Andrei Yurievich Zyuzin (Russian: Андрей Юрьевич Зюзин; born January 21, 1978) is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames and Chicago Blackhawks.
As a youth, Zyuzin played in the 1992 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Druzhba-78 squad, a team from Kharkiv. Ukraine.[1] He was trained by Ukrainian coach Ivan Pravilov, who was arrested in 2012 for sexual abuse of a teenage student, and committed suicide by hanging in prison.[2][3][4]
Zyuzin was drafted 2nd overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft.[citation needed] Zyuzin has played 415 career NHL games, scoring 35 goals and 74 assists for 109 points.[citation needed] He was signed as an unrestricted free agent by the Calgary Flames on July 1, 2006. On February 4, 2007, in the Calgary Flames skill competition he had the hardest shot at 99.3 mph.[citation needed] Zyuzin scored one of the biggest goals in the history of the San Jose Sharks when he took a slapshot from the point to beat Ed Belfour and helped the Sharks take Game 4 in the 1997–1998 Western Conference quarterfinals against the Dallas Stars. Zyuzin scored the goal 6:31 into the overtime period and led the Sharks to a 1–0 win.[citation needed]
On June 22, 2007, Andrei Zyuzin was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks along with Steve Marr for defenceman Adrian Aucoin and the Blackhawks' seventh round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. After playing 32 games for the Blackhawks, Zyuzin left the NHL, signing with St. Petersburg SKA of the Kontinental Hockey League.[5]
Zyuzin played parts of three seasons for St. Petersburg, achieving 31 points with the team. After leaving St. Petersburg SKA and the KHL, he headed over to Austria and Switzerland, playing parts of the 2011-12 season in the Swiss National League A for EHC Biel[6] and playing in the Austrian Hockey League for Klagenfurt AC.[citation needed]
After ending his tenure in Austria and Switzerland, Zyuzin played the next two seasons with three different teams. He played 2 games in the 2012-13 VHL season for Rubin Tyumen and in the 2013-14 hockey season he played games for Bilyi Bars of the Ukrainian Hockey Championship[7] and 8 games for HK Vitebsk of the Belarusian Extraliga, going pointless with 12 penalty minutes.[citation needed]
Zyuzin began his coaching career in the 2015–16 KHL season as an assistant coach for Ufa Salavat Yulayev.[8] The team placed fourth in the Eastern Conference and advanced to the Gagarin Cup playoffs. The team was eliminated in the Conference Finals by Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 5 games. Zyuzin returned for the 2016-17 season, once again as an assistant coach for Ufa Salavat Yulayev, finishing sixth in the Eastern Conference with 88 points.[9] The team was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by AK Bars Kazan.
Andrei Zyuzin is married to his wife, Teresa, and has a son, Ivan, and a daughter, Ava. [10]