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Long before Messrs. Ovechkin and Semin appeared on the hockey landscape in Washington, the Capitals had another Russian Alex whose offensive prowess was supposed to lead the team to greatness. Needless to say, things didn't exactly work out as planned.

Taken fourth overall in the relatively talent-deficient 1996 Entry Draft, Alexandre Volchkov played in only three NHL games (the fewest of any top five pick since Ray Martyniuk was taken fifth by the Habs in 1970 but never made it to the NHL) thanks to an attitude and work ethic that would have made Alexandre Daigle blush. The Caps finally gave up on him in the middle of the 1999-2000 season, sending him west for a fourth round pick, and Volchkov finished that season with Edmonton's AHL affiliate in Hamilton before heading back to Europe at the end of the campaign.

After a couple of crappy seasons for crappy teams in crappy leagues, it would appear that Volchkov hung up the skates. Hockey-Reference.com lists 2000-01 as his last season of professional hockey, while Hockeydb.com lists him as having played 15 games two years later.

But sort of like Mark Twain before him, the reports of Volchkov's hockey death are greatly exaggerated. In fact, Alex hasn't been away from the game at all, according to Eurohockey.net. And where has he been playing? Mostly in Belarus (sounds like a heck of a league), though he played for three different teams in two different leagues this past season.

Why do I bring this up? Because I'm already suffering horribly from hockey withdrawal the 31-year-old Volchkov is on the move again, as he has signed a deal with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk (the team name translates to "Petrochemist," as if you didn't know), which is one of the clubs of the recently formed Continental Hockey League. Next season, Volchkov will be playing in an up-and-coming league that hopes to one day challenge the NHL in terms of talent... which is somewhat fitting, as talent has never been the question with Volchkov.