Buffalo Sabre's Maxim Afinogenov and His Hockey Career

Maxim Afinogenov is a very well known Buffalo Sabres player, in fact, he is the player who has been on the team the longest. Maxim Afinogenov is not a name that you hear everyday, so you could imagine that he was not born in the United States. He was born in Moscow, Russia on September 4, 1979, making him twenty-nine years old. Afinogenov stands at 5 feet 11 inches and weighs 191 pounds, which is not very big for a pro hockey player, but it hasn't stopped him from being great.

Maxim Afinogenov started on his way to a pro hockey career in 1995. During the 1995-1996 hockey season, Maxim Afinogenov played with the HC Dynamo Moscow in the RSL (Russian Super League). This league has been known to produce many other pro hockey players, such as Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings, Vycheslav Kozlov of the Atlanta Thrashers, and many others. Maxim Afinogenov was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1997, 69th overall, but continued to play with the HC Dynamo Moscow in the RSL. Afinogenov remained with his RSL team until 1999.

For the 1999-2000 hockey season, Maxim Afinogenov moved to the United States to play for the Buffalo Sabres' affiliate AHL (American Hockey League) team, the Rochester Americans. Afinogenov didn't even spend an entire season in the AHL before being called up by the Buffalo Sabres to play in the NHL. Unlike many other rookie NHL players, he was never moved back down to his AHL team, and remained with the Buffalo Sabres until 2004. The very famous NHL lockout during the 2004-2005 season forced many players to look for alternative places to play and many of the foreign players had an advantage when this happened because they were able to go back to their home country and play in their league and that is what Afinogenov did. He spent the NHL lockout season with his old team, the HC Dynamo Moscow in the RSL. When the lockout ended, Maxim Afinogenov went back to his NHL team, the Sabres and they remain the only NHL team that he has ever played for.

In addition to playing in the NHL and RSL, Maxim Afinogenov represented his home country, Russia, in many hockey events. In 1998, he played for Russia in the World Junior Championship, in which the team took home a silver medal. In 1999, 2000, and 2008 Afinogenov played for Russia in the World Championship. He again played for Russia in the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which Russia walked away with the bronze medal. Maxim Afinogenov also played for Russia in the 2006 Winter Olympics. In 2004, he played for Russia in the World Cup of Hockey.

ref-www.nhl.com