Great Russian Montreal Canadiens: Oleg Petrov
After the Montreal Canadiens selected Russian superstar Ivan Demidov at 5th overall, its time to look at other former Russian Montreal Canadiens. This time we look at the first Russian ever drafted by the Habs: Oleg Petrov.
The Montreal Canadiens finally drafted their next offensive superstar, Ivan Demidov, and he comes from the way off land of Russia. The Russian history in the NHL is long and storied and touches every franchise, including the Montreal Canadiens. And every story has to start somewhere, and that starts with the 1991 NHL entry draft, and Oleg Petrov.
Technically, the history goes back even further, all the way back to the 1978 NHL Amateur draft, the last draft to be called the Amateur Draft, before the NHL adopted the NHL Entry Draft moniker. It was the draft with the second most draft rounds ever at 22, just below 1974 with 25 rounds.
This is mainly because the Canadiens went wild and kept selecting players, being the only team to select in the last 5 rounds. But before that, in the 12th round, 201st overall, the Montreal Canadiens selected the first Russian in draft history: Viacheslav Fetisov.
However, Fetisov stayed in Russia, and was drafted again years later in 1983 with the New Jersey Devils, and never played a game with the Canadiens,
Oleg Petrov, the first Russian to don the Habs sweater
The first Russian player that the Montreal Canadiens drafted and played with the team was Oleg Petrov. Petrov spent over 350 games with the Habs, putting up a respectable 187 points.
Alexei Kovalev, former Canadien, was amongst the first Russians to have his name on the Stanley Cup in 1994 with the New York Rangers, but it was almost Oleg Petrov.
Petrov was drafted in the 1991 draft, but spent one year in Russia, before coming to North America. In his first year, he split time between the Montreal Canadiens and the Fredericton Canadiens, the Habs' AHL affiliate at the time. Petrov played just 9 regular seasons in his first season in 1992-93, and one playoff game.
That, of course, was the last year the Canadiens won the Cup, and the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, the rules state that Petrov didn't play enough games to have his name on the Stanley Cup, but if he did, he would have gone down in the history books as the first Russian name on Lord Stanley's Mug.
Otherwise, he made his way as a solid contributor to the Montreal Canadiens for a decade, and retired from the KHL in 2012-13.
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