Vyacheslav Anatolevich "Slava" Kozlov (russian: Вячеслав Анатольевич Козлов; born May 3, 1972) is a Russian former professional ice hockey left winger. Kozlov was a member of the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

winning

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

teams of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, and was also a member of the famed Russian Five. He also later played for the Buffalo Sabres and

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

Playing career

Detroit Red Wings

Kozlov was drafted 45th overall by the

in the

1990 NHL Entry Draft The 1990 NHL Entry Draft was the 28th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 16, 1990. It is remembered as one of the deeper drafts in NHL history, with fourteen of the twenty- ...

. Kozlov made his NHL debut on March 12, 1992, recording two assists in Detroit's 5–4 win over the St. Louis Blues. He became a regular player with Detroit in the

1993–94 NHL season The 1993–94 NHL season was the 77th regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 26 teams with the addition of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers. The New York Rangers defeated the Vancouver Canucks in ...

. After the Red Wings acquired Igor Larionov in 1995, coach Scotty Bowman created a 5–man Russian unit (the " Russian Five") consisting of forwards Kozlov, Sergei Fedorov and Igor Larionov, and defensemen Vladimir Konstantinov and Viacheslav Fetisov. This group helped Detroit to a

win in 1997. Kozlov was also a contributing member of the team during their second consecutive Stanley Cup run in 1998.

Buffalo Sabres

Kozlov played for Detroit until the summer of 2001, when he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres as part of a package for Dominik Hašek. After one injury-shortened season in Buffalo, Kozlov was traded to the

Atlanta Thrashers

Kozlov served as team captain for Atlanta as part of a rotating captaincyAtlanta Inquirer 10-26-2002
/ref> during his first season in Atlanta until Shawn McEachern was announced as the sole captain for the rest of the 2002–03 season in February.Atlanta Inquirer 02-08-2003
/ref> Since the inception of the shootout into NHL play in 2005, Kozlov has been known as the league's best scorer in the shootouts as of the end of the 2008–09 season. Kozlov re-signed with the Thrashers on July 4, 2007, signing a three-year, $11–million contract with a no-trade clause. Kozlov played his 1,000th NHL game on December 26, 2007, against the Columbus Blue Jackets and his former Russian Five teammate, Sergei Fedorov. After scoring only 41 points during the 2007–08 season, he bounced back in 2008–09 with one of the best seasons of his career, scoring 26 goals and 76 points. Rick Dudley announced that Atlanta would not re-sign Kozlov for the

2010-11 NHL season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

KHL

In 2010, Kozlov signed a 1-year deal with HC CSKA Moscow. In February 2011 Kozlov left CSKA to join playoff-bound Salavat Yulaev Ufa. He participated in the team's final four regular season games and all of its playoff contests. Ufa's star-studded team advanced to the KHL finals and captured the Gagarin Cup, beating

Atlant Moscow Oblast Hockey Club Atlant Moscow Oblast (russian: ХК Атлант Московская область, en, Atlas Hockey Club Moscow Region) was a Russian professional ice hockey team based in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast. They were members of the Bobrov ...

4 games to 1. On May 19, 2011, he signed a one-year contract with HC Dynamo Moscow, with whom he won his second Gagarin Cup. Kozlov joined HC Spartak Moscow late in the 2012–13 season, playing in just 13 games. On March 19, 2013, he signed a one-year extension with the team. He finished the 2013–14 season recording eight goals and 18 assists in 54 games. On July 15, 2014, he signed a one-year contract with

. After the 2014–15 season, Kozlov announced his retirement after playing 28 years of ice hockey. He is currently an assistant coach for Spartak Moscow.

Personal life

In October 1991, Kozlov was driving his car when a bus hit it. His passenger, fellow prospect Kirill Tarasov, was killed, and Kozlov suffered massive injuries, including a brain injury that put his playing future in doubt. After facial reconstruction surgery and lengthy rehabilitation, he was able to return to ice hockey. Kozlov and his wife, Tatyana, have three children: Nikita, Ksenia, and Alexandr. Nikita plays tennis professionally. Kozlov is the brother-in-law of former NHL player

Evgeny Namestnikov Yevgeni "John" Yurievich Namestnikov (russian: Евгений Юрьевич Наместников; born October 9, 1971) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman who spent parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and ...

and uncle of current NHL player Vladislav Namestnikov. On 11 October 2020, Vladislav signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings, Kozlov's former team.

International play

Kozlov has participated in nine international tournaments for the Soviet Union/ Russia: * 1988 IIHF European Junior Championships * 1989 IIHF European Junior Championships * 1990 IIHF European Junior Championships *

1990 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1990 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1990 WJHC'') was the 14th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held mainly in Helsinki, Finland. Canada won the gold medal, its fourth world junior championship, while the S ...

1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships The 1991 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships (''1991 WJHC'') was the 15th edition of the Ice Hockey World Junior Championship and was held in various communities in Saskatchewan, Canada. Canada won its second consecutive gold medal, and fifth o ...

1991 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 1991 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 55th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and at the same time served as the 66th and last Ice Hockey European Championships. Teams representing 25 countrie ...

1991 Canada Cup The 1991 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament played in August and September 1991. The finals took place in Montreal on September 14 and Hamilton on September 16, and were won by Canada. The Canadians defeated ...

1994 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 1994 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 58th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Teams representing 35 countries participated in several levels of competition, with an additional two national tea ...

1996 World Cup of Hockey The first World Cup of Hockey ( WCH), or ''1996 World Cup of Hockey'', replaced the Canada Cup as one of the premier championships for professional ice hockey. Inaugural ''World Cup of Hockey'' The first edition of the Cup featured eight teams d ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards

*2-time

champion (

) *2-time Gagarin Cup champion (

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

) *

Dan Snyder Memorial Award The Dan Snyder Memorial Award is awarded each year to the player of the Winnipeg Jets who "best embodies perseverance, dedication and hard work without reward or recognition, so that his team and teammates might succeed." The award was created in ...

(

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

)

References

*2005 NHL Official Guide & Record Book

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozlov, Vyacheslav 1972 births Adirondack Red Wings players Ak Bars Kazan players Atlanta Thrashers players Buffalo Sabres players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Atlant Moscow Oblast players HC CSKA Moscow players HC Dynamo Moscow players HC Khimik Voskresensk players HC Spartak Moscow players Living people People from Voskresensk Russian ice hockey left wingers Salavat Yulaev Ufa players Stanley Cup champions Soviet defectors to the United States Sportspeople from Moscow Oblast