season with a hip injury.

SKA Saint Petersburg On 30 July 2009, he decided to leave the NHL as he signed a contract with SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was also selected as a reserve by Team Russia for the 2010 Winter Olympics should an injury occur during the tournament. On 18 April 2011, it was reported that Zubov would officially retire due to hip-related injury problems.

International play

Zubov represented the Soviet Union where he won the gold and silver medals in 1989 and 1990 in the Junior Division. Zubov won a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics, playing for the Unified Team.

Coaching career On 20 July 2015, Zubov was named to the coaching staff of the Russian national team as a defensive assistant. Zubov served as the head coach of HC Sochi starting from the 2017–18 season. He was dismissed as head coach 16 games into the 2019–20 season following a 5–11 start.

Legacy In the 2009 book 100 Ranger Greats, Zubov was ranked No. 72 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons Zubov left the NHL as the league's all-time scoring leader for Russian-born defensemen. He is now second behind Sergei Gonchar. On 28 January 2022, the Dallas Stars retired Zubov's number 56.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1988–89 CSKA Moscow USSR 29 1 4 5 10 — — — — — 1989–90 CSKA Moscow USSR 48 6 2 8 16 — — — — — 1990–91 CSKA Moscow USSR 41 6 5 11 8 — — — — — 1991–92 CSKA Moscow CIS 36 4 7 11 8 8 0 0 0 0 1992–93 CSKA Moscow IHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1992–93 New York Rangers NHL 49 8 23 31 4 — — — — — 1992–93 Binghamton Rangers AHL 30 7 29 36 14 11 5 5 10 2 1993–94 New York Rangers NHL 78 12 77 89 39 22 5 14 19 0 1993–94 Binghamton Rangers AHL 2 1 2 3 0 — — — — — 1994–95 New York Rangers NHL 38 10 26 36 18 10 3 8 11 2 1995–96 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 64 11 55 66 22 18 1 14 15 26 1996–97 Dallas Stars NHL 78 13 30 43 24 7 0 3 3 2 1997–98 Dallas Stars NHL 73 10 47 57 16 17 4 5 9 2 1998–99 Dallas Stars NHL 81 10 41 51 20 23 1 12 13 4 1999–2000 Dallas Stars NHL 77 9 33 42 18 18 2 7 9 6 2000–01 Dallas Stars NHL 79 10 41 51 24 10 1 5 6 4 2001–02 Dallas Stars NHL 80 12 32 44 22 — — — — — 2002–03 Dallas Stars NHL 82 11 44 55 26 12 4 10 14 4 2003–04 Dallas Stars NHL 77 7 35 42 20 5 1 1 2 0 2005–06 Dallas Stars NHL 78 13 58 71 46 5 1 5 6 6 2006–07 Dallas Stars NHL 78 12 42 54 26 6 0 4 4 2 2007–08 Dallas Stars NHL 46 4 31 35 12 11 1 5 6 4 2008–09 Dallas Stars NHL 10 0 4 4 0 — — — — — 2009–10 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 53 10 32 42 32 4 0 1 1 0 NHL totals 1,068 152 619 771 337 164 24 93 117 62

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1988 Soviet Union EJC 6 0 2 2 2 1989 Soviet Union WJC 7 0 5 5 4 1990 Soviet Union WJC 7 1 3 4 14 1992 Unified Team OLY 8 0 1 1 0 1992 Russia WC 6 2 2 4 10 1996 Russia WCH 4 1 1 2 0 Junior totals 20 1 10 11 20 Senior totals 18 3 4 7 10

Awards and honors Award Year NHLHall of Fame2019 Stanley Cup champion 1994, 1999 NHL All-Star Game 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008♱ NHL Second All-Star Team 2006 KHL All-Star Game 2010 ♱ did not play

Records NHL Points by a Russian-born defenseman, single season, 89 (1993–94)

Dallas Stars Points by a defenseman, regular season (553) Points by a defenseman, playoff (72)