Varlamov is back in Yaroslavl
Avalanche goaltender would sign a contract with his former team on Tuesday evening.In spite of the previous reports Semyon Varlamov will play for Lokomotiv Yaroslav hockey club of the KHL during the lockout. Few days ago, Lokomotiv announced that is not going to sign any NHL player. Varlamov is going back to the team where he spent his whole pre-NHL career since he was 11. Former Varlamov´s teammate from the Washington Capitals Alexander Semin will maybe join Lokomotiv too. For now, still nothing is confirmed.
Varlamov almost came back to Lokomotiv one year ago. He was finally traded from Washington to Colorado Avalanche for two draft picks. Just few weeks later the plane with the entire Lokomotiv team (except Finnish goalie coach) crashed. Only one person from the plane crew has survived tone of the biggest disasters in the sports history. Former Avalanche players Karlis Skrastins and Ruslan Salei were amongst the victims. We could say the Caps-Avs trade has saved Varlamov´s life.
Russian goalie spent in the capital city of the USA three seasons. He did not reach 30 starts in neither of them. His first season in Colorado brought mostly solid performances except the little problems around the Christmas time. Varly was in the net for the 53 games and won 26. His backup is still Jean-Sebastien Giguere who is his mentor too. The co-operation between young and a veteran worked perfectly.
Varlamov became the national hero after the triumph of Russia at the latest World Championship. We informed you about the celebrations in this article. Varlamov will be number one goalie for Lokomotiv while former Avalanche member Vitalij Kolesnik is a backup. Team has also third goalie, Curtis Sanford with the NHL experience, who is currently injured.
Where will play other Avalanche player during the lockout?
David Puchovsky, Slovakia, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
18/09/2012 - 18:13
