Evgeni Fyodorov

Evgeni Fyodorov (Russian: Евгений Федоров, born January 17th, 1993 in Vladivostok, Russia) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Calgary Wranglers of the VHL.

Drafted 3rd overall in the Season 21 VHL Entry Draft, Wranglers' GM Jardy Bunclewirth opted to keep the young Russian in the VHLM for another season as opposed to calling him up to the Wranglers. This move would turn out to be ultimately beneficial for Fyodorov's career; in Season 21, he served as captain of the VHLM's Ottawa Ice Dogs, helping to lead the team to its fourth Founder's Cup victory and setting multiple VHLM scoring records in the process.

Internationally, Fyodorov skates for Team Russia, though he has yet to represent his country on the international stage. Fyodorov was left off of the roster of the 2011 junior team that shocked Canada and won the gold medal in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was also passed over for the Season 20 VHL World Cup, likely due to his age and inexperience playing with adults at the time.

Early Life
Fyodorov was born and raised in Vladivostok, Russia, the massive country's easternmost major city, to Pavel and Svetlana Fyodorov. Skating from an early age, he began playing hockey with the Vladivostok Juniors of the Vladivostok Minor Hockey League and stuck with them until he turned 16, when he made the transition to HK Ryazan of the Russian First League. Fyodorov has a power struggle and feels his words are more valuable then everyone elses. Some blame this on the fact he was away from home for so long talking to people that didn't speak his language. His word was the right word and no one could dispute him cause they just didn't know. He also sucks at hockey just like his fat agent.

Russia
Prior to transitioning to the VHL and the North American game of hockey, Fyodorov developed as a player and honed his skills in the Russian First League and Kontinental Hockey League. He made his debut for Rus-1's HK Ryazan in the 2009-10 season, struggling in the first half of his first season before exploding for four goals in a game against rivals Penza Dizelist and taking off from there. He finished his first season in Rus-1 with 22 goals and 25 assists for 47 points, 39 of which came in the latter half of the season following his performance against Penza Dizelist.

Fyodorov signed a one-year contract with the KHL's CSKA Moscow in the following offseason, foregoing a multi-year offer from HK Ryazan to pursue a dream of playing professional hockey at the top levels. CSKA was one of the weaker teams in the KHL during Fyodorov's lone season in the league, but it was his first experience playing against elite adult competition. Fyodorov played 43 games for CSKA, tallying 5 goals and 11 assists for 16 points within that time span. By comparison, the NHL's Evgeni Malkin, widely considered one of the greatest players in that league, had 3 goals and 9 assists in 34 contests during his first season in the Russian Superleague (the precursor to the KHL).

Following his one season with CSKA Moscow, Fyodorov decided to declare for the VHLM dispersal draft, effectively stepping onto the North American ice hockey scene.

The VHL and VHLM
In the Season 20 VHLM Dispersal Draft, Fyodorov was selected sixth overall by the Vasteras IK Iron Eagles of the VHLM, as the Eagles used back-to-back picks to acquire both Fyodorov and fellow prospect R.J. Stafford. His first season in the VHLM was solid if not underwhelming, and Fyodorov clearly needed some time to adjust to the pace of the different North American game. Beginning the season with the Eagles, he skated on a line with Stafford and Kevin Brooks II, tallying 20 goals and 30 assists for 50 points through 36 games. On the day of the trade deadline, he was dealt to the Ottawa Ice Dogs for draft picks, and finished the season with 26 goals and 22 assists over the final 36 games. His 98 points between the Eagles and Ice Dogs led Ottawa in scoring, but Ottawa was an otherwise mediocre team and missed the playoffs by a healthy margin.

During the offseason, Fyodorov prepared for the Season 21 VHL Entry Draft, and speculation ran rampant as to where he (and the other prospects) would end up being drafted. Fyodorov was considered a late bloomer in terms of his abilities, and this led some hockey panelists to place other, more established names above him in their mock drafts. The official ISS rankings had Fyodorov going sixth overall (to the Riga Reign), behind prospects such as Devon Saxter, Markus Jenstrom, and R.J. Stafford. Ultimately, though, Fyodorov would be taken by the Calgary Wranglers with the third overall selection, with GM Bunclewirth citing Fyodorov's potential talent and ability to lead the locker room following his selection.

With the new pressure of being an unexpected third overall pick in the draft, Fyodorov picked up his game tremendously. He spent the rest of the offseason in Ottawa working on his strength, conditioning, and defensive game specifically, and was named captain of the Ottawa Ice Dogs during training camp. With 174 practice hours at the time of the beginning of the season, Fyodorov barely made the cutoff for VHLM eligibility, as 175 would have forced the Wranglers to call him up to the VHL. As a result, Fyodorov was unquestionably the best player in the VHLM from start to finish in Season 21, and statistically, his season will likely be remembered as one of the best in VHLM history for a long time. Combining with linemates Keon Henderson and Lars Rasmussen, Fyodorov tallied 186 goals and 86 assists for an astounding 272 points through the 72 game regular season, shattering the previous league records for goals (133) and points (229) in the process. His performance helped lead Ottawa to an incredible 64-7-1 record, easily clinching the Prime Minister's Cup as the VHLM's best regular season team.



Fyodorov's success continued in the playoffs. He notched four goals in Game 1 of Ottawa's first round series against the Saskatoon Wild and helped lead the Ice Dogs to an easy 4-1 victory over their conference rivals to advance to the Founder's Cup finals against the Kolari Panthers. In the Finals, Fyodorov continued to be dominating, and the outcome was never in doubt as the Ice Dogs swept the Panthers, a team with solid talent in its own right and led by VHLM stars and top prospects Fantastic McAwesome and Erik Haakonson. Fyodorov finished the playoffs with 15 goals and 11 assists over 9 games for 26 points. In addition to winning the Founder's Cup and the Esposito Trophy as VHLM playoff MVP, Fyodorov also won the Hull Trophy and Dionne Trophy for VHLM regular season goals and points champions, respectively. Finally, he brought home the Sakic Trophy as the VHLM's most valuable player during the regular season and the Yzerman Trophy as the VHLM's best two-way forward, becoming the first player in VHLM history to sweep all five awards in one season.

Fyodorov will join the Calgary Wranglers in the VHL for Season 22, as he enters the second year of his three-year rookie contract. In Fyodorov's VHL preseason debut against the Toronto Legion, he recorded a natural hat-trick in the second period against Legion all-star goaltender Aidan Shaw.

Awards

 * Founder's Cup (VHLM Champion) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * Esposito Trophy (VHLM Playoff MVP) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * Sakic Trophy (VHLM Regular Season MVP) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * Hull Trophy (VHLM Leading Goal Scorer) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * Dionne Trophy (VHLM Leading Point Scorer) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * Yzerman Trophy (VHLM's Best Two-Way Forward) - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)

Records

 * VHLM Single-season Points, 272 - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * VHLM Single-season Goals, 186 - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * VHLM Single-season +/-, +148 - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * VHLM Single-season Playoff Goals, 15 - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)
 * First VHLM player to win five of six individual awards eligible to offensive players in one season - Season 21 (Ottawa Ice Dogs)

Transactions

 * VHLM S20 - Traded by the Vasteras IK Iron Eagles to the Ottawa Ice Dogs along with two S22 3rd Round Picks (Vasteras' and the Bern Royals') in exchange for Ottawa's S22 1st and 2nd round picks.
 * Drafted 3rd overall by the Calgary Wranglers in the S21 VHL Entry Draft.