Nikita Sokolov
Who would know Danil Gushchin better than his own father?
Danil’s dad Vadim, with assistance from Danil himself, walked us through family photo albums and shared 10 unexpected facts and pictures about his son.
Here’s what everybody knows: The top San Jose Sharks prospect was supposed to represent AHL affiliate Barracuda at the AHL All-Star Game on Sunday and Monday.
The Russian winger leads the San Jose Barracuda in points (37), goals (14), and assists (23), and he was, for a time, the Cuda’s lone All-Star representative.
But on Friday, it was announced that the 21-year-old forward would have to skip the All-Star showcase because of an upper-body injury suffered on Jan. 26 against the Calgary Wranglers. Instead, defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin will be the Cuda’s lone rep.
Still, Gushchin remains one of the most exciting San Jose Sharks prospects. We’ve seen his goals, assists, and even between-the-legs scoring attempts for the Cuda. We’ve seen his NHL games for the Sharks where he’s looked dangerous and has already recorded his first goal.
What most of us don’t know about the 2020 San Jose Sharks’ third-round pick is about his early years—in his native Yekaterinburg (Russia’s fourth-largest city), Moscow, and then a few seasons in the USHL and OHL.
Here’s what father spilled about son.
Fact #1: Gushchin has always liked playing goalie
Vadim Gushchin: At home, we’ve always had a hockey goal for Danil. He would ask everyone to shoot. Myself, grandpa, mom… everyone! Yes, he’s always been a forward but kept his goalie equipment at home. My friend’s son was a goaltender, and when he stopped playing, he gave Danya everything he had.
Fact #2: Gushchin started with figure skating
Vadim Gushchin: Danya is wearing a helmet with his name because the coaches didn’t know them by their names yet. He actually started from figure skating. At one point, his figure skating coach, Marina Simakova, took him to the hockey coach Alexandr Semyonov. Semyonov was hesitant because his whole team was one year older than Danil. Anyway, we started on the fourth line, then moved up to the third, and made progress little by little.
Fact #3: Gushchin went to 10 camps hosted by Pavel Datsyuk and Jay Woodcroft
Vadim Gushchin: That’s a photo from one of the camps in Yekaterinburg. Pavel Datsyuk is also from Yekaterinburg and used to host summer camps there. On the far left, you can see Jay Woodcroft who later became the head coach for the Oilers. Jay assisted Datsyuk in these camps. Other coaches were Todd Woodcroft, Jay’s brother, and Jeremy Clark who was a conditioning coach for the Los Angeles Kings.
Danil is wearing a different jersey here because he was picked as the best player. We would try to go to different training camps, including ones in the United States.
Fact #4: Vadim has never wanted Danil to get too comfortable
Vadim Gushchin: I’ve always tried to make sure that Danil doesn’t stay in his comfort zone for too long. We started playing in Yunost but then moved to another hockey academy in Yekaterinburg, called Spartakovets. You can see Danil wearing his Spartakovets jersey in the photo. His coaches there were Sergei Kachusov and Albert Fyodorov.
Danil Gushchin: Fyodorov is now 86 but still works at Spartakovets. When I played there, he would even go on the ice and show exercises himself. He’s [an athletic] man for sure. Plus, has a great sense of humor. It was a pleasure working with him. My dad is always in touch with him. And when I come to skate in Spartakovets in the summer, we always have a nice chat with Fyodorov.
Fact #5: Gushchin used to be a “one-foot skater”
Vadim Gushchin: One of his first tournament wins. Back then, we would also take individual classes with a speed skating coach. Danil skated and stopped using just one foot, his right foot. So we worked with the speed skating coach three times a week to fix that. I liked how she would give off-ice exercises first so he could later try them on the ice. It was a very systemic approach.
Fact #6: Gushchin happily woke up at 6 AM for practices
Vadim Gushchin: It was always easy with Danil. When I woke him up at 6 AM and asked if we were going to the practice or he wanted to keep sleeping, he would immediately get up with almost anger: “Let’s go!”
Fact #7: Gushchin started living by himself at 12
Vadim Gushchin: At some point, we wondered what’s next. We went on a tryout with Moscow Dynamo first. The team was coached by an ambitious coach Sergey Suyarkov. He said, “I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind taking him.” I asked if we could join next season, but he said that he didn’t know what next year would be like, so either now or never. So we just packed bags, and Danil got a room in the Dynamo academy in Moscow.
Danil Gushchin: Moscow and Yekaterinburg are a two-and-a-half-hour flight away. Dad would come visit me almost every weekend. But I wasn’t doing that well at studies… well, I was doing pretty badly, which is understandable: When you’re by yourself at this age you don’t think about studies. So my mom and two of my sisters moved to Moscow to be with me.
Fact #8: Gushchin helped the Red Army set a junior-level record
Vadim Gushchin: When Danil was 15, I talked to Alexander Levitsky who coached CSKA-2001 and wanted to become a three-time champion of Russia at their age level. Levitsky wanted Danil to help them do it. Danil didn’t really want to leave Dynamo and his first ten games for CSKA-2001 were pretty turbulent. But then he started winning his spot on the roster. Ultimately, they won their third title. Ironically, the team they won over in the final game was Dynamo-2001 where Danil previously played.
Fact #9: Gushchin always played for teams that were one year older
Vadim Gushchin: As a kid, Danil would get invited to play for the team that wasz one year older. It started from Yekaterinburg and continued in Moscow and even in the national team. He played for Team Russia for the players born in 2001, not 2002.
Fact #10: Gushchin moved to North America with zero ability to speak English
Vadim Gushchin: This pic is from the time he played for Muskegon in the USHL. Again, we kind of took him from his comfort zone. He was 16, not knowing English. And look at Danil now: He even gives interviews in English!
Danil Gushchin: Moving to America was a collective decision between me, dad, and my agent. My goal was to play in the NHL, so it made sense to try and go all the way up through junior and minor leagues here. At first, I really missed home. Would call home almost crying. I first stayed with our head coach at Muskegon. He would even cook for me.
The language barrier was especially hard. I didn’t know it at all. When I was in school, I thought: “Why do I even need English?”
In Muskegon, it was also the first time I saw a real fight. I’m not a fighter at all, but there were some rough situations, for sure. During my first year, I worn a mask, not a visor, so it was more or less safe. But in the next season, when I switched to a visor, we had a game on December 29. First shift, and the puck hits me in the face! I skate back to the bench and realized my tooth is about to fall off. And in the second period, someone hit me in my brow with an elbow. The brow started bleeding. I was like, “Okay, Happy New Year to me!”