Archie Sets A Record

It's been nineteen years since this man last skated in the NHL. Not surprisingly, it's been 29 years since he last wore a Winnipeg Jets uniform, but centerman Alexei Zhamnov is back in the news today for reaching a mark that no one else has. This has nothing to do with his scoring prowess on the ice where he notched 249 goals and 719 points in 807 NHL contests, but he is still working in hockey as a head coach over in the KHL! Since fans of the Jets always like a good story about one of their hockey heroes, Zhamnov's new mark should bring a smile to faces in the Manitoba capital. The man they called "Archie" is now in one team's history books over in Russia thanks to his work behind the bench! What did Alexei Zhamnov do today? I don't celebrate KHL stuff often, but let's find out!

Zhamnov was drafted in the fourth-round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft at 77th-overall by the Winnipeg Jets in the same draft where Keith Tkachuk was selected with the 19th selection. It should be noted that Martin Brodeur was taken immediately after Tkachuk while Vyacheslav Kozlov was taken 45th-overall by the Red Wings. The top of the draft was very solid with Nolan, Nedved, Primeau, Ricci, and Jagr going in the top-five picks, but the rest of the draft evened out very quickly as only a handful of stars emerged.

Zhamnov was drafted out of the Moscow Dynamo system in Russia where he had scored 11 goals and 17 points in 43 games with the Russian SuperLeague team. His numbers improved from there, and only Sergei Zubov and Peter Bondra scored more points as players taken after Zhamnov had been selected. He played for four teams as he wore uniforms for the Jets, Blackhawks, Flyers, and Bruins, and he retired in 2006 after injuries continually plagued his play.

After retiring, the Russian centerman went back home where he found work in the KHL as a GM with Vityaz Chekhov, Atlant Moscow Oblast, and Spartak Moscow. There was nothing particularly outstanding when it came to his time as the general manager of any of those teams, but he was the general manager when the Atlant Moscow Oblast team ceased its operations. He bounced to Spartak Moscow as their GM the following season, and he's done a little coaching when needed for that franchise as well.

Zhamnov embraced the role of coach in 2022 when he was named as the head coach of the Russian Olympic Team, beating out a number of more experienced candidates for the position. Some will point to his work with the athletes in PyeongChang including scouting and recommending players from the KHL. He was on the bench in South Korea as an assistant coach for that 2018 gold medal, and he added a silver medal as the head coach in Beijing after Russia fell to Finland.

Following his return from the Olympics and in preparation for the 2023-24 season, Zhamnov took over the head coaching duties for Spartak Moscow and hasn't looked back. Spartak went 40-20-4-4 under Zhamnov as they finished second in the Bobrov Division before falling in the second round to Metallurg Magnitogorsk in six games. Players like Nikolay Goldobin, Shane Prince, and Alexander Burmistrov helped to push the pace for Spartak, and they looked like they could be dangerous in the 2024-25 season.

Fast forward to this season, and Spartak is certainly holding their own as they lead the Bobrov Division by two points over perennial powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg with a game in-hand. Currently sitting with a 24-14-6-7 record, Goldobin is leading the team in scoring once again, but he's just ahead of former Flames forward Adam Ruzicka while Flyers' draft pick German Rubtsov is showing solid improvement. Spartak is fourth-overall in the KHL's West Division, but they trail second-place CSKA Moscow by one point.

In short, the 54 year-old Zhamnov has his team playing solid hockey as they're 4-1-2 over the last two weeks and looking to do more damage on Thursday against Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.

So what's this record he's set, you ask?

With their victory today over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Zhamnov recorded the 76th win behind the bench for Spartak Moscow, putting him atop the leaderboard for wins by any coach in Spartak history. For a team that has played in the KHL since 2008 for all but one season, that's a remarkably low number for coaching wins when one considers that this team is 17 years into its history. Why is it so low? Well, they've had 15 head coaches over that period including both Boris Mironov and German Titov, and have had three head coaches in the same season three times in their history! That's not good at all.

To give you an idea just how volatile the Spartak coaching position has been, Zhamnov is just the third head coach to make it through two full seasons behind the bench. The others were Latvia's Olegs Znaroks and Czechia's Milos Riha, making Zhamnov the first Russian to survive two winters as the head coach of Spartak Moscow. As the team moves forward, it's 76 wins and counting for Zhamnov so it doesn't appear he'll be going anywhere soon. But, of course, this is the KHL and things could change overnight.

In any case, I thought it was a cool little statistic to bring forth considering that Alexei Zhamnov was a fan favourite while he played in Winnipeg. Nicknamed "Archie" by his Jets teammates for his red hair, it seems that the playmaking Russian has become a solid coach in both the KHL and on the international circuit for Russia, and his accolades - including this new record - are evidence of that.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!