OT: Chistov = The Fish?

[Kevin Forbes]

I'm just finishing up Dave King's book, King of Russia. During the 2005-06 season, King coached Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the Russian Super League. Anyway, he ended up writing a book about the experience.
It's pretty interesting read. Metallurg was Malkin's team before he came over to North America and other players like Yushkevich, Korolev, Kaigorodov and Kulemin are also on the team, as is a familiar face, Stanislav Chistov.

Throughout the book, King refers to a troubled player on his roster as the Fish. The Fish was born in 1983, has played in the NHL before, is absurdly talented, but has trouble turning that talent into on-ice success (sound familiar?). Moreso, the Fish every now and then develops odd injuries (some of which King suspects are fake) and has a drinking/partying problem. His rights are still held by an NHL team who continues to enquire about bringing him back. As the playoffs begin (where I am in the book), King has already kicked the Fish off the team and the veteran players have convinced him to let him come back on the condition that he enters into rehab.

Anyway, as I already indicated in the title and as the description likely leads you to believe, I would suspect that the Fish is actually Chistov. As you may remember, Anaheim did entice him back to the NHL for the 2006-07 season, but soon shipped him to Boston. He spent last year playing for Metallurg again. I think this might shed a bit of light on the enigmatic Russian when he played for Anaheim.

I would really suggest the book, not just for the talk about Chistov (there's another great anecdote about when King was talking to Babcock about Chistov and Babcock's quote was "we don't think he wants to score as much as he just wants to make it look cute").

Click to read more...

 

[Pepper]

There were two -83 players in the team, Chistov and Kaigorodov. The description you gave actually fits both of them but the name "the fish" is closer to Chistov

 

[Kevin Forbes]

Except, at the time, Chistov was the only one with NHL experience. Kaigorodov did not come to North America until 2006-07.

Also of the 51 games that Metallurg played, Kaigorodov played in 50 of them. Chistov played in 47, which would be more of a fit for the injuries and discipline that he faced through the season.

 

[Twindad*]

Chistov left me feeling pistoff.

Anyway, you could really see the potential in him but like it's said, never translated onto the ice.

 

[Tfighter]

I've always had a soft spot for Chistov despite having a disappointing NHL career. The guy can fly and I always thought he was a for sure top six forward after his rookie year. Too bad to read about the "fake injuries" and the drinking/partying problems.

 

[TheJoeMan]

Ah I miss the debate going into the 06-07 season that claimed Chistov should be in the top-6 and Kunitz was barely a fourth line player. That one was fun.

 

[jax00]

I always forget that Chistov, Ian Moran, and Travis Green played on that 06-07 team for about one game.

I think Travis Green even scored a goal.

 

[Go_Krog*]

I always forget that Chistov, Ian Moran, and Travis Green played on that 06-07 team for about one game.

I think Travis Green even scored a goal.

yea, it mightve even been in his first game in. i think he talked crap on the Ducks after they let him go.

 

[Fighter]

Drikining problems too? Wow, didn't see that...

Back in 2003 he was my favourite player and I thought he could be an all-star. Damn if I was wrong

 

[Kevin Forbes]

Apparently, I'm not the only one to make this assumption: http://coppernblue.blogspot.com/2008/04/caveat.html

 

[snarktacular]

For some reason "fish" makes me think of this guy

 

[Pwnasaurus]

For some reason "fish" makes me think of this guy

Why not?

 

[Twindad*]

Apparently, I'm not the only one to make this assumption: http://coppernblue.blogspot.com/2008/04/caveat.html

What a shame, just think of the "would of, could of" potential of this kid. At least he could have been like Samsonov

 

[BogsDiamond]

I'm just finishing up Dave King's book, King of Russia. During the 2005-06 season, King coached Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the Russian Super League. Anyway, he ended up writing a book about the experience.
It's pretty interesting read. Metallurg was Malkin's team before he came over to North America and other players like Yushkevich, Korolev, Kaigorodov and Kulemin are also on the team, as is a familiar face, Stanislav Chistov.

Throughout the book, King refers to a troubled player on his roster as the Fish. The Fish was born in 1983, has played in the NHL before, is absurdly talented, but has trouble turning that talent into on-ice success (sound familiar?). Moreso, the Fish every now and then develops odd injuries (some of which King suspects are fake) and has a drinking/partying problem. His rights are still held by an NHL team who continues to enquire about bringing him back. As the playoffs begin (where I am in the book), King has already kicked the Fish off the team and the veteran players have convinced him to let him come back on the condition that he enters into rehab.

Anyway, as I already indicated in the title and as the description likely leads you to believe, I would suspect that the Fish is actually Chistov. As you may remember, Anaheim did entice him back to the NHL for the 2006-07 season, but soon shipped him to Boston. He spent last year playing for Metallurg again. I think this might shed a bit of light on the enigmatic Russian when he played for Anaheim.

I would really suggest the book, not just for the talk about Chistov (there's another great anecdote about when King was talking to Babcock about Chistov and Babcock's quote was "we don't think he wants to score as much as he just wants to make it look cute").

BACK FROM THE DEAD!!

I'm currently reading the book and I'm at the part where The Fish's teammates are pushing King to allow him back on the team.

I don't think it's Chistov.
Early in the book, didn't he describe Chistov as being a happy go lucky character who dressed like an Eminem clone?
At the same time, I believe he said The Fish was always dour and didn't seem to enjoy hockey at all.

Also, Chistov played in 47 games and all 11 playoff tilts.
That means he only missed 4 games over the entire season.
If he had phantom injuries, as well as a demotion to the farm team, I would guess he'd have missed more than 4 games.

The problem is, if you look at the 05-06 roster for Magnitogorsk, there are only 2 or 3 players born in '83 on that club.
Maybe King made a mistake when he gave his birth date?

Just looking at the numbers, I wonder if Evgeny Gladskikh is The Fish.
While he's an '82 born player, he was an NHL draftee, only played in 43 of the 51 regular season games and only 7 of the 11 playoff games.

Food for thought.

 

[Duck Off]

BACK FROM THE DEAD!!

I'm currently reading the book and I'm at the part where The Fish's teammates are pushing King to allow him back on the team.

I don't think it's Chistov.
Early in the book, didn't he describe Chistov as being a happy go lucky character who dressed like an Eminem clone?
At the same time, I believe he said The Fish was always dour and didn't seem to enjoy hockey at all.

Also, Chistov played in 47 games and all 11 playoff tilts.
That means he only missed 4 games over the entire season.
If he had phantom injuries, as well as a demotion to the farm team, I would guess he'd have missed more than 4 games.

The problem is, if you look at the 05-06 roster for Magnitogorsk, there are only 2 or 3 players born in '83 on that club.
Maybe King made a mistake when he gave his birth date?

Just looking at the numbers, I wonder if Evgeny Gladskikh is The Fish.
While he's an '82 born player, he was an NHL draftee, only played in 43 of the 51 regular season games and only 7 of the 11 playoff games.

Food for thought.

Now that sir, is a hell of a bump.

 

[WhatTheDuck]

Glad this was bumped, I have to do a couple book reports for a coaching course I'm doing, going to try and find a copy of King's book. The first one I read was "The Talent Code", it's a pretty interesting study into the creation and formation of elite talent.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

BACK FROM THE DEAD!!

I'm currently reading the book and I'm at the part where The Fish's teammates are pushing King to allow him back on the team.

I don't think it's Chistov.
Early in the book, didn't he describe Chistov as being a happy go lucky character who dressed like an Eminem clone?
At the same time, I believe he said The Fish was always dour and didn't seem to enjoy hockey at all.

Also, Chistov played in 47 games and all 11 playoff tilts.
That means he only missed 4 games over the entire season.
If he had phantom injuries, as well as a demotion to the farm team, I would guess he'd have missed more than 4 games.

The problem is, if you look at the 05-06 roster for Magnitogorsk, there are only 2 or 3 players born in '83 on that club.
Maybe King made a mistake when he gave his birth date?

Just looking at the numbers, I wonder if Evgeny Gladskikh is The Fish.
While he's an '82 born player, he was an NHL draftee, only played in 43 of the 51 regular season games and only 7 of the 11 playoff games.

Food for thought.

Oh, okay.

 

[Kevin Forbes]

BACK FROM THE DEAD!!

I'm currently reading the book and I'm at the part where The Fish's teammates are pushing King to allow him back on the team.

I don't think it's Chistov.
Early in the book, didn't he describe Chistov as being a happy go lucky character who dressed like an Eminem clone?
At the same time, I believe he said The Fish was always dour and didn't seem to enjoy hockey at all.

Also, Chistov played in 47 games and all 11 playoff tilts.
That means he only missed 4 games over the entire season.
If he had phantom injuries, as well as a demotion to the farm team, I would guess he'd have missed more than 4 games.

The problem is, if you look at the 05-06 roster for Magnitogorsk, there are only 2 or 3 players born in '83 on that club.
Maybe King made a mistake when he gave his birth date?

Just looking at the numbers, I wonder if Evgeny Gladskikh is The Fish.
While he's an '82 born player, he was an NHL draftee, only played in 43 of the 51 regular season games and only 7 of the 11 playoff games.

Food for thought.

But King also specifically says about his NHL experience, something Gladskikh doesn't have.

AND just because a player is injured, doesn't mean he's missing time. He could be pulling himself out of practices.
Or as Jonathan Willis laid out here:
http://www.coppernblue.com/2008/04/caveat.html

The Fish is giving us problems again. He can’t play tonight because he’s still recovering from another one of his mysterious illnesses. . . Fedor Kanareykin (assistant coach) smelled alcohol on his breath. This is the third or fourth time he’s had an episode; usually it happens after a break in the schedule, when he finds himself at loose ends and ends up going on a bender.

(emphasis mine)

Maybe those are the four games?

 

[Alexblaster]

I know that this is a really old thread, yet I wanted to close the loop for those who are still intrigued by mysterious Fish.

A few years back Dave King himself actually confirmed that it was Gladskikh (and not Chistov as many where led to believe...).

The proof is also in the pudding: Chistov is still an active player in Russia at the age of 36, and he just had a solid season with Lada Togliatti, racking up 39 points in 53 games (albeit this is VHL - 2nd division of Russian hockey). Gladskikh's last season at the top level was in 2010 (when he was 28), and he's played at the regional/amateur level after that.

Happy to share more details here, as the interview was in Russian, but consider this case closed

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

Phew.

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

I had to double-check the date of the OP on this thread because a few of the usernames threw me for a loop. Haven’t seen traces of them in years.

But the subject matter was interesting. Reminds me of the time the anonymous NFL player wrote an autobiography about why he hated the NFL and Reddit spent months trying to figure out who it was

 

[Fighter]

Well, I appreciate the bump because I was thinking the fish was indeed Chistov. Glad to hear he's still playing, although in the second russian league. What could have been if he had more work ethic... I've been burnt with russian prospect since him and to a (much) lesser extent Smirnov.

 

[cheesymc]

Interesting to know that Chistov's alcohol problem probably held back his NHL career. Too bad he didn't establish himself before this.... he could have been another Marchand based on his skillset and fiesty play... or at least got paid like Mike Richards before he started to infect his team with the white pony.

 

[Mortal Wombat]

Interesting to know that Chistov's alcohol problem probably held back his NHL career. Too bad he didn't establish himself before this.... he could have been another Marchand based on his skillset and fiesty play... or at least got paid like Mike Richards before he started to infect his team with the white pony.

Read post #19. This was not about Chistov after all.

 

[Alexblaster]

Interesting to know that Chistov's alcohol problem probably held back his NHL career. Too bad he didn't establish himself before this.... he could have been another Marchand based on his skillset and fiesty play... or at least got paid like Mike Richards before he started to infect his team with the white pony.

There's no evidence of Chistov ever having an alcohol "problem", it was a rumor that got rekindled after the King's book was published and most were led to believe that Chistov = Fish. What Chistov did get known for throughout his career is an extremely introverted personality - always keeping to himself, not interacting with teammates, not speaking to press etc. Not the best personality trait in the team sport like hockey.

That said, in Russia Chistov is still considered one of top NHL-busts - alongside the likes of Zherdev, Filatov - guys who possessed enough skill and talent to become NHL stars, but haven't managed it primarily due to the lack of effort and work ethics. On the other hand, Chistov still enjoyed a solid career at the top professional level in Russia - that's when you compare him to the likes of Balmochnykh and Smirnov