Valeri Viktorovich Kamensky

 

Position: left wing
Shoots: R 
Height: 6-02  Weight: 198 
Born: 4/18/1966 in Voskresensk, USSR
NHL Draft: Selected by the Quebec Nordiques in 1988 #129 overall

Olympic medals: 1x Gold (1988); 1x Silver (1998)
World Champion: 3x (1986, 1989, 1990)
Winner SSSR Championship: 4x (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989)
Stanley Cup: 1x (1996)

Awards:

  • Best soviet player: 1x (1991)
 
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Biography [Source: hhoflegendsclassic.com] At the age of 19, when Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny were still only prospects for the future, Valeri Kamensky made his international debut in two games against the NHL All-Star Team at the Rendez-vous 87' tournament. The Bykov-Kamensky-Khomoutov trio scored three goals, with Kamensky getting two of them, and Gretzky and Kamensky voted the best players of the series.

Before Kamensky left Moscow for the NHL's Quebec Nordiques, the team who had drafted him back in 1988, Kamensky's agent Paul Teophanos said, They are waiting for Valeri impatiently. Some say he will be one of the NHL's five superstars.

He did not make the top five, but he was not a disappointment either. He played for four years with the Nordiques in Quebec and another four years when he moved with the team from Quebec City to Denver helping the Avalanche capture the franchises first Stanley Cup in 1996. 1996 turned out to be Kamensky's best season in the NHL, finishing the season with 85 points on the strength of 38 goals and 47 assists. In the end, Kamensky made his mark on the game. Over the space of his career, he played in the Soviet Union, Canada and the U.S. And he scored crazy goals from impossible angles following improvised attacks. He did what he could given the painful adjustment that tended to follow Soviet players who were transplanted to the NHL. He did not become a goal-scoring machine, but together with Igor Larionov and Vyacheslav Kozlov, he helped an obscure provincial Voskresensk gain international acclaim as a pool for hockey talent. He made a name for himself as one of three players from Voskresensk who went on to become Stanley Cup winners.

In 1999 at the age of 33, Kamensky was still on a forward rush, being signed on by the New York Rangers. The talented winger spent two seasons on Broadway before splitting his 2001-02 season with the Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils.

Following the 2001-02 season Valeri Kamensky left the NHL.

 

Statistics

USSR ChampionshipsRegular Season / Playoffs
SeasonTeamGPGAPtsPIM 
1982-83Khimik Voskresensk 50000
1983-84Khimik Voskresensk 202246
1984-85Khimik Voskresensk 45931224
1985-86CSKA Moscow 40159248
1986-87CSKA Moscow 371382116
1987-88CSKA Moscow 5126204640
1988-89CSKA Moscow 4018102830
1989-90CSKA Moscow 4519183738
1990-91CSKA Moscow 4620264666
2003-04Khimik Voskresensk 235101554
2004-05Khimik Voskresensk 5717183559
USSR Totals 409144124268341 
National Team
Totals 16481------- 
NHLRegular SeasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamGPGAPtsPIMGPGAPtsPIM
1991-92Quebec Nordiques 237142114----------
1992-93Quebec Nordiques 321522371460116
1993-94Quebec Nordiques 7628376542----------
1994-95Quebec Nordiques 401020302221010
1995-96Colorado Avalanche 81384785852210122228
1996-97Colorado Avalanche 6828386638178142216
1997-98Colorado Avalanche 7526406660723518
1998-99Colorado Avalanche 6514304428104594
1999-00New York Rangers 5813193224----------
2000-01New York Rangers 6514203436----------
2001-02Dallas Stars 243692----------
2001-02New Jersey Devils 3048121820000
NHL Totals 6372003015013836625356072
Swiss ChampionshipRegular SeasonPlayoffs
SeasonTeamGPGAPtsPIM
1994-95Ambri-Piotta 12136192
Swiss Champ. Totals 12136192