Matt Ellison: top-scoring international player
KHL.ru continues its series of articles about players and coaches who have become legends of the League. The new article tells the story of Canadian forward Matt Ellison, who became the top-scoring international player in KHL history, representing six different teams.
A Resilient Riga and the Sensational HC MVD
In the early seasons of the KHL, Dinamo Riga was one of the most effective clubs in terms of player recruitment. Despite working with a relatively modest budget, the club’s management rarely made mistakes in selecting foreign players, consistently bringing in high-quality talent that offered excellent value for money. This was particularly evident during the onset stage for their debut KHL season when players like Marcel Hossa, Mark Hartigan, Matt Ellison, Duvie Westcott, and Filip Novak joined the team.
Dinamo, which was created from scratch in just a few months, had a commendable first season in the league, finishing 10th overall. The international players were the team’s leaders and made a significant impact, with all of them ranking among the top seven scorers for Riga. Unsurprisingly, four of them moved on to other clubs for better contracts in the offseason, leaving only Hossa, who later transferred to Ak Bars in 2010.
Matt Ellison, who had mostly played in the AHL before coming to Latvia, finished his first KHL season with 15 goals and 22 assists, placing him 33rd in the league in points. In the offseason, he was signed by HC MVD, a club that, together with the Canadian forward, would go on to create one of the biggest surprises in KHL history.
In the inaugural season of the new league, HC MVD finished in 18th place. Following such a result, the team underwent no significant changes. Head coach Oleg Znarok remained at the helm, and the core of the roster was retained. As a result, no one expected HC MVD to achieve dramatically different outcomes. Most experts believed that making the playoffs was the best the club could hope for.
However, HC MVD defied expectations by finishing second in the Western Conference. They then eliminated CSKA and Dinamo Riga in the playoffs, losing just one game in the first two rounds. Following that, they defeated the experienced Lokomotiv team, which had reached the finals in 2008 and 2009, only to lose to Salavat Yulaev and Ak Bars in the decisive games.
But the surprises from HC MVD didn’t stop there. After losing the first two games of the Gagarin Cup Final to Ak Bars in Balashikha, skeptics believed Kazan would soon claim a second consecutive championship. However, by the time the series returned to Tatarstan, HC MVD led 3-2. Though Ak Bars eventually won the sixth and seventh games, securing the title, Znarok’s team treated their silver medals as if they were gold.
A powerful line with Vesce and Linglet
Ellison continued playing in the KHL for several more years, but after his success with HC MVD, the teams he played for couldn’t match the previous achievements. However, this doesn’t mean that the career of our subject was ordinary.
After the silver medal with HC MVD, Ellison moved to Torpedo, where the club’s management decided to form a top line of international players. Ryan Vesce and Charles Linglet were brought in from North American clubs. This combination proved to be quite productive in Nizhny Novgorod — Ellison scored 50 points, Vesce 48, and Linglet 45. In total, the Canadian-American line scored 58 goals, becoming the best in the entire league in this regard. However, this didn’t significantly impact the team’s results — Nizhny Novgorod failed to make the playoffs. The trio didn’t get another chance to play for Torpedo in the Gagarin Cup: in 2011, Linglet left for Minsk, and both Vesce and Ellison missed most of the season due to injuries.
Ellison, Vesce, and Linglet reunited in 2013 at Medvescak. The team from Zagreb was making its debut season in the KHL. Matt joined them mid-season, arriving from Switzerland, where he had moved from Torpedo to be closer to his pregnant wife.
May 20, 2011 As a Torpedo player, forms the best line of the season with Charles Linglet and Ryan Vesce (58 total goals).
Dec. 31, 2015 Spengler Cup title with Team Canada.
Jan. 23, 2016 First KHL All-Star Game appearance.
March 7, 2019 Last KHL game with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
At that time, Medvescak had such a strong roster that the former Torpedo players were only on the second line. The first line for the Croatian team featured another North American trio: Bill Thomas, Matt Murley, and Jonathan Cheechoo. It's no surprise that Medveščak outperformed teams like CSKA, Lokomotiv, Atlant, Severstal, and Spartak, comfortably making the playoffs in sixth place.
However, in the following season, the Vesce-Ellison-Linglet line, along with former NHL top scorer Cheechoo, delighted not the fans of Zagreb but the hockey enthusiasts of Minsk. In Belarus, Ellison's line delivered another stellar performance, combining for 159 points. The team finished as high as fifth place in the Western Conference, but they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Jokerit.
In the 2015-2016 season, Ellison became Dinamo's top scorer with 55 points and was voted the team's best player by the fans. However, he lost one of his regular linemates, as Linglet missed most of the season due to injury. Before the next season, Vesce left for Chelyabinsk.
Disappointment in Magnitogorsk and KHL Records
Ellison spent the last two seasons of his career, from 2017 to 2019, in Magnitogorsk. For the first time, the Canadian played for a KHL powerhouse, hoping to cap off his career with a Gagarin Cup victory.
“Minsk is an amazing city, and Belarus is a beautiful country. I had three great years there, and we scored a lot of points. But I’m getting older and don’t know how much longer I’ll play. When I got the chance to join Metallurg, I took it because I want to win a championship,” Ellison said in an interview with KHL.ru.
However, fate had other plans. With Ellison on the roster, Metallurg was eliminated in the second and first rounds of the playoffs. Despite this, there was little to criticize about Ellison’s performance. In his first season, he became Metallurg’s top scorer, surpassing even Sergei Mozyakin and Jan Kovar. In his second season, he shared this title with the greatest goal scorer in the history of Russian hockey.
Ellison never had the chance to play in a major tournament for Team Canada. He was preparing to skate in the 2018 Olympics and played in the Karjala Cup and Channel One Cup, scoring against Switzerland in the former and against the Czech Republic in the latter. However, he was not included in the final Olympic roster. The highlights of his international career with the Canadian national team were winning the 2015 Spengler Cup and a second place in the 2016 Deutschland Cup.
Overall, Ellison played 594 games in the KHL, accumulating 458 points (193 goals + 265 assists). This achievement makes him the highest-scoring international player in KHL history. Additionally, he holds another league record: he is the only player to have scored seven goals in a single All-Star Game, a feat he accomplished in 2016.
Ellison played 11 full seasons in the KHL but never managed to learn Russian.
“I tried to learn for four years, but I still can’t figure out how to speak it. I understand simple phrases, but the language is quite difficult for me.”
Meanwhile, in Russia, Ellison was nicknamed “Pushkin” after the great Russian writer. This nickname was given to him by his head coach Oleg Znarok during his time with HC MVD.
“Same hairstyle, plus the beard. He’s famous, I like him. I even grew my hair out a bit for the look,” Ellison said, commenting on his nickname.
KHL.ru dossier
Matt Ellison
Born Dec. 8, 1983, in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada.
Playing career: 2003-2006, Chicago Blackhawks, Norfolk Admirals (AHL); 2005-2007, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL); 2007-2008, Milwaukee Admirals (AHL); 2008-2009, Dinamo Riga; 2009-2010 HC MVD; 2010-2013, Torpedo; 2013-2014, EHC Biel (CH), Medvescak; 2014-2017, Dinamo Minsk; 2017-2019, Metallurg Magnitogorsk.
Honors: Russian championship silver medal (2010).
