Montreal Canadiens: Alexei Emelin Fined, Suspended For Separate Incidents In Same KHL Game

Montreal Canadiens former defenceman Alexei Emelin made headlines for all the wrong reasons in one game earlier this week.

The Montreal Canadiens enjoyed several seasons of solid play from Alexei Emelin. He was drafted in the third round of the 2004 NHL Draft and made his debut in North America in the 2011-12 season.

It wasn’t a great campaign for the team, but general manager Marc Bergevin liked what he saw from the Russian defender. He signed a two-year extension with a $2 million cap hit following his first NHL season, and quickly signed a four-year deal with a $4.1 million cap hit before that contract ended.

Emelin played some solid, defensive top four minutes for the Habs for six seasons before being taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft.

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He was quickly dealt to the Nashville Predators and played one more season with them. Since the 2017-18 season ended, Emelin has been playing back in Russia with Avangard Omsk. He is serving as the team’s captain for the second season, but he found himself in some water earlier this week.

First, Emelin was shoved from behind as he went behind his own net. He fell awkwardly into the boards and remained on the ice for a little while before getting back on his feet. It wasn’t an injury that got him in trouble, it was something the league saw on his pants. Emelin was playing with an NHL logo on his pants which is a violation of KHL rules. He was fined 100,000 rubles for the infraction.

That sounds like a lot of money, but it’s like $1300 U.S. Dollars. Emelin probably spent that on the slots in the two days he was a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Emelin didn’t stop there. He was later thrown out of the game for a pretty viscous knee on an opposing player. This cost him a one game suspension.

It was an eventful game for the former physical Canadiens defender. He was injured, fined and then suspended for two separate plays.