12 from 12. Best goalies: Garipov and Proskuryakov
KHL.ru continues its rundown of the 12 best players in each position from its first 12 seasons. Today we’re looking at two more netminders – a Gagarin Cup winner from Kazan and the first goalie to score in the KHL.
12 from 12. Best goalies: Gelashvili and Karlsson
10. Emil Garipov
GP: 263; W: 145, SO: 21, GAA: 1.89, S%: 93.3
Clubs: Ak Bars, Avangard
Country: Russia
For most of his career, Emil Garipov has been synonymous with Ak Bars. The 28-year-old Kazan native worked his way through the ranks at his hometown club. He first made waves in the Junior Hockey League in 2009/10, moved up to the VHL in 2010/11 and made his KHL debut the following season as understudy to Petri Vehanen.
Thus began a career that brought 252 games for Ak Bars, far more than anyone else. Vehanen, on 153 games, is next on the list. Garipov’s 141 wins and 21 shut-outs for the club are also records. In 2013/14, his 20 regular season appearances saw him top the KHL for GAA (1.43) and save percentage (95.2%). In 2017, he had more playoff shut-outs than any other netminder and was the top goalie of the quarter-finals. Then came his biggest triumph: lifting the Gagarin Cup in 2018, in the same season as he enjoyed his first All-Star call.
However, after winning the cup, things did not go to plan. Garipov was strongly linked with a move to the NHL, where the Islanders were reportedly among four teams interested in acquiring his services. Instead, though, he remained in Kazan only to miss much of the 2018/19 season with a back problem. As the goalie recovered from that injury, Ak Bars replaced Zinetula Bilyaletdinov with Dmitry Kvartalnov and the incoming head coach signed two new goalies – Adam Reideborn and Timur Bilyalov. At the end of November, Garipov took the tough decision to leave his hometown and join Avangard. He played nine time for Bob Hartley’s team in the regular season, including an emotional shoot-out win over Ak Bars, and featured in two playoff games as Avangard lost out to Salavat Yulaev. Now he is looking to extend his contract with the Hawks.
9. Ilya Proskuryakov
GP: 357; W: 146, SO: 30, GAA: 2.27, S%: 91.7
Clubs: Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CKSA, Traktor, Admiral, Torpedo, Yugra, HC Sochi
Country: Russia
Longevity is sometimes the most underrated virtue in a sporting career. Hockey history is full of examples of players whose star shone brightly for a season or two before fading away. But Ilya Proskuryakov’s story is different. This is a player who has earned his place among the KHL’s most prominent goalies thanks to solid, consistent performances over 12 seasons in the league. It’s true that you won’t find his name among the Gagarin Cup winners and All-Stars of the past 12 years, but in his much-travelled career the 33-year-old has enjoyed a couple of unique achievements.
The first of them came on Jan. 25, 2009 in Kazan. Metallurg, the club that nurtured his talents as a youngster, won 2-0 and as well as claiming the shut-out, Proskuryakov shot the puck into the empty net with 15 seconds on the clock, becoming the first goalie to score in the KHL. By the end of the season he was established as the #1 in Magnitogorsk and added another KHL first to his biography by claiming the league’s first ever rookie of the year award. Not bad for a player expected to ride the pine before an injury to Andrei Mezin.
Subsequently, Proskuryakov embarked on something of a tour of the KHL, leaving Magnitka and going on to play for six other clubs. Always a solid performer, he steadily amassed games and wins – and earned something of a reputation as a shoot-out expert. During his time at CSKA, in particular, it wasn’t unusual to see him come off the bench for a shoot-out, even if he wasn’t required during the game itself. In 2018 he was at Yugra when the Khanty-Mansiysk team dropped out of the KHL and it looked like Proskuryakov might also be leaving us. He headed to Germany and played 14 games in the DEL with the Krefeld Penguins before returning to spend last season at HC Sochi in tandem with Dmitry Shikin.
