12 from 12. Best forwards: Omark and Bochenski
Continuing our rundown of the KHL’s top players in each position. 12 seasons, 12 players. Today we’re going on with forwards with Linus Omark and Brandon Bochenski.
8. Brandon Bochenski
GP: 412, G: 169, A: 237, Pts: 406, +/-: +83, PIM: 333
Clubs: Barys
Country: Kazakhstan/USA
After an exciting career in the NCAA, some successful campaign in the AHL, and a World Championship participation with the United States in Russia in 2007, Brandon Bochenski landed in the KHL in 2010, signing with Barys in the Kazakh capital. With the Barys jersey, Bochenski caused havoc in the opposition defenses since the beginning — he scored a double to SKA in his second game in the KHL.
After scoring more than a point per game in his first two seasons in his new league, the forward from Minnesota slightly slowed down in the 2012-13 campaign, scoring “only” 40 points in 48 regular-season games. In 2013-14, he was once again over a point per game with 58 points in 54 games. In the Kazakh capital, earlier called Astana, and now being Nur-Sultan, Bochenski formed a formidable troika with his fellow North Americans Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes. A turning point in their career was when Kazakhstan declared them eligible to play for their national team in 2016. Bochenski would represent Kazakhstan on three major international events, before taking a year off in 2017. Claiming a need to spend more time with his family, the forward retired as the top-scoring foreign player in the KHL history.
However, in July 2018, Bochenski announced his comeback to professional hockey inking a one-year deal. With Andrei Skabelka taking the wheel in Kazakhstan, the forward had an excellent regular season, with 34 points in 44 games, but was nothing short than phenomenal in his last dance in the postseason, when he scored 13 points in 12 clashes. After the 2018-19 season, Bochenski retired — this time for good — and is now the seventh scorer in the league’s history, with 444 points in 455 games, amassed in only eight years in the KHL.
Linus Omark
GP: 476, G: 124, A: 305, Pts: 429, +/-: +50, PIM: 349
Clubs: Dynamo Moscow, Jokerit, Salavat Yulaev
Country: Sweden
In the KHL, Linus Omark is synonymous with Salavat Yulaev, but he also lined up for Dynamo Moscow and Jokerit Helsinki. The Swedish magic man had his first stint in the KHL in the Russian capital in the 2009-10 campaign, when his fellow countrymate Johan Harju and Omark — at those times two of the hottest commodities in Europe — signed a one-year deal with Dynamo. Differently from Harju, Omark was excellent with Dynamo, scoring 20 goals and 36 points and ending as the team’s third scorer behind Mattias Weinhandl and Jiri Hudler. However, after that season, Omark left Moscow to seek a career in the National Hockey League.
After spending the next four years between North America, Switzerland, and his native Sweden, Omark signed back in the KHL in 2014, agreeing to line up for Jokerit, where he scored 55 points in 70 games total for the Helsinki-based franchise. However, the real turning point of his career was signing with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. In Bashkortostan, Omark will play the best years of his career. With Salavat Yulaev, the Swedish forward had five high-level campaigns with two deep playoff runs and a fantastic start of the 2019-20 postseason, with 12 (1+11) points in only six games against Avangard Omsk. Forming a dynamic duo with the Finnish scorer Teemu Hartikainen, Omark finished the 2019-20 campaign as the best all-time scorer for Salavat Yulaev in the KHL, with 338 (85+253) points in 346 games wearing the honored Green Jersey. Naturally, Omark enjoyed a successful career on the international stage, helping Sweden winning the gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Championship in France and Germany. Unfortunately for the KHL fans, Omark recently signed a two-year deal in Switzerland and left Ufa.
