Alexei Morozov: From a hat-trick on Torpedo to Russia’s flagbearer
This story comes full circle. In the first KHL season, Alexei Morozov was the brightest star on the ice. By season #15, he was already president of the league.
A hat-trick on Torpedo
Alexei Morozov quickly made his mark on pro hockey. At the start of the 1994-1995 season, Krylya Sovietov entertained Torpedo Yaroslavl. Morozov was just 17 years old and played on the fourth line alongside Dmitry Nabokov and Alexei Isakov.
Head coach Igor Dmitriev was happy to trust young players. Moreover, Krylya was short of money. But that didn’t add up to a free pass for the young Morozov, who had to compete for game time with the likes of Dmitry Yerofeyev, Andrei Skopintsev, Alexander Korolyuk, Dmitry Gogolev, Sergei Zolotov, Alexander Savchenko and others. By the end of the regular season, the Muscovites had secured second place in the standings, just two points behind the leader, Torpedo Yaroslavl. However, in the playoffs they fell in the first round, losing out in a tough battle against a more experienced Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
On Sep. 9, 1994, Morozov announced himself to the spectators who came to the Setun arena in Moscow’s western suburbs. Krylya’s fans already knew about him, of course. In the previous season he had played a handful of games, albeit without getting his first point. Now, many of them would be surprised and excited to see just what kind of talent their club was nurturing: Morozov potted a hat-trick, including two late goals to turn a 3-4 deficit into a 5-4 victory. Now, everybody was talking about him.
World Champion 2008, 2009
Olympic silver medal, Nagano 1998
11.04.2007 First player to score 100 points in a season
21.11.2008 Only player to score five goals in a KHL game
12.04.2009 Scorer of the only goal of the deciding game in the Gagarin Cup final
Named as playoff MVP
Rookie of the year
In 1994-1995, Morozov potted another 12 goals and added 12 helpers. He was fourth in scoring on the team. The International Hockey League, the Russian championship of the time, named Alexei Rookie of the Year and Pittsburgh took him in the first round of the NHL draft.
It was already clear that Morozov’s path would take him over the ocean. But he was in no hurry to leave, remaining in Russia until he was 20. He went step by step, establishing himself as a leader at Krylya Sovietov, and representing his country in all age groups. In 1997, after winning two World Junior bronze medals, he linked up with the senior team at the World Championship. At that time, the national team was coached by Krylya’s own Dmitriev.
With 6 (3+3) points, Morozov was third in scoring on the team that narrowly missed out on a medal. He played on the top line alongside Alexander Prokopiev and Alexander Barkov. At this time, Russian teams struggled for success. As if paying for the years of Soviet dominance, the Red Machine spluttered and failed to medal from 1993 to 2002.
29.10.2009 First player to score 50 KHL goals
10.05.2009 Became a double World Champion
12.02.2010 Team Russia’s flagbearer at the Vancouver Olympics
Playing with Lemieux and Jagr
At the start of 1997-1998, Morozov played for Krylya Sovietov and, apparently, had no plans to leave. He represented his country at the Czech stage of the Euro Hockey Tour and scored five of Russia’s six goals.
“I would be happy to go, if they’d offered me a normal contract. I compared myself with the other guys, I can imagine my worth. I won’t go for less money. In America, it’s all business. The less they can pay, the better. But I will hold on for what I’m worth,” he said in a TV interview in Sep. 1997.
However, before the NHL season began in October, Morozov and Pittsburgh reached agreement. Alexei marked his NHL debut with a goal, scoring on Los Angeles on Oct. 1 off a pass from Jaromir Jagr.
It’s not easy to assess Morozov’s time in the NHL. And that’s not really our business. The main thing is that he never complained about anything. Alexei didn’t just play with Jagr, but also with Mario Lemieux. From time-to-time, the Kovalev-Lemieux-Morozov line gave Penguins fans flashbacks to the early 90s, when their heroes won two Stanley Cups.
Morozov was a skilled player. Thus, it was no surprise that he returned to Russia at the peak of his powers. Passing hockey suited him better than a power game. In addition, the NHL endured a lock-out in 2004, which was expected to last all season. Morozov would receive repeated offers from across the Atlantic, including from a Detroit team that was a serious Stanley Cup contender. However, Alexei preferred to stay in Russia with Ak Bars.
27.04.2010 Became a two-time Gagarin Cup winner, and three-time Russian Champion
09.12.2011 First player to score five hat-tricks in the KHL
13.01.2013 Fourth KHL All-Star appearance
11.03.2014 Ended career. In total he had 348 points in 368 KHL games
Three championships
Morozov’s first season with Ak Bars wasn’t a success. However, that had nothing to do with Alexei’s contribution. He was the team’s leading scoring. But the club was built on a “galacticos” model, resulting in a constellation of stars stacked with skill but short of teamwork.
This was also before the Morozov-Zinoviev-Zaripov line was established. In 2004-2005, Morozov and Sergei Zinoviev played with Alexei Kovalev, and it wasn’t until the summer of 2005 that head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov put Danis Zaripov on the left wing. From 2008, Sweden’s Toni Mortensson centered the line.
In the summer of 2005, Morozov was the only NHLer who remained in Kazan. That alone says a lot. Bilyaletdinov built a new team which went on to win three championships in six years – including the first two Gagarin Cups – until Zinetula Haidarovich moved to the national team.
Morozov set a record in the 2006-2007 season as his team lost out in the final. He produced 100 points in regular season and playoff action. Previously, nobody had scored so heavily in the history of Russian and Soviet hockey (subsequently, only Sergei Mozyakin has bettered this mark). Ak Bars might well have won it all, but lost the decisive game of the final series to Metallurg on home ice. Morozov and Zaripov played for two more years at Ak Bars but after Bilyaletdinov’s departure it was already a slightly different team.
Typically, great attacking lines are named after their center – for example Petrov, or Starshinov, or Larionov. Morozov was an exception. It’s no coincidence that in a recent interview with KHL.ru, goalie Alexander Yeryomenko described this title-winning line as the “Morozov line.”
The extent of Morozov’s dominance, whether playing with Zaripov and Zinoviev, or later with Mortensson, is demonstrated by a simple fact: in all nine seasons, Morozov was the leading scorer for Ak Bars.
Olympic silver at age 21
Morozov and his line played a notable role for team Russia as well. In 2008, for the first time in 15 years, Russia won the World Championship. A year later, the Red Machine defended its title. Morozov captained both teams. Thus it was no surprise that Morozov also captained his country at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, despite an influx of NHL stars on that roster. Moreover, Alexei was Russia’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony. Previously, only three hockey players had that honor – Nikolai Sologubov (1960), Vladislav Tretiak (1976, 1984) and Vyacheslav Fetisov (1988).
Morozov’s Olympic adventures ran the full gamut of emotions. There was bitter disappointment in Vancouver, when Russia lost 3-7 to Canada in the quarter-finals. There was also Vladimir Krikunov’s surprising decision to leave Alexei at home for the 2006 Games, preferring his Dynamo players Maxim Sushinsky and Alexander Kharitonov.
But there was also the unforgettable 1998 Olympics in Nagano. At the start of the tournament, Morozov was just 20, the youngest on the team. He celebrated his 21st on the day of the group stage game against the Czechs. It’s hard to imagine the feelings of a young man who, a year after trudging around the Russian provinces, came of age at the first ever “best-on-best” Olympics. It’s a fair bet that they were something special.
Once again, though, there was an element of disappointment. Team Russia won every game, except the final. A second meeting with the Czechs proved too much. Dominik Hasek stopped everything Russia could throw at him, and backstopped his team to a 1-0 victory. Morozov said that for a long time he couldn’t bear to watch the game back, preferring to keep his distance from that misfortune.
But he still took pride in his silver medal: “It was a real pleasure to play on that team.”
Dossier
Alexei Alexeyevich Morozov
Born Moscow, Feb. 16, 1977
Playing career: Krylya Sovietov (1994-1998), Pittsburgh (1998-2004), Ak Bars (2004-2013), CSKA (2013-2014)
Honors: Olympic silver medal (1998), World Champion (2008, 2009), bronze medal (2007), Russian champion (2006), Gagarin Cup winner (2009, 2010), European Champion (2007). Gagarin Cup MVP (2009), Golden Helmet (2006, 2008, 2009), KHL All-Star (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013).
Off-ice career: JHL Managing Director (2015-20), KHL President (since 2020)
