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| 1982 NHL DRAFT PICK |
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Victor Nechaev
Selected in
seventh round
No. 132 overall by Los Angeles Kings
Born
January 28, 1955
 | Position:
Center
Height: 6-1 Weight: 180
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| BEFORE THE DRAFT |
Last Team:
Leningrad Izhorets (USSR)
Birthplace:
Vostochnaya, Russia (USSR)
Hometown: Vostochnaya, Russia |
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| PRE-DRAFT
STATISTICS | | Year |
Team | League |
GP | G |
A | TP |
PIM | | 1973-74 |
Novosibirsk | USSR |
20 |
8 | 8 |
16 | -- | | 1974-75 |
Novosibirsk | USSR |
50 |
20 | 12 |
32 | -- | | 1975-76 |
Leningrad | USSR | 12 |
2 | 0 |
2 | -- | | 1976-77 |
Leningrad | USSR | 44 |
18 | 13 |
31 | -- | | 1977-78 |
Leningrad | USSR | 22 |
5 | 1 |
6 | 6 | | 1978-79 |
Leningrad | USSR | 28 |
4 | 4 |
8 | 12 | | 1979-80 |
Leningrad | USSR | 40 |
17 | 12 |
29 | -- | | 1980-81 |
HC Binokar | USSR | 20 |
10 | 7 |
17 | -- | | |
Izhorets | USSR |
20 | 16 |
7 | 23 |
-- |
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PRE-DRAFT AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous: Was eligible for the draft at age 27 because NHL had ruled
that all Europeans, regardless of age, would have to enter the league
through the entry draft rather than as unrestricted free agents. Unlike
other Soviets, Nechaev was immediately available to NHL teams because he was
already living in North America by draft day. ... Did not play during
1981-82 season because he was staying out of hockey while waiting for
permission to join his wife in North America. |
| NHL CAREER |
Debut: October 16, 1982 (Los Angeles at N.Y.
Islanders)
Numbers: 10 (Los Angeles)
Stanley Cup: Never won.
Playing Status:
Retired 1984 |
| CAREER NHL STATISTICS | | Years |
Teams | GP |
G | A |
TP | PIM | | 1982 |
Los Angeles | 3 |
1 | 0 |
1 | 0 |
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NHL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Historic Draft Moment:
Although Nechaev went on to play only three games in the NHL, Los Angeles' decision
to select him was one of the more dramatic moments in NHL Entry Draft
history. Nechaev, the first Los Angeles Kings draft pick from outside North
America, would make history during the 1982-83 season by becoming the first
Soviet-trained player to play in an NHL game. At that time it was still
virtually impossible to get players out of the Communist USSR, but Nechaev
would prove the lone exception of his era. Born in Siberia, Nechaev was not
one of the Soviet Union's top players and had not even played on the
national team. He was a 27-year-old, nine-year Soviet hockey veteran, who
had found his way out of the Iron Curtain by marrying an American graduate
student from Atlanta. Nechaev's wife, Cheryl Haigler, was a Yale graduate
student studying abroad in Leningrad in 1980 when she fell in love with
Nechaev, who was playing for the local hockey team. Still in the Soviet
Union, Haigler had married Nechaev within a month of meeting him, but her
visa expired shortly after the wedding and she was forced to return to the
United States, where she took a job at a Boston accounting firm. For the
next two years, Haigler worked through legal and political channels to get
Nechaev out of the USSR. She finally achieved her goal in April 1982. In an
ironic twist of fate, Nechaev's cousin, Serge Levin, was an aspiring TV
producer already living in Los Angeles when Nechaev reached Boston. Levin, a
former Soviet sportswriter, told the Kings about his cousin, suggesting he
might be able to play in the NHL. In fact, Levin was already on the road to
a career as a sports agent -- using his cousin as his first client. Levin
would go on to represent numerous Russian hockey stars, including Pavel Bure.
By 1982, he knew how to negotiate, and his sales pitch convinced the Kings
to take a gamble. The team flew Nechaev out to Los Angeles and watched him
skate at a rink in Culver City, Calif. He passed the audition, even though
he spoke no English and could only communicate with Kings general manager
George Maguire and head coach Don Perry through his cousin Levin. He told
the Kings he was sure he could compete at the NHL level once he got in
shape. Nechaev began his 1982-83 season with the Kings' AHL affiliate in New
Haven. He finally made his historic NHL debut in Los Angeles' Oct. 16, 1982,
game at N.Y. Islanders, and he also became the first Soviet-trained player
to score a goal when he achieved that feat during Los Angeles' Oct. 17,
1982, game at N.Y. Rangers. After the Kings' Oct. 20, 1982, game at New
Jersey, the Kings returned Nechaev to New Haven. Thinking he belonged
in the NHL, he refused to report back to the minors. On Oct. 22, 1982,
the Kings dropped Nechaev from their active roster, classifying him as an
unsigned draft choice. He later did return to New Haven and then played a few more games
with Saginaw (IHL) before bringing his North American career to an
abrupt end. He played one more season in West Germany before retiring. After Nechaev,
the league would have to wait seven more years for its next Soviet player,
Sergei Priakin, who arrived in 1989. |
| NON-NHL CAREER |
Post-Draft Teams:
New Haven (AHL); Saginaw (IHL); Dusseldorf (West Germany)
NON-NHL
AWARDS AND HONORS
Miscellaneous: Went to work with his cousin,
Serge Levin, as a player agent following his retirement and played key role
in bringing Pavel Bure to North America in 1991. |
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SNAPSHOT '82 | | Total Selected: |
252 | | Forwards: |
152 | | Defense: |
82 | | Goaltenders: |
18 | | Major Junior: |
129 | | Tier II/Jr. B: |
27/4 | | College Players: |
20 | | High School: |
37 |
| Canadian: |
152 |
| Euro-Canadian: |
3 | | USA Citizens: |
62 | | U.S.-Born: |
62 |
| European: |
35 |
| Reached NHL: |
109 |
| Stanley Cup: |
18 | | Hall of Fame: |
0 |
| All-Star Game: |
14 |
| Year-end All-Star: |
4 |
| Olympians: |
37 |
| Picks Traded: |
50 |
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