Pavel Valentenko



Position: Defenceman
Shoots: Left
Height: 6' 2"
Weight: 202
Born: 20 Oct '87
Born in: Moscow, Russian Federation (former_USSR)
Drafted: Montréal's 5th round choice, 139th overall, in 2006
Acquired: Montréal's 5th round choice, 139th overall, in 2006
Location: Hamilton (AHL)

Did anyone see him in training camp? Was he any good?

I will be interested to see as to how he develops down in Hamilton

This guy will be gold. Give him a few months to adapt to North American hockey and I swear he'll be in the NHL. He's a beast - very solid on his skates, mean, and he can move the puck well. I love him to death.

Not much was said about him. I do not think he played much in the pre-season either. From what I have read the plan from the get go was to get Valentenko over to North America so that he can play/adjust to the North American game. That is best served if he plays in Hamilton. he will also have to learn english and adjust to the North American culture. Quite a big adjustment.

Our best defensive prospect, IMO. He'll be miles ahead of O'Byrne after he adapts.

I could see O'Byrne and Valentenko paired together some day. a pairing like Markov and Komisarek. A year in Hamilton will be good for him, plus it seems he has become friends with Sergei Kostistyn who can help with the language barrier.

he filled in against the Islanders in Moncton. Played a good game. IMO he is like Markov in how he reads the plays. Took a hit and got back up smiling.

In one year, he should be ready to compete at training camp for a roster spot.

I hope so..I really like this kid.

has anyone seen how hes been doing in hamilton?

any word on the progress of Valentnko?

He is progressing somewhat the same as O'Byrne did last year with the Bulldogs

So far he has 1 assist in 14 games played and 18 PIMs.

Everyone need not be concerned as Valentenko played tonight after being hit with a puck in the head (which cracked apparantly cracked his helmet) in the Syracruse game last night.

He looked horrible about a week ago when I went to see him. He was the weakest player on the team that night. Maybe he's just adjusting to the North American style.

I think he gets caught running around his own end looking for hits...something Komi was guilty of early in his career. He's got a canon from the point though...so, if he adjusts in his own end as well as Komi has....he's gonna be another big man on D for years to come.

Excellent point. Anyone who watched Komisarek early in his career knows that he has come a long way to become the player he is today. Great defensemen always take longer to develop than forwards. Valentenko is a project that will continue to evolve over the next few years. Let's be patient, because the rewards could be tremendous for the CH.

Much like Lahti Pavel has been adjusting to the smaller ice surface in North America.

Before last night's game he tallied 3 of his 7 points in two games and a +6 (third best on the Team behind Milroy and Locke).

Not bad for his rookie season.

Just give the kid some time

Pavel tallied another 2 pts in the game against Houston tonight.

He is on fire right now having tallied 10 of his 13 points in his last 16 games.

I always thought he'd be good, just a matter of getting used to the ice, that's all. I don't expect him to be this offensive later on in the NHL but i'm just glad he's been doing well defensively

He seems to have more offensive upside than O'Byrne or Emelin, which is a welcome sign. Valentenko-O'Byrne could be the 2011 iteration of Markov-Komisarek.

Stop, you're making me too optimistic

Don't be mistaken by his recent offensive explosion. Valentenko is another Mike Komisarek. I follow his career since Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk-2 and he's as tough as a nail but never put up so much points. While it obviously a good thing, I wouldn't ever compare him to Markov.

And yes, Valentenko is a bit more gifted than Emelin offensively (defensively and physically too, but that's another story). O'Byrne is still better than Valty on this side of the coin however.

I'd rather see Valentenko as a third pairing defensive D in place of Francis Bouillon next year or the following whereas O'Byrne would be on the second line and Komisarek on the first.

Three tanks and three more offensive D would be very nice.

I remember when, at midseason, Valentenko was voted the biggest disappointment on RDS, I was shaking my head asking myself : what did they expect ?

11 points in 35 games so far is incredible even for I who followed him rather closely

As of me he's first in line for promotion in Hamilton, way before Mathieu Carle who's offensive play is better overall but struggled this year at this level of play. Carle's defensive play is very very limited.

Well he has a canon of a shot. He palys with a shorter stick than most players and early in the season he was not getting his shots on net from the point. Now he is and Lever is using him well on the power play.

Well you and I will have to disagree about Carle on this one. Though Mathieu's offensive production has dropped off the last few games he has 3 goals and 10 assists in 26 games. That's pretty good for his rookie season.

As for being limited defensively Mathieu is +5 (2nd best on the team) compared to Pavel's +3 this year.

Both are having good rookie seasons.

Nice article on Valentenko's Slap shot

Aeros unable to handle Valentenko's lasers

http://thespec.com/article/312584

Valentenko doesn't have any goals so far this season...I was just wondering if that is normal for him? His 11 assists, including 4 in the last 3 games, are nice...but a goal or two would be better!

Its very normal. He is a defensively minded defenseman. Big-time. It is his eleven assists that aren't normal. If my memory serves me well, he scored 3 goals in all his career in Russia and 2 in 6 games in the World Junior Championship last year being named Best D on the Russian Squad... in front of Emelin.

2 goals in 6 games in the WJC shows what kind of guy he is. A clutch one, to be sure. But still, not a goal scorer of any kind.

Thanks. Before a player enters the Montreal system, I really don't know that much about them. It's only after they are drafted that they get on my radar and I follow their progress as well as I can. I'm supposed to be catching a few games in Hamilton this year, as I do every year, so hopefully I can see him play in person.

not to take anything away from valentenko but emelin wasn't on that team. he played the year before and then was on the world championship team. they did not play in the world juniors together as far as i know.

I don't know how he doesn't have any goals. The guy has one of the hardest shots on the team.

Valentenko has really improved of late, his shot is deadly and of course his size helps out.

Great article from today's Hamilton Spectator......might help explain his slow start, he certainly seems to have turned it up a notch lately.

Enjoy,

Rookie finds a new game

GARRY MCKAY
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
(Jan 25, 2008)
There were times earlier this year when Pavel Valentenko felt lonely and at times confused.

The 20-year-old came to the Hamilton Bulldogs this season able to speak and understand very little English. In other words, he had trouble understanding and communicating with his coaches and teammates while trying to learn a style of hockey that was vastly different from anything he'd played before. And he was doing it a long, long way away from his friends and family in Moscow.

"The first few months were very hard but it's getting easier and I don't miss home as much. It's also getting easier understanding the language," said Valentenko who is rarely without his Russian/English dictionary. He and Bulldogs teammate Mikhail Grabovski are also taking private tutoring in English at Archer College. "I also watch TV and read and spend a lot of time on the Internet."

Valentenko conducted the interview with The Spec through interpreter Sofia Teleguina although he probably answered a quarter of the questions in English even before she had a chance to translate them into Russian.

When he was junior age, Valentenko's agent suggested he consider coming over to play in the Canadian Hockey League as more and more Russian players are doing. Valentenko said he opted instead to play in the Russian Super League for Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik because he thought playing against older players would better help his development.

It may have done that but Valentenko admits that it has taken him a while this season to get used to the Canadian style of play.

"Russian hockey and Canadian hockey are very different," he says. "Over there, there is no fighting, there is pretty much no hitting, no physical contact and the ice is much bigger.

"Ever since I was a little kid I've liked the Canadian style and I enjoy playing on the smaller ice."

Valentenko is known as a big hitter but Bulldogs coaches Don Lever and Ron Wilson said early on in Hamilton he would take himself out of position just trying to make a big hit.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pounder also has a cannon of a shot from the point and the Dogs are even taking advantage of it now on the power play. In their recent road trip to Texas, he had four assists in two games on blasts from the point.

"His game is a lot more under control now," said Wilson. "He's got that big slapshot but early on he never hit the net. He's taken a little bit off it now to get it on net.

"The biggest thing with him early on was when he made a mistake he seemed to quit. He'd make a mistake or a bad pass and he'd feel sorry for himself. Now when he makes a mistake, he knows he has to work hard to get back and not give up."

Wilson said there's no question Valentenko has potential.

"He's got an NHL shot for sure and he's big and can play physical," he said. "For a 20-year-old, he's got a big up side."

Valentenko says he grew up in Moscow as a Montreal Canadiens fan and admitted he was excited and almost cried that summer day back in 2006 when his agent called to say the Habs had drafted him.

His goal, like every other member of the Bulldogs, is to get that call up to play for Montreal.

But that, of course, will bring other challenges, like learning to speak French.

"First I will learn English and then I will learn French," he says with a laugh.

They also had his profile:
Pavel Valentenko

Number: 25.

Position: Defence.

Born: Oct. 20, 1987, Moscow, Russia.

Height: 6-foot-2.

Weight: 202.

Drafted: By Montreal in the fifth round, 139th overall in 2006.

Nickname: Pav.

Stats this year: GP-36. G-A-Pts 0-11-11. PIMs-31.

Favourite player growing up: Darius Kasparaitis.

Favourite team growing up: Montreal Canadiens.

Favourite food: Borscht.

Favourite restaurant: The Keg.

Favourite artist: Enrique Iglesias.

Favourite video games: Tennis and golf.

Favourite movie: A Night At The Roxbury.

Other sports he plays: Tennis.

How he likes to spend a day off: Just resting.

Awesome! A hard-nosed defender who loved the Canadiens!

I don't think it's unrealistic for him to have been a Canadiens fan (probably not hard-core like us), because the Soviet team "tried" to play against the Canadiens in 1975, they probably aired the game over there.

Sweet, that means the chances of him staying with us are good

It just shows you how much European players have to adjust to a different culture, language, lifestyle, way of doing things. We have no conception of this here, we're spoiled. I wonder how Canadian players at age 20 would fare going overseas to a place where everything was different and they didn't speak the language. Methinks they would take a few years to develop, just like the European players do here.

Ewwww, enrique iglesias

Gotta try borscht now tho Is it any good?

3 words.......cold beet soup........nuff said

This definitely was the case with A Kostitsyn....after a weak start (nearly two years worth) he really blossomed here in Hamilton (and in Montreal) only after he became comfortable with English and the culture.....his brother and Grabovski seemed to take more quickly to the new culture/language

A little off topic here but Sergei played two years in London so he adjusted to the North American game and culture before showing up in the AHL.

saw valen play in wpg against the moose last friday night and WOW!!!! is this guy calm,smooth and skilled!!!! it will not be long until he is with the big club. I'll bet he will be in line for a spot next year. I'm tellin ya this guy has it all!!!!!

I hope so because Streit/Bouillon/Dandenault are not cutting it on defence right now (Streit is great up front).

I hope Valentenko becomes the next Volchenkov.

It just might happen. However, he has more seeds from Komisarek than from Volchenkov (Hit more than Volchenkov, block fewer shots than Komisarek) but that's just nitpicking.

Thie guy is my favourite D prospect. I jumped when the Habs drafted him back in the days I was on my trip to Russia. I hope he'll be a Hab sooner than later but I have no doubt he will be.

Very glad to see Valentenko doing well. It'll be interesting to see him develop in the next two years. D-men typically take longer to mature than forwards, but I wonder if he has an outside chance at snagging a roster spot with the CH next season?

I think it will depend on this year's personnel movement...

Our depth at D could very quickly switch to a lack given the right (or wrong) moves.

Very true. Brisebois will almost certainly be gone next year. Dandenault could be dealt at the trade deadline. That still leaves Markov, Komisarek, Hamrlik, Bouillon, Gorges, and O'Byrne. So it looks like unlikely that Valentenko will stick next year. On the other hand, O'Byrne wasn't projected to make the team this year, and yet he stuck with the club until he broke this thumb. I think at the very least, having Valentenko at next year's training camp with a year of AHL experience under his belt will push O'Byrne to elevate his own game, which should benefit us.

don't count on boullion making the team next year, aside from his hitting, he has been awful for the canadiens this year. out of position, coughs the puck up and sometimes looks like he doesn't know what defense is about.