Photo: Salavat Yuleav Ufa
The honors keep coming for Washington Capitals’ defensive prospect Alex Alexeyev. After winning KHL Rookie of the Week twice in January, he was chosen as one of the KHL’s ‘Players of the Month’ for January. In addition, he will represent Russia in the Third Stage of the Euro Hockey Tour that will be played in Sweden from February 11 through 14.
Each month, the KHL announces ‘Players of the Month’ in each of the following categories: Best Goalie, Best Defenseman, Best Forward, and Best Rookie. For the month of January, Alexeyev won the award for Best Rookie.
Alexeyev talked about being named Player of the Week twice along with being named Rookie of the month in a recent interview for the KHL website.
“I was very pleased! Thanks to my partners for helping to achieve this goal. To be honest, I was surprised when I found out, because nothing like this has ever happened in my career.”
Alexeyev also discussed his impressive improvement during the month January.
“I don’t even know … To be honest, I noticed that throughout my entire hockey career there was always some kind of breakthrough after the New Year. Probably, I started to get used to it, I began to take the game more on myself, into my own hands. It started to work out, I felt confident, after which everything went by itself.”
During the month of January, Alexeyev played in 11 games, scoring four goals and recording three assists for seven points and was +7 for the month. For the season, he has played in 50 games, scoring eight goals and recording eight assists. Also during the month, he recorded 18 shots on goal, seven hits, blocked nine shots, and logged an average ice time of 18:20.
He was selected as KHL Rookie of the Week during Week 18 and Week 20 of the KHL season. During Week 18, he scored goals in three consecutive games. During Week 20, he scored the winning goal in a 3-2 Overtime victory. The team was 8-1-2 during January.
In addition to being Rookie of the Month for January, he was also selected for the Russian National Team for the Third Stage of the Euro Hockey Tour. His teammate from Salavat Yulaev Ufa, a fellow rookie defenseman, Shakir Mukhamadullin, was also selected for the team. Another current teammate, goaltender Daniil Tarasov, whom the Columbus Blue Jackets drafted in 2017, was also named to the team.
He discussed his reaction to being selected for the team.
“I was pleasantly surprised! This is the first time I was called to the national team, I have never played at this level, to get such an opportunity … It will be a great experience for me. I know many guys, some who I played with in the youth team. It will be great to see all of them again, to play together in one team, especially to defend the colors of the Russian national team.”
The Interim Head Coach for Team Russia at this tournament is Hall of Famer, Igor Larionov, who also coached Russia at the IIHF World Junior Championships this past January. In this tournament, Russia will play Finland on February 11, Sweden on February 13, and the Czech Republic on February 14.
Congratulations, Alex!
Related Reading
KHL Players of the Month for January
Russian National Team for Eurotour
KHL News: Interview with Alex Alexeyev
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By Diane Doyle
