Vitali Yeremeyev

Vitali Mikhailovich Yeremeyev (; born September 23, 1975) is a Kazakhstani former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 4 games in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers during the 2000–01 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1992 to 2014, was spent in the Russian Superleague and Kontinental Hockey League. Internationally Yeremeyev played for the Kazakhstani national team at several World Championships and the 1998 and 2006 Winter Olympics.

Playing career

Yeremeyev was drafted in the 9th round (209th overall) in the 1994 NHL entry draft by the New York Rangers after his third season with Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk in which he won the Kazakhstan Hockey Championship's award for best goalie. He then played three seasons with CSKA Moscow, posting an incredible 1.66 GAA in 25 games during 1995-96. He bounced around the leagued a bit for the next few seasons, playing with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and CSKA Moscow before landing with Dynamo Moscow.

In 2000, he powered the club to a league title, posting a 1.24 GAA in 26 games during the regular season, and a stunning 1.27 GAA during the playoffs. The next year, he got a shot at the National Hockey League with the Rangers, but was unable to replicate his performance and returned to Russia with Dynamo Moscow.

In 2004-05, he won the Russian Superleague title again with Moscow, as well as the league's award for best goalie. Impressively, he managed to post an even better GAA in this season's playoff effort, starting 10 games and averaging just .90 goals against per game. He played another five years with Dynamo Moscow, until he was traded to Barys Astana in 2010.

International play

Yeremeyev has competed for Kazakhstan more times than any other goalie in the country's history by far. In the 1994 World Championships, he was Evgeni Nabokov's teammate for the three years with Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk as well as the lone international competition that Nabokov represented Kazakhstan. He has competed at two Olympics as well as 10 World Championships.

Yeremeyev's top international performance came at the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he carried an upstart Kazakhstan team all the way to the quarterfinals where Team Canada beat them 4–1.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1991–92 Torpedo Ust-Kamengorsk-2 USSR-3 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1991–92 Torpedo Ust-Kamengorsk USSR — — — — — — — — — — 1 — — — — — — — 1992–93 Torpedo Ust-Kamengorsk-2 RUS-2 28 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1992–93 Torpedo Ust-Kamengorsk RUS 2 — — — — 120 12 0 6.00 — — — — — — — — — 1993–94 Torpedo Ust-Kamengorsk RUS 19 — — — — 1015 38 — 2.24 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 CSKA Moscow RUS 49 — — — — 2733 97 7 2.13 — 2 — — 120 8 — 4.00 — 1995–96 CSKA Moscow RUS 25 — — — — 1339 37 5 1.66 — 3 — — 179 7 0 2.34 .936 1995–96 CSKA Moscow-2 RUS-2 10 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1996–97 CSKA Moscow RSL 14 — — — — 635 35 0 3.31 — 1 — — 59 3 0 3.05 — 1997–98 Torpedo Yaroslavl RSL 17 — — — — 979 19 3 1.16 — 4 1 2 — — — 2.38 — 1997–98 Torpedo Yaroslavl-2 RUS-2 2 — — — — — 4 — — — — — — — — — — — 1998–99 CSKA Moscow RSL 19 11 5 1 — 1100 33 4 1.16 — — — — — — — — — 1999–00 Dynamo Moscow RSL 26 17 5 3 — 1564 32 7 1.23 .937 17 13 4 1039 22 4 1.27 .941 2000–01 New York Rangers NHL 4 0 4 0 — 213 16 0 4.52 .846 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 36 16 15 3 — 1977 98 2 2.97 .903 — — — — — — — — 2000–01 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 5 3 2 0 — 298 21 0 4.23 .898 — — — — — — — — 2001–02 Charlotte Checkers ECHL 3 1 2 0 — 179 9 0 3.01 .878 — — — — — — — — 2001–02 Dynamo Moscow RSL 20 10 7 3 — 1219 33 3 1.62 .932 3 0 3 177 11 0 3.73 .861 2002–03 Dynamo Moscow RSL 32 15 9 5 — 1836 65 4 2.12 .921 5 2 3 —301 12 0 2.39 .918 2003–04 Dynamo Moscow RSL 45 20 14 10 — 2745 86 6 1.88 .918 1 0 0 31 0 0 0.00 1.000 2004–05 Dynamo Moscow RSL 27 21 3 2 — 1595 33 9 1.24 .948 10 8 1 —599 9 3 0.90 .966 2005–06 Dynamo Moscow RSL 26 11 10 — 4 1561 50 3 1.92 .928 4 1 3 260 0 1 2.30 .933 2006–07 Dynamo Moscow RSL 34 16 12 — 2 1947 78 2 2.40 .916 3 0 4 179 11 0 3.69 .861 2007–08 Dynamo Moscow RSL 36 15 19 — 0 — — 3 2.29 .920 8 4 3 — — 0 2.61 .904 2008–09 Dynamo Moscow KHL 32 22 7 — 2 1859 69 2 2.23 .904 12 8 4 — — 1 1.63 .927 2009–10 Dynamo Moscow KHL 33 16 11 — 2 1770 70 4 2.37 .920 4 1 3 — — 0 2.61 .915 2010–11 Barys Astana KHL 35 15 15 — 4 2035 78 2 2.30 .927 2 0 2 119 7 0 3.53 .910 2011–12 Barys Astana KHL 32 15 11 — 2 1703 70 2 2.47 .925 7 3 4 424 17 0 2.41 .925 2012–13 Barys Astana KHL 23 12 7 — 2 1249 64 2 3.07 .897 4 2 2 254 12 0 2.84 .915 2013–14 Barys Astana KHL 20 9 8 — 1 1132 58 0 3.07 .901 10 6 4 576 22 0 2.29 .920 NHL totals 4 0 4 0 — 213 16 0 4.52 .846 — — — — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1994 Kazakhstan WC-C 4 — — — — 6 — 1.64 .931 1995 Kazakhstan WC-C 3 — — — — 4 — 1.50 — 1996 Kazakhstan WC-C 7 — — — — 10 — 1.53 — 1997 Kazakhstan WC-B 6 — — — — 17 — 2.92 .915 1998 Kazakhstan OLY 7 1 3 1 292 28 0 5.76 .835 1998 Kazakhstan WC 3 0 2 0 143 11 — 4.61 .876 1999 Kazakhstan WC-B 3 — — — 145 5 1 2.07 .953 2004 Kazakhstan WC 5 1 3 1 221 12 1 3.26 .887 2006 Kazakhstan OLY 3 1 2 0 180 10 0 3.33 .914 2010 Kazakhstan WC 5 0 5 0 300 21 0 4.20 .850 2011 Kazakhstan WC-I 4 4 0 0 243 6 0 1.49 .925 2012 Kazakhstan WC 4 0 3 0 181 12 0 4.00 .892 2014 Kazakhstan WC 4 0 3 0 197 12 0 3.65 .890 WC and OLY totals 31 3 21 2 1514 106 1 4.20 —

Awards and achievements Russian Superleague: 1999–00, 2004–05 (with Dynamo Moscow) IIHF European Champions Cup: 2006 (with Dynamo Moscow) Spengler Cup: 2008 (with Dynamo Moscow) Golden Helmet Award: 1999–00, 2004–05