Mozyakin, eSports and a first pre-season game

A big party in Magnitogorsk celebrates a KHL legend, hockey players show off their gaming skills and Admiral gets set for this summer’s first try-out game.Magnitogorsk pays tribute to MozyakinThe KHL’s all-time top scorer, Sergei Mozyakin, hung up his skates in 2021. This weekend, he got back on the ice one last time for his farewell game in Magnitogorsk. Mozyakin, 43, is now a coach with Metallurg and last season added a first off-ice Gagarin Cup to the two he won as a player. His big day began with the unveiling of his star on the Walk of Fame at the Metallurg Arena. Then his jersey was hoisted to the ceiling before an exhibition game featuring Metallurg and a “Friends of Mozyakin” select. Former team-mates, including Danis Zaripov, Evgeny Biryukov and Vasily Koshechkin joined in, alongside star names including Magnitogorsk native Evgeny Malkin, KHL president Alexei Morozov, Pavel Datsyuk and Vadim Shipachyov, the man closest to Mozyakin’s KHL records. The game finished 10-10, Mozyakin signed off with a hat-trick and one of Russia’s most fanatical hockey towns celebrated the career of one of Russia’s all-time greats.Pre-season starts MondayThe first pre-season game of 2024-2025 is set for Monday, July 29. Admiral is already in the Belarusian town of Rabichi for the first of its summer camps, and today Leonids Tambijevs’ team will take on Dynamo St. Petersburg of the VHL. However, since this game is scheduled before the Aug. 1 official return to action, Admiral’s team will feature only players on try-out contracts, with those involved hoping to secure a gig for the coming campaign.Dynamo signs a goalieHunter Miska is set to be Dynamo Moscow’s first-choice goalie for the 2024-2025 campaign. The 29-year-old American joins the Blue-and-Whites after two seasons in Germany with Straubing Tigers. During his time in the DEL, he had a GAA of 2.69 and stopped 90.1% of shots faced. He also represented the German club in the Champions Hockey League. Prior to that, Miska managed 6 NHL appearances but played the bulk of his North American career in the AHL. After Dynamo crashed out in the second round of the playoffs, questions were asked about Ilya Konovalov’s performance. He remains at the club to fight for his place, but understudy Konstantin Volkov departed for Kunlun Red Star.Jurco comes backSlovakian forward Tomas Jurco is back in the KHL, and back at Kunlun Red Star. Last season he arrived at Avangard partway through the campaign and contributed 21 (11+10) points in 33 games. That takes his KHL career tally to 59 points in 87 games. Of those, 25 (10+15) came in 2022-2023 when he previously played with Kunlun Red Star. He also featured for Barys in 2021-2022. Oddly enough, Jurco’s three previous KHL stints began partway through the season: this is set to be his first full year in the league.The Dragons added another import signing other weekend with the capture of Danny O’Regan. The 30-year-old is best known as a playmaking center and helped Team USA win U18 gold in 2012. Drafted by the Sharks, he made 30 NHL appearances but mostly featured in the AHL, where he had 304 points in 400 games. Last season he came to Europe for the first time and had 12 points through 34 games in Sweden with MoDo.Barys signs ButcherAmerican defenseman Will Butcher is on his way to Kazakhstan in a bid to spark new life into his career. The 29-year-old was a hot prospect in his early days, making the NHL All-Rookie team after a strong start with the Devils (44 points in 81 games in 2017-2018). That also brought a World Championship call-up and a bronze medal with Team USA in Denmark. However, Butcher was unable to match those figures – either for games or points – in his subsequent KHL seasons and was trade to Buffalo in 2021. He played the last two seasons in the AHL before deciding to look overseas in a bid to reinvigorate himself.Hockey stars show their eSports skillsThe KHL’s first eSports tournament – KHL STAR STRIKE 2024 – saw Anton Burdasov, Ivan Morozov and Igor Ozhiganov help team Body_Fat to victory in a Counter Strike 2 contest. The three hockey players were joined by renowned gamers Relaxcis and Recrent to sweep Shaibuuu in the tournament final. After the prizes were presented, the weekend competition ended with an exhibition battle between KHL players and cyber athletes. Morozov lined up alongside Vitaly Pinchuk, Valentin Pyanov, Ilya Reingardt and Andrei Belozyorov for a special game with hockey-themed tasks in each round.