Maxim Romanovich Kuznetsov (; born March 24, 1977) is a Kazakhstan-born Russian former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player. Kuznetsov was drafted in the 1st round (26th overall) by the

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 ...

in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

After the 1995 draft, Kuznetsov played for the

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

before making the trip to North America. For two games in the 96–97 season and until the end of the 98–99 season he played for the

' AHL affiliate, the

Adirondack Red Wings The Adirondack Red Wings were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Glens Falls, New York, United States at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The team was affiliated with the Detroit Red Wings of the Nati ...

. He followed this with a single season playing for the

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks were a professional ice hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were members of the American Hockey League, and played their home games at the Cincinnati Gardens. Throughout their existence they were the primary m ...

before being called up to the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

in the 00–01 season. Unfortunately, a knee injury suffered in a game against

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

caused him to miss much of the remaining season. The following year he found his place with the Wings as a true defenceman and bolstered the already deep blueline, helping the Wings to win the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () 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, and the International Ic ...

. He played 39 regular season games, but did not play in the playoffs. His name was left off the Stanley Cup, because he was two games short of 41 minimum required to be engraved on the cup. However, Detroit did award Maxim with a Stanley Cup Ring. In the latter part of the 02–03 season, Kuznetsov was traded to the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

along with Sean Avery and two draft picks for Mathieu Schneider. Upon his arrival with the Kings organization, he spent the majority of his playing time with the team's AHL affiliate, the

Manchester Monarchs Manchester Monarchs may refer to: *Manchester Monarchs (AHL) (2001–2015) *Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) The Manchester Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL which began play in the 2015–16 ECHL season, 2015–16 season. Bas ...

. On June 7, 2004 Kuznetsov signed as a free agent with Dynamo Moscow (due to the NHL lockout) once again. After playing only ten games for Moscow he was released and then signed as a free agent by SKA Saint Petersburg where he continued to contribute with his hard lined defensive play.

Career statistics

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuznetsov, Maxim 1977 births Living people Avangard Omsk players Cincinnati Mighty Ducks players Detroit Red Wings draft picks Detroit Red Wings players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia HC Dynamo Moscow players Kazakhstani ice hockey players Los Angeles Kings players Manchester Monarchs (AHL) players NHL first-round draft picks Sportspeople from Pavlodar SKA Saint Petersburg players Stanley Cup champions Traktor Chelyabinsk players HC Vityaz players Russian ice hockey defencemen Kazakhstani people of Russian descent