WORCESTER—The thing with Railers forward Andrei Bakanov is translation.
He is Russian, but language is not the problem. Bakanov’s English is self-taught and excellent. What the Railers want to happen here, and what Bakanov is seeking, is to translate his undeniable potential into moving up the pro hockey ladder.
It has seemed to be a slow climb at times. However, Bakanov is young and there have been several detours along the way. At 21, he is the third-youngest player on the Railers roster behind fellow Russian Artyom Kulakov and goalie Tristan Lennox. Aside from that, Bakanov has spent most of his pro career as a fourth-liner, not a good recipe for an aspiring hockey player.
“I think he has all the tools to succeed,” Railers coach Jordan Smotherman said. “I don’t think he has been given an opportunity with proper coaching the last three or four years of his career. He was an 18- and 19-year-old kid in the KHL for two years playing three or four minutes a night, and I have to assume from what we’ve talked about, not getting much attention and not getting much development, not much help.”
Bakanov was born and raised a short drive from Moscow and his family moved there when he was in the first grade. As a teenager, he came to North America and spent the 2019-20 season with Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League.
Covid-19 restrictions sent him back to Russia for his next two seasons.
Making the move to North America as a teenager was probably a plus, not a minus.
“It was easier for me because I was young, so it went smoother,” he said. “The older you get the harder it is to adjust and a lot of people have a hard time with it. I don’t have a hard time with it.”
Learning the language was a crash course with Bakanov as his own professor.
“You get to a point,” he said, “where you get sick of using your hands to explain yourself. I put the extra effort in to memorize a few words and that’s where I was. Then I decided I had to pick it up pretty quickly and in four or five months I was able to talk my way through.”
Now that he is skating regular shifts, the Railers are counting on Bakanov being the same quick learner on the ice as he is off it.
“When we got him here last year he had been in Springfield, not playing,” Smotherman said, “and we saw at the end of last year that with some attention he became a very productive player offensively.
“He has some habits that he’s been allowed to get away with for a long time that do prevent him from finishing opportunities that we’re trying to beat out of him, for lack of a better term.”
A lot has changed since Bakanov’s first visit to North America. Covid happened. A war in Ukraine is happening. Things are complicated.
“That young man has a lot going on in his life away from the rink,” Smotherman said, “and for us sitting over here, we can’t imagine it or think about it. He has to worry about his family, his friends and all of that stuff and that goes for both of our young Russians. They’re not here just playing a game right now. They’re here worrying about families that are all the way across the ocean.”
Bakanov has not been back to Russia in a couple of years but keeps in touch with his family by phone daily. He is married and his wife Valeriia is also Russian and very athletic. Back home she was a professional belly dancer. They are together, living in Worcester, and spend the summers in Florida.
Travel is a complicated process that the Bakanovs are reluctant to deal with at the moment. Bakanov said he could go back home if he wished but is unsure of what would await him back on Russian soil.
“I prefer not to go back at this time,” he said. “It’s hard to predict what would happen.”
As for the hockey side of life, Bakanov said, “At this age you need to play as much as you can. When you play three to five minutes a game, that’s not really doing anything for you. It’s hard to produce, hard to show yourself, you lose all your confidence.”
Bakanov’s progress won’t be a perpetually upward line, Smotherman said.
“There will be really good games, really productive games,” he added. “There will be some steps backward, but he loves coming in here and asking questions, watching videos. He is very open to feedback, very responsive to it.
“We’ll take the little victories.”
Both the Railers and Bakanov are hoping that with regular ice time, there will be more of them as the season progresses.
Bill Ballou covered the Red Sox for the Worcester Telegram from 1997 through 2018. He has covered pro hockey in Worcester since 1994 and currently does a weekly column for the Worcester Red Sox. Ballou can be reached at vetgoalie@aol.com
