DONETSK, Ukraine, May 27 (R-Sport) - The grandson of legendary Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak is looking to go where his illustrious relative never did - the NHL, he told R-Sport on Monday.
Tretiak starred for the Soviet Union throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, winning three Olympic gold medals and particular acclaim for his starring roles in the Summit Series against Canada in 1972 and three Super Series against NHL teams.
The Soviet government stopped him going to North America when the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens drafted him in 1983, but now his 17-year-old grandson Maxim is dreaming of a move to the world’s strongest league.
“Which player doesn’t want to go to the NHL, am I right?” Maxim Tretiak said. “It would be stupid if I said that I don’t want to go there at some point.”
Maxim was picked as top goaltender and No. 12 overall in the KHL draft Sunday and said he has his sights set on success with his new team CSKA Moscow.
“The levels of the KHL and the NHL are now slowly getting more equal and it’s prestigious to play in either of those leagues,” he said. “Yes, I want to go to the NHL, but only in the far future. I don’t think that several seasons in Russia will mess things up for me.”
Maxim will have to wait until next year to reach the minimum age of 18 to be eligible for the NHL draft.
“I still have to get in there first,” he said with a smile when asked about the NHL draft. “That’s why I’m not even thinking about it yet. First I have to have a good season with CSKA, put everything I have into it and help the team as much as I can, and only then think about drafts and all the rest.”
His illustrious grandfather plays less of a role in Maxim’s career than one might expect, and has never even seen the youngster play a game. Instead, often in the stands is Maxim's father Dmitry, a dentist with no hockey-playing experience.
Going through Russian youth hockey with the surname of one of the country’s greatest heroes is “definitely not easy” because many assume he is trading on the Tretiak brand. “A lot of people think I get everywhere by using influence, and I just have to try not to listen to these people,” Maxim said.
As for his grandfather, Maxim suggested he could be more hindrance than help to a developing player.
“Sometimes you hear: ‘Well done, you played well,’ and then granddad comes over and you understand that, how should I say this, there are no bounds to perfection,” he said.
Vladislav Tretiak’s influence is not completely absent though.
“It didn’t work out for me somehow as a skater. I spent too much time running after the puck, but in goal it worked out immediately,” Maxim said. “It’s probably the genes.”
