Vsevolod Koukouchkine

Vsevolod Vladimirovich Kukushkin (; born 3 May 1942) is a Russian journalist, writer and ice hockey administrator. He has written for Komsomolskaya Pravda, TASS, RIA Novosti and Sport Express. He traveled with the Soviet Union national ice hockey team as both a journalist and translator, and reported on ice hockey at the Olympic Games, the Ice Hockey World Championships and Canada Cup tournaments. His other work includes published books and television screenplays. As an ice hockey administrator he sat on International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) committees, and acted as a press secretary for the Russian Superleague and its successor the Kontinental Hockey League. He received the Paul Loicq Award in 2000 from the IIHF for contributions to international ice hockey.

Early life Kukushkin was born on 3 May 1942, in Biysk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. His love for ice hockey began as a boy playing ball hockey. He developed an appreciation for goaltenders by playing the position in school, and his understanding of the inherent physical demands and frequent injuries. He learned the English language as a young adult on the advice of his parents, and wanted to become a journalist. He has published books in addition to reporting on ice hockey, and written screenplays for television documentaries on sports, ice hockey and popular science.

Kukushkin authored books on the Canada Cup tournaments, and Soviet national team coach Viktor Tikhonov. The Soviet national team was succeeded by the Russia men's national ice hockey team after the breakup of the Soviet Union. When the new national team struggled in 1994, Kukushkin said that "The people are upset. Russia is a nation of critics." He reported that the Russian team was struggling with finances to support training, no funding was received from the national level, and professional teams in Russia were struggling to stay afloat. He also reported that the Russian people were upset at losing the nation's best players to the National Hockey League (NHL), and not playing on the Russian national team.

Ice hockey administrator Kukushkin sat on International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) committees which included the championship bid committee and the IIHF Hall of Fame committee from 1998 to 2003, the evaluation committee and the IIHF Hall of Fame committee from 2003 to 2008, and the strategic consulting group from 2013 to 2016.

He also served as the press secretary for the Russian Superleague. He stated that NHL players were attracted to playing in Russia before the 2004–05 NHL lockout happened, and that Russian team owners were spending more on salaries. He noted that taxation in Russia was favorable to expatriate players, and expected the trend to continue despite uncertain profitability.

Kukushkin and Ice Hockey Federation of Russia president Vladislav Tretiak participated in discussions with NHL representatives Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr, for a potential 2007 revival of the Summit Series. He commented that the event was profit-driven by ticket sales and broadcasting rights, but noted that Russian players wanted to participate for pride rather than just money. He was surprised that original proposals were discussed by René Fasel of the IIHF and Bob Nicholson of Hockey Canada. Ultimately the 2007 Super Series was arranged using junior players, and coincided with the IIHF's 100th anniversary. In 2015, he cautioned against the KHL expanding due to a lack of good players. He instead suggested the KHL be divided into three levels based on play ability, and stated "we shouldn't copy the NHL, because sometimes the copy becomes a parody, and it doesn't do any good".

Kukushkin is part of the selection committee for the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame as of 2016. He stated that he was very surprised to be honored with the award, which he received at the IIHF Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the 2000 IIHF World Championship hosted in Saint Petersburg, Russia.