Sergei Zubov
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Sergei Zubov (born July 22, 1970, in Moscow, USSR) is a defenseman for the Dallas Stars of the NHL. He is considered one of the better offensive defensemen in the NHL today. He played in the NHL All-Star Game in 1998, 1999, and 2000. He has also won two Stanley Cups, one with the New York Rangers in 1994, and the other with Dallas in 1999. In 1992, Zubov won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, playing for the CIS.
Zubov was drafted in the fifth round of the NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. Prior to this, he played for the Red Army's hockey team, CSKA Moscow, in Russia. He continued to play for the Red Army until 1992, after the fall of the USSR. Although Sergei spent some of his rookie season with New York's AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Rangers, he played forty-nine games as a rookie for the Rangers, scoring 31 points, above-average for a defenseman. Zubov's high-scoring ways continued, as he scored 17 goals and earned 77 assists during the 1993-1994 season, and contributed 19 points to the Rangers' playoff campaign.
Zubov continued to play well for the Rangers, but on August 31, 1995, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins with Petr Nedved for Ulf Samuelsson and Luc Robitaille. Zubov only spent one season in Pittsburgh, as he was traded to the Dallas Stars on June 22, 1996 for Kevin Hatcher.
Although Zubov had never again reached the scoring heights of his early days with the Rangers, due to a combination of Dallas's more conservative system and decreased scoring in general, he has earned all three of his trips to the All-Star game with the Stars. Even if his scoring is less, it is still considerable, as he has never scored fewer than 40 points in a season since he was traded to Dallas.
As with many offensive defensemen, Zubov's attempts to score sometimes cause a scoring chance for the opposition. Another knock on Zubov is that his physical play is not considered to be up to snuff, and he can be physically dominated by bigger forwards. Despite these caveats, Zubov continues to play a key role for the Stars, logging many minutes and playing in important situations.
External links
- Sergei Zubov's statistics at tsn.ca (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/player_bio.asp?player_id=432&hubName=DAL)