Maxim Romanovich Kuznetsov (russian: Максим Романович Кузнецов: born March 24, 1977) is a Kazakhstani-born 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 h ...

player. Kuznetsov was drafted in the 1st round (26th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

After the 1995 draft, Kuznetsov played for the Dynamo Moscow 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 Detroit Red Wings' 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 Nation ...

. 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 primar ...

before being called up to the NHL 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 ...

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. 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 team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

along with

Sean Avery Sean Christopher Avery (born April 10, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. During his career in the National Hockey League (NHL), he played left wing for the Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and Da ...

and two draft picks for

Mathieu Schneider Mathieu David Schneider (born June 12, 1969) is an American former professional ice hockey player. Considered an offensive defenseman, Schneider played 1,289 games in the National Hockey League with ten different teams, scoring 233 goals and tot ...

. Upon his arrival with the Kings organization, he spent the majority of his playing time with the team's AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs. 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 National Hockey League first-round draft picks People from Pavlodar SKA Saint Petersburg players Stanley Cup champions Traktor Chelyabinsk players HC Vityaz players Russian ice hockey defencemen Kazakhstani people of Russian descent