Rus: Andrei Medvedev Review

Andrei Medvedev - Calgary Flames

Andrei Medvedev delivered an even, though unspectacular 2003-04 season.

First, the positives, which can be summarized as follows: weight and increased ice time. The young goaltender went on a diet early in the season and lost about 20 pounds, which he managed to keep off throughout the year. While this still has the young goalie weighing in at around a portly 220lb, it is still a far cry from the 245lb he weighed about a year and a half ago.

Medvedev also saw increased time with Spartak Moscow. The High League regular season generally consists of a number of two game series clubs play against each other. Andrei Medvedev and Oleg Glebov, Spartak’s other goalie, split almost every two game series right down the middle.

Now some bad news, which can be summarized as follows: weight, lack of sufficient development and lack of trust. While Medvedev did lose 20 pounds, he still needs to trim down some more to do the most with his talent. He also failed to take over the starting spot on his squad, which was open for the taking after he finished the 2002-03 campaign as the club’s starter, and that was in Russia’s top Super League, not in the secondary High League.

Furthermore, the club’s management chose Glebov as the club’s work horse for the playoffs, with Medvedev starting in just one of the 13 playoff games. It appears Medvedev’s development has begun to level off a bit, which is cause for concern since he has showed time and time again that he is capable of a lot more with his great poise, positioning and reflexes.

During the summer of 2004, Spartak Moscow released Glebov, but signed former Los Angeles Kings goaltending prospect Alexei Volkov as the club’s perennial starter, with Medvedev being once again left on the outside of the track looking in. A lot will ride on the young goalie’s ability to respond to yet another challenge, beating Volkov out of Spartak’s starting job and delivering a solid campaign in the Super League.

article courtesy Evgeny Belashchenko and RussianProspects.com