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Sr. World Championships -  Many prospects made the roster for the two friendly matches Team Russia will play in Italy on April 23rd and 24th. Vasily Koshechkin (Tampa Bay Lightning), Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) and Sergei Bobrovsky are the goalies, with Khudobin most likely as starter. On the blue line Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers) will make his first appearence, and will be joined by Vitaly Atyushov, Konstantin Korneev (Montreal Canadiens), Denis Kulyash (Nashville Predators), Evgeny Biryukov, Denis Denisov (Buffalo Sabres), Dmitri Vorobiev (Toronto Maple Leafs), Evgeny Ryasensky and Nikolai Belov. The forwards corps will be led by NHLers Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres), Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers), Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers) and Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs). First call for Vladimir Tarasenko and Nikita Filatov (Columbus Blue Jackets). Other players are Konstantin Gorovikov, Denis Parshin (Colorado Avalanche), Maxim Rybin , Evgeny Skachkov (St. Louis Blues), Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes), Mikhail Varnakov , Alexander Svitov (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Oleg Saprykin (Ottawa Senators).

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National Hockey League (NHL) -  Goaltending prospect Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) has been steadily making his way up to the NHL since coming to North America a few years back. Thus far he has been a strong example of a player steadily working up through the system. First, he spent a season in the juniors with WHL's Saskatoon Blades, following with two seasons primarily in the ECHL, getting very limited AHL ice time with the Houston Aeros. This season the young goalie took another step forward, solidifying the starting job in the AHL and even managing a NHL debut a few days back when Wild's backup fell to a hip injury. Khudobin is now back in the AHL, but his impressive progress is worth noting, since a few years back he struggled to earn ice time with HC Metallurg in Russia and was all but written off as a prospect after a shaky performance vs. Canada at the U20 WJC.

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National Hockey League (NHL) -  Russian goalie Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) played his first NHL game tuesday night, when his Minnesota Wild skated past the Edmonton Oilers 4-2.

Khudobin, 23, has been iced in the game's third period after an injury occoured to Josh Harding. He reflected all the nine shot thrown towards his crease. (RussianHockeyFans.com article by Alessandro Seren Rosso) READ MORE

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National Hockey League (NHL) -  NHL training camps keep on rolling and further Russian players have been demoted. Goalkeeper Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) will thus spend his third straight season in North America despite not getting any chance to showcase his talent in the NHL. Last year Khudobin played 17 matches for the Houston Aeros in the AHL. Also Andrei Plekhanov (Columbus Blue Jackets) will play his third North American season in the AHL as he has just been sent down to the Syracuse Crunch. After a good rookie season, Plekhanov suffered from a sophomore slump that limited him to 2 goals in the 08-09 season and thus he has to rebound back this year. Differently from the aforementioned players, Ilya Zubov (Ottawa Senators) did play in the NHL last year (10 games), without impressing too much with only two points. While he has proven himself in the AHL, he needs to further polish his game in order to get more chances in the NHL, where he needs to play in a scoring line to be effective, but is yet to demonstrate that he's good enough for that.

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Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) -  Ilya Proskuryakov was named KHL player of the week last week. The young goalie allowed just two goals in the first four regular season, which ties for the Russian Elite league (whether it is the KHL or the Super League) record. The former member of Russia's U18 and U20 squads has been on fire this past season, coming out of seemingly nowhere to earn the starting job with Metallurg Mg., a club that has at one point been developing Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) for this position. Now clearly one of the top young netminders in Russia along with Stanislav Galimov , Proskuryakov has developed into a strong starting netminder.

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Canadian Junior Leagues -  Aeros goaltender Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) stopped all 30 shots he faced to become the third netminder in as many nights to record his first AHL playoff shutout. (AHL Press release) READ MORE

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June and July 2008 have been two busy months for Russian prospects. Many skated in North Americans development camps, some have changed teams, being or not at the centre of a controversial move, others are “simply” training hard for the upcoming season. Many players belong to the first group. As written earlier in our website, Dmitri Kosmachev (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Maxim Mayorov (Columbus Blue Jackets) skated with Columbus Blue Jackets, Maxim Goncharov (Phoenix Coyotes) and Viktor Tikhonov (Phoenix Coyotes) with the Phoenix Coyotes, Nikolai Lemtyugov (St. Louis Blues) with St. Louis, Igor Makarov (Chicago Blackhawks) with the Chicago Blackhawks, Ruslan Bashkirov (Ottawa Senators), Ilya Zubov (Ottawa Senators) and Alexander Nikulin (Ottawa Senators) with Ottawa, Evgeni Grachev (New York Rangers) and Artem Anisimov (New York Rangers) with the New York Rangers, Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) and Nikita Kashirsky – a Russian player who spent the last seasons playing USA College hockey - in Washington, with Kugryshev in the stands, Fedor Fedorov (New Jersey Devils) with the New Jersey Devils, Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs) with Toronto, Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) with the Minnesota Wild, Vyacheslav Voinov (Los Angeles Kings) and Andrei Loktionov (Los Angeles Kings) with Los Angeles. The list might even grow as Montreal Canadiens are yet to release their rosters. (Exclusive article by Alessandro Seren Rosso for RussianProspects.com) READ MORE

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Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) yesterday signed a three year contract with the Minnesota Wild. The deal is reportedly geared towards him continuing his development in the AHL during the next several seasons. He will reportedly received a $110k signing bonus and will earn $70k, $70k and $65k during the next three seasons. This is the second young Russian goalie to sign a deal with an NHL club during the past week, with Semen Varlamov (Washington Capitals) signing with the Washington Capitals. However, Varlamov will likely return to Russia for at least another season, while Khudobin will likely remain in North America. Khudobin has already spent one season in North America skating in the Canadian juniors.

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Russian Super League -  Saskatoon Blades star goaltender Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) is returning to Russia for the 2005-06 season. He will play backup to Metallurg’s starting netminder Travis Scott, who signed a two year agreement during the summer of 2005. The back up spot is all but secured for Khudobin after the club parted ways with it’s former backup and Team Ukraine starting goalie Konstantin Simchuk. The young netminder spent the 2005-06 campaign in the Canadian junior leagues and after an uneven start became one of the club’s top players down the stretch. His move back Russia does not come as a surprise, since his move to North America was regarded by some as a maneuver by the Super League club Metallurg to attaint it’s young star goaltender of the future a venue to receive effective coaching and a lot of playing time. He received both in Saskatoon, which is more than he could have done in Russia as a third string goalie with Metallurg. Additionally, his stint in the WHL also helped prepare Khudobin for his last U20 WJC tournament, though the young netminder did not deliver a solid performance in Vancouver, his play did significantly improve afterwards for Saskatoon. It is currently unclear whether Khudobin will return to North America to attend Minnesota Wild’s training camp.

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Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) Amazing - Blades goaltender faces 84 shots in loss to Tigers READ MORE

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Russian treasure - Blades name import goalie Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) MVP (Article) READ MORE

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U20 World Junior Championships -  Team Russia’s starting goaltender Anton Khudobin discusses his goals for this year’s U20 World Junior Championships, as well as his impressions of playing in the Western Hockey League with RussianProspects.com and SportExpress.ru correspondent Andrey Brotsky. READ MORE

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Russian Super League -  After an erratic season's start, Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) coming around for the Saskatoon Blades. The young goaltender has put together a solid string of 4 games in the latter half of the October, including a shutout and a 0:1 loss where he stopped 40 of 41 faced shots. With the exception of the latest game when he was replaced by Kevin Armstrong towards the end of the first period after allowing two goals, Khudobin has been reliable in net lately for the Blades. This is welcome news, considering that the Minnesota Wild prospect is the starting goaltender for Russia's U20 squad and that an adjustment to the North American style is essential if he has NHL aspirations.

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RussianProspects.com has learned that Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) is coming over to North America to play in the Western Hockey League, one of the top Canadian junior hockey leagues. The Saskatoon Blades selected the young Russian goaltender in the 2005 CHL Import Draft with the 51st overall pick. While the pick was likely one of the last used in the CHL draft, it has significant consequences on the Saskatoon organization, which currently lacks a starting goaltender and is looking for Khudobin to fill this role. The young goaltender’s contract situation in Russia proved to be ideal to a move to North America. His contract with Metallurg (Magnitogorsk) has expired, and despite the rumor that he signed with Lokomotiv (Yaroslavl), the young goalie remains free to move to North America. Khudobin has a mixed record against Canadian players, playing solid in Russia’s net at the Canada Russia Challenge tournament, but looking less solid against the Canadian and American squads at the U18 and U20 World Junior Championships. Khudobin is a butterfly style goalie, who moves well in the butterfly, but needs to improve his positioning and quicken his decision making to remain strong on the smaller ice surface.

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10 players from the former Soviet Union were selected during the 2005 CHL Import Draft. Stand outs include the surprising selection of Russian U20 squad’s starting goaltender Anton Khudobin, who became a free agent this summer after completing his contract with Metallurg. The junior clubs also drafted two members of Russia’s U18 squad Anton Skorykh and Igor Makarov. Sergei Kastytsin, the brother of talented Andrei Kastytsin (Montreal Canadiens) was selected by the London Knights, and will likely join the OHL club for the coming season.

Overall - Team - Player - DOB - Pos - Last Team/Country - Height - Weight - NHL Draft
14. PEI Rocket - Anton Skorykh Feb. 23/87 LW Lada Togliatti/Russia 6.04 187
20. Victoriaville Tigres - Igor Makarov Sep.19/87 LW Krylja/Russia 6.01 190
28. Erie Otters - Ivan Maximkin Jun.24/88 D Lada Togliattia/Russia 6.03 190
35. Shawinigan Cataractes - Egor Egorov Jan.20/87 LW Druzhba/Ukraine 5.11 180
50. Halifax Mooseheads - Mikahil Aseev Oct.30/87 RW Central Army/Russia 6.00 175
51. Saskatoon Blades - Anton Khudobin May 7/86 G Magnitogorsk/Russia 5.11 176 MIN-04
57. London Knights - Siarhei Kastsitsyn Mar.20/87 LW Gomel/Belarus 6.00 190
66. Prince George Cougars - Alexandre Alexandrov Jun.11/87 C Neftekhim/Russia 6.00 187
68. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies - Ivan Vishnevsky Aug.18/88 D Russian 88 National 6.00 174
73. Shawinigan Cataractes - Vladislav Kostyukhin Feb.18/88 RW Spartak Moscow/Russia 6.02 180

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Russian Super League -  Evgeny Nabokov (San Jose Sharks) has successfully completed physical therapy in the United States and has returned to Russia to rejoin Metallurg (Magnitogorsk). Metallurg has struggled with Malkov between the pipes after Nabokov’s injury. As a result, the club acquired Konstantin Simchuk, who has been a lot more effective. Simchuk will likely be Nabokov’s backup, with Malkov becoming either the third string goalie, or be released all together, as the club already has Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) holding steady in that position.

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U20 Canada-Russia Challenge -  After delivering solid goaltending performances in the first two games of the Canada-Russia challenge, Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) was unexpectedly recalled by his Super League (Russia 1) club Metallurg (Magnitogorsk). The reason for the young goaltender’s recall was the club’s suddenly developed precarious goaltending situation. During the November break in the regular season, Metallurg signed San Jose Sharks NHL goaltender Evgeny Nabokov, as a result releasing the club’s previous starting goaltender Roman Malek. Apparently, the release was a bit premature, as Nabokov did not join the club immdideately after the break in the season, and the club was left with just one goaltender Andrei Malkov, who shared the load with Malek during the first months of the regular season. Malkov is fully capable of handling the workload, but the club must dress at least two goaltenders, hence necessitating Khudobin’s recall.

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Profiles of Russian goaleis Anton Khudobin and Sergei Borisov (both 2004 NHL Entry Draft) have been added to premium coverage

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U18 World Junior Championships -  Interview with goalie Anton Khudobin after he scored a goal at the U18 WJC READ MORE

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U18 World Junior Championships -  Today the Russian national team will skate against the US for the gold medal at the U18 WJC. While the squad was not a favorite out of the preliminary round, the Russians still managed to earn a semifinals birth and then resoundedly defeat the Canadian national team. Russia's success this year is largely due to the squad's depth and goaltending. Anton Khudobin has come up big for the team and given something that Russia has lacked for the past few years - stability in the net.