Alexei Yashin, the former Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders captain, owns a small stake in the Vegas Golden Knights and runs hockey master classes for children in Moscow. The Russian center told the KHL in April 2020 that he holds “a small part” of the Vegas franchise. He is still best remembered in Ottawa for the season he refused to play, and on Long Island for the buyout the New York Islanders paid off for eight years.
| Alexei Yashin: then and now | |
|---|---|
| Known for | 1998-99 Hart Trophy runner-up and the 1999-2000 holdout |
| Position | Center, shoots right |
| Born | 5 November 1973, Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Soviet Union |
| Drafted | 1992, first round, second overall, Ottawa Senators |
| NHL career | 12 seasons, 850 games, Ottawa and the NY Islanders |
| Last pro season | 2011-12, CSKA Moscow, KHL |
| Current role | Minority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, per Yashin in April 2020 |
| Other work | Master classes for young players in Moscow |
Where is Alexei Yashin now?
Alexei Yashin splits his working life between business and youth hockey, and he is based mostly in Russia. In the April 2020 interview with the KHL website, he described his week as business “to make money to live on” and charity work, including weekly master classes on Red Square and training sessions with the Russian Hockey Federation and the Sirius center in Sochi.
His link to the NHL is ownership. Yashin was among the minority investors ESPN named in November 2016, when the Golden Knights unveiled their name, and he said in 2020 that he follows the team despite the time difference between Moscow and Las Vegas. The channels for every Golden Knights game are in our guide to how to watch the Vegas Golden Knights.
Before that he tried management. Yashin was general manager of Russia’s women’s national team from 2012 to 2014, a spell that included a bronze medal at the 2013 Women’s World Championship, according to the Islanders’ alumni profile of November 2018. The same profile says he sat on the board of a consulting group advising KHL clubs and worked for CBC as an analyst at the 2018 Olympics.
Is Alexei Yashin still getting paid?
No. The Islanders’ last buyout payment to Alexei Yashin was made in 2015, after the 2014-15 season. The club bought out the remaining four years of his 10-year contract in June 2007, and under the rules of the time, the cost, $17.63 million per theScore, was spread over twice as many seasons. In 2010-11 the buyout carried a cap hit of $4.755 million, the highest on the Islanders roster that season.
The Islanders paid Yashin for eight seasons after his last game for them, three more than the five seasons he actually played on Long Island. For the first five of those eight seasons, he was also playing in Russia, where he appeared in 263 regular-season games for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, SKA St. Petersburg, and CSKA Moscow.
Why did Alexei Yashin leave the NHL?
Alexei Yashin left the NHL because the Islanders bought him out in June 2007 and no NHL club signed him. He went home to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for 2007-08 and played five more professional seasons in Russia before retiring after the 2011-12 KHL season with CSKA Moscow.
His Islanders years were not a failure on paper. He had 290 points in 346 games, captained the team from 2005 to 2007, and the Islanders reached the playoffs in four of his five seasons. The problem was the contract: a 10-year deal signed on 24 June 2001, the day after the trade.
Alexei Yashin’s career in numbers
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993-94 | Ottawa | NHL | 83 | 30 | 49 | 79 |
| 1994-95 | Ottawa | NHL | 47 | 21 | 23 | 44 |
| 1995-96 | Ottawa | NHL | 46 | 15 | 24 | 39 |
| 1996-97 | Ottawa | NHL | 82 | 35 | 40 | 75 |
| 1997-98 | Ottawa | NHL | 82 | 33 | 39 | 72 |
| 1998-99 | Ottawa | NHL | 82 | 44 | 50 | 94 |
| 1999-2000 | Did not play (holdout) | |||||
| 2000-01 | Ottawa | NHL | 82 | 40 | 48 | 88 |
| 2001-02 | NY Islanders | NHL | 78 | 32 | 43 | 75 |
| 2002-03 | NY Islanders | NHL | 81 | 26 | 39 | 65 |
| 2003-04 | NY Islanders | NHL | 47 | 15 | 19 | 34 |
| 2005-06 | NY Islanders | NHL | 82 | 28 | 38 | 66 |
| 2006-07 | NY Islanders | NHL | 58 | 18 | 32 | 50 |
| 2007-08 | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | Russia | 56 | 16 | 27 | 43 |
| 2008-09 | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | KHL | 56 | 21 | 26 | 47 |
| 2009-10 | SKA St. Petersburg | KHL | 56 | 18 | 46 | 64 |
| 2010-11 | SKA St. Petersburg | KHL | 52 | 15 | 18 | 33 |
| 2011-12 | CSKA Moscow | KHL | 43 | 9 | 11 | 20 |
| NHL total | 850 | 337 | 444 | 781 |
NHL figures are from Hockey-Reference. The 2004-05 NHL season was canceled because of the lockout. Yashin’s best year was 1998-99, when his 94 points made him the Hart Trophy runner-up. He also won Olympic silver with Russia in 1998 and bronze in 2002.
The Alexei Yashin holdout that cost him a season
After his 94-point season, Alexei Yashin refused to report to Ottawa for 1999-2000 and asked to renegotiate his contract. He believed he would be a free agent in July 2000. An arbitrator ruled against him and found that he still owed the Senators a year of service, as The Globe and Mail reported at the time.
Yashin returned for 2000-01, scored 88 points, and that season made him a trade candidate rather than a free agent.
The Alexei Yashin trade that built Ottawa
On 23 June 2001, the Senators traded Alexei Yashin to the Islanders for defenceman Zdeno Chara, forward Bill Muckalt and the second overall pick in the 2001 draft, which Ottawa used on Jason Spezza. Chara became a Norris Trophy winner and a Hall of Famer, and Spezza became a franchise center. The trade is still counted among the most lopsided of its era. Channels for every Senators game are in our guide to how to watch the Ottawa Senators.
Alexei Yashin and the Hall of Fame
Alexei Yashin is in the IIHF Hall of Fame, not the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. The IIHF lists him as a player inductee in its 2020 class. His international record includes a World Championship gold medal with Russia in 1993 and two Olympic medals.
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