Yuri Alexeyevich Khmylev (russian: Юрий Алексеевич Хмылëв, ''Yuriy Alekseevich Khmylyov''; born August 9, 1964) is a Russian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player. Khmylev played 11 seasons in his native

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

for Krylya Sovetov (Soviet Wings) before being selected as a 27-year-old in the 5th round, 108th overall, of the

1992 NHL Entry Draft The 1992 NHL Entry Draft was the 30th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 20 at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. A total of 264 players were drafted. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Sergei Gonchar, who retire ...

by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

Russian career

Khmylev represented the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

several times on the international stage, beginning with the 1984 gold medal-winning World Junior Championships squad. Khmylev went on to play on the Soviet squads in the 1986, 1987 and 1989

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(winning gold, silver, and gold medals, respectively). He played in

Rendez-vous '87 Rendez-vous '87 was a two-game international ice hockey series of games between the Soviet Union national ice hockey team and a team of All-Stars from the National Hockey League, held in Quebec City. It replaced the NHL's All-Star festivities ...

, a two-game series in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

versus a team of

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

all-stars and participated in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

later that year, where the Soviets placed second. In 1989, Khmylev played in two games for

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

during the

Super Series The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception w ...

against NHL clubs. Khmylev also suited up for his long-time team, Krylya Sovetov, when it played several NHL teams during the 1989–90 season, and during the Friendship Tour games in Moscow in 1989 and 1990. His final appearance for Russian hockey came during the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Albertville, France Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

. The Unified Team, consisting of players from former Soviet states, won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

, defeating

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in the final tournament of the Olympics. Khmylev scored 10 points in eight games during the Olympics.

North American career

Khmylev was selected the following summer by the

Sabres A sabre is a type of sword. Sabre, Sabres, saber, or SABRE may also refer to: Weapons and weapon systems * Sabre (fencing), a sporting sword * Sabre (tank), a modern British armoured reconnaissance vehicle * Chinese sabre or ''dao'', a variety ...

and came to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. He experienced immediate success in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, scoring 20 goals as a rookie in 1992–93 and 27 the following season. His scoring tailed off following the

1994–95 NHL lockout The 1994–95 NHL lockout was a lockout that came after a year of National Hockey League (NHL) hockey that was played without a collective bargaining agreement. The lockout was a subject of dispute as the players sought collective bargaining and ...

, as he scored just 16 goals in his next 114 games for the Sabres. On March 20, 1996, Khmylev was traded to the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

along with Buffalo's 8th round choice (Andrei Podkonicky) in the

1996 NHL Entry Draft The 1996 NHL Entry Draft was the 34th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 22, 1996. The last active player in the NHL from this draft class was Zdeno Chára, who retired after the 2021–22 season. ...

for

Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (born February 2, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and current studio analyst for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Bally Sports Ohio. He was drafted in the seventh round, 179th overall, by the St. L ...

, Ottawa's 2nd round choice (previously acquired, Buffalo selected

Cory Sarich Cory Sarich (born August 16, 1978) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He last played for the Colorado Avalanche in the National Hockey League (NHL). Sarich was a second round selection, 27th overall, of the Buffalo ...

) in

and St. Louis' 3rd round choice (

Maxim Afinogenov Maxim Sergeyevich Afinogenov (, ; born September 4, 1979) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player. Known for his skating speed, he was drafted by the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Buffalo Sabres in the third round, 69th overall, in ...

) in the

1997 NHL Entry Draft The 1997 NHL Entry Draft was the 35th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1997. As of 2022, the only remaining active player in the NHL from the 1997 draft class is Joe Thornton. Selections ...

. Following the trade, Khmylev went on to play in just nine more NHL games with the Blues, scoring one goal. For his NHL career, Khmylev accumulated 64 goals, 88 assists and 133

penalty minutes A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penaltie ...

in 263 games. Following a brief stint with

HC Fribourg-Gottéron HC Fribourg-Gottéron is a professional ice hockey team based in Fribourg, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). The team is the sixth most attended team in Switzerland for the 2015/16 season with 6,156 spectators. History The ...

of the Swiss Nationalliga A in 1997–98, Khmylev returned to North America for his final professional season. In 1998–99, he suited up for the

St. John's Maple Leafs The St. John's Maple Leafs were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, at Memorial Stadium from 1991 to 2001, and at Mile One Stadium from 2001 to 2005. The team was ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

, where he amassed 33 points in 48 games. Khmylev returned to Buffalo following his retirement, as he is now an amateur scout with the

. He has a wife, Vera, and a daughter, Olga, who played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

at Boston College. Olga now works at the Academy of Hockey at HARBORCENTER in Buffalo, NY, and is the official video presenter for the IIHF at the World Championships.

Awards

Inducted into the

Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries * Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and pe ...

in 1992 International Medals:
1984 World Junior Championships - Gold
1986

- Gold
1987

- Silver
1989

- Gold
1992

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

- Gold

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

External links

*
Yuri Khmylev @ Hockey CCCP International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khmylev, Yuri 1964 births Living people Buffalo Sabres draft picks Buffalo Sabres players Buffalo Sabres scouts Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players HC Fribourg-Gottéron players Ice hockey players at the 1992 Winter Olympics Krylya Sovetov Moscow players Los Angeles Kings scouts Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Unified Team Olympic ice hockey players of the Unified Team Olympic medalists in ice hockey Quebec Rafales players Russian ice hockey left wingers St. John's Maple Leafs players St. Louis Blues players Soviet ice hockey left wingers Soviet Wings players Ice hockey people from Moscow