Ilya Bryzgalov: If I hadn’t gone to America at 21, I would never be what I am now

Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov explained why other players should try themselves in America, spoke about the difficulties he has encountered in the NHL, and how he almost ended up at the KHL’s Avangard Omsk in the summer of 2005.

«If I hadn’t gone to America at 21, I would never become what I am now. You have to understand: the difference between how they the work with the players in the NHL and in the KHL is enormous. There you compete with the world’s best players and if you have the potential you grow to become a big one yourself. If you have the potential and you feel the strength inside of you, you’d better go there. If you don’t have it or you are not quite sure, you’d better stay at home and go with the flow.»

«Of course, sometimes I had to live through hard times, when I wanted to abandon it all and go back home. But there were people who dissuaded me. First of all, it was my wife. «Look,» she said. «You spent three years wading through all that. Rough it for a little more time. If you fail to succeed next season, we’ll go back.» Thus, I always gave myself a little more time, one more chance – and eventually succeeded in everything.

«When I was in the AHL, I had a salary of $75,000. Financially it was quite challenging. Earning seventy-five, you live a completely different way of life. But for a young man it’s not the most important thing. Everything depends on the person – what goals he has, what are his ambitions. Some arrive, try it for a year, and the go like: «Oh, why should I suffer here? I have the KHL, it would give me more dough and all the stuff». Well, good riddance! Nobody will ever know what kind of a hockey player you were. But you could wait a little bit – and maybe become a great player earning $8 million a year. It all depends on you. But some sell all these sporting goals for money.»

«However, in the summer of 2005, I could end up at Avangard. I had spent four seasons in the AHL and had one more year left on my contract in America, but I explained myself to the Anaheim management and we came to the conclusion that we should perhaps part our ways. They didn’t mind, when I signed a contract with Omsk. But in just a couple of weeks, the management at Anaheim changed. The new GM said: «I don’t care what happened before me. I want to see this player in training camp.» I came, trained in the camp, and finally started playing in the NHL», Bryzgalov said in an interview with PROsport.