March | 2012 | Russkiy Hockey

Full name: Viktor Nikolaevich Kozlov
Team: CSKA Moscow (KHL)
Number: 38
Position: Center
Height: 6’4”/195 cm
Weight: 227 lbs/106 kg
Shoots: Right
Born: February 14, 1975 in Togliatti, RUS
Drafted: Selected by San Jose Sharks in 1st round (6th overall) of the 1993 Entry Draft

Strengths: Viktor Kozlov is a tall, versatile forward who can easily play in all three forward positions and log many minutes of ice time. Kozlov has great reach and is very skilled with the puck. He is a natural leader on and off the ice.

Weaknesses: In the NHL, Kozlov was a very streaky player. For his high skill level, he has not dominated as could be expected. Also, Kozlov does not always use his size well in physical battles.

Biography: Viktor Kozlov comes from Russia’s automotive capital, Togliatti, where hockey is the number one passion. So it was no surprise that the tall and lanky son of a crane operator made his way through the local hockey school and debuted for Togliatti’s team in the Soviet league, Lada, at the age of 16. At age 17, he moved to the capital to train with Moscow Dynamo. In Kozlov’s first full season with Dynamo in 1993, his team won the Russian championship. Kozlov played another year and a half in Moscow under coach Petr Vorobiev before making the move across the ocean to play for the NHL team that drafted him, the San Jose Sharks. A few days before leaving to San Jose, Kozlov broke his leg in a Dynamo game and took several months to heal before making his NHL debut. Being in a new country and not knowing English, Viktor lived with Sharks goalie Arturs Irbe. Kozlov reportedly finished the 1995 season with the Sharks’ farm club because of a joke he made that the Sharks’ humourless coach did not appreciate. Kozlov did not live up to full expectations playing for the Sharks, but became a real star and productive forward after being traded to the Florida Panthers in 1998. In Florida, Kozlov centered Pavel Bure. In two of their seasons playing together, Bure led the NHL in goal scoring. The two were also invited to play in the NHL All-Star Game in 2000. Kozlov remained a leader for the Panthers until being traded to New Jersey in 2004. That year, the NHL locked out its players, so Kozlov spent a year back in Russia playing for his hometown Lada. Back in the NHL, Viktor had three productive years from 2006 to 2009, first setting a career-high in goals playing for the New York Islanders, and then next season setting a career high in plus/minus playing for the Washington Capitals with fellow Russian stars Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, and Sergei Fedorov. In 2009, Kozlov signed a three-year contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa in Russia’s KHL. Kozlov remained productive, mostly centering Alexander Radulov. In 2011, the team won the KHL’s Gagarin Cup as playoff champions. In 2012, Kozlov joined the new Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team and was later traded to CSKA Moscow. Kozlov has represented Russia in many world championships and in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. He has a silver and a bronze medal from the European Junior Championship in the early 1990s and was part of the bronze medal-winning team in 2005 and the silver medal-winning team in 2010 at the World Championship.

Club Stats:

Season	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
1990-91	Lada-2 Togliatti (USSR-2)	2	2	0	2		0
1991-92	Lada Togliatti	3	0	0	0		0
1992-93	Dynamo Moscow	30	6	5	11		4
1993-94	Dynamo Moscow	42	16	9	25		14
1994-95	Dynamo Moscow	3	1	1	2		2
1994-95	Kansas City (IHL)	4	1	1	2		0
1994-95	San Jose	16	2	0	2	-5	2
1995-96	Kansas City (IHL)	15	4	7	11		12
1995-96	San Jose	62	6	13	19	-15	6
1996-97	San Jose	78	16	25	41	-16	40
1997-98	San Jose/Florida	64	17	13	30	-3	16
1998-99	Florida	65	16	35	51	+13	24
1999-00	Florida	80	17	53	70	+24	16
2000-01	Florida	51	14	23	37	-4	10
2001-02	Florida	50	9	18	27	-16	20
2002-03	Florida	74	22	34	56	-8	18
2003-04	Florida/New Jersey	59	13	20	33	-4	18
2004-05	Lada Togliatti	52	15	22	37		22
2005-06	New Jersey	69	12	13	25	0	+16
2006-07	N.Y. Islanders	81	25	26	51	+12	28
2007-08	Washington	81	16	38	54	+28	18
2008-09	Washington	67	13	28	41	-9	16
2009-10	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	48	10	18	28	+7	43
2010-11	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	48	17	15	32	+8	14
2011-12	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	36	10	16	26	-2	8
2012-13	Lokomotiv/CSKA	27	2	5	7	-2	14

Totals	RHL/KHL Reg. Season	278	77	91	168		121
Totals	RHL/KHL Playoffs	74	17	16	33		14
Totals	NHL Reg. Season	897	198	339	537	-3	248
Totals	NHL Playoffs	35	4	8	12	-6	10

National Team Stats:

Year	Tournament	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM
1991	European U18	6	3	3	6	2
1992	European U18	6	3	3	6	4
1993	World U20	7	2	1	3	2
1996	World Championship	8	0	3	3	0
1998	World Championship	6	4	5	9	0
2000	World Championship	6	1	3	4	2
2004	World Cup	4	1	0	1	0
2005	World Championship	9	0	1	1	0
2006	Olympic Games	8	2	3	5	2
2010	Olympic Games	4	1	0	1	0
2010	World Championship	9	1	2	3	2

Totals	U18 Level	12	6	6	12	6
Totals	U20 Level	7	2	1	3	2
Totals	Senior Level	54	10	17	27	6