The NHL is the most prestigious hockey league in the world and only the strongest get to play there. Amongst those stars have been a number of Belarusian players

The NHL is the most prestigious hockey league in the world and only the strongest get to play there. Amongst those stars have been a number of Belarusian players.

Alexander Andrievsky became the first Belarusian in the NHL. He played in the 1992-1993 season with the Chicago Blackhawks team.

Oleg Mikulchik has played three seasons for the Winnipeg and Anaheim teams.

Vladimir Tsyplakov became the next Belarusian who conquered the NHL. He played five seasons with Los Angeles team and two with the Buffalo team, giving him 331 plays and 170 points under his belt.

The record of 917 plays by Belarusian hockey player, Ruslan Saley, has not been beaten. Saley spent 14 seasons in the league, playing for Anaheim, Florida, Colorado and Detroit.

Konstantin Koltsov played three seasons (144 matches) for the Pittsburgh team.

Another of our countryman, Andrey Kostitsyn, has also been in the NHL for a long time. He spent seven seasons with Montreal and Nashville. His record of 103 delivered pucks has not been beaten for a long time. However, another Belarusian hockey player — Mikhail Grabovski — who has played for Montreal, Toronto and is now playing for Washington could beat the shooter Kostitsyn and jump to the head of the sniper rating of Belarusians in the NHL.

Sergey Kostitsyn has followed the example of the elder brother and has, so far, spent six seasons (353 matches) in Montreal and Nashville.