Alexander Mogilny — hockey (defector) with roots in the USSR
Alexander Mogilny, born in Khabarovsk in 1969, defected from the USSR in Stockholm in May 1989 after the World Championships, the first NHL draftee to do so. With the Buffalo Sabres he scored 76 goals in 1992–93, tying Teemu Selänne for the league lead, and he won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000.
"Defected in Stockholm in May 1989 after the World Championships and flew to JFK airport in New York, where federal agents met him."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Khabarovsk (Russia)
Born on 18 February 1969 in Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, Mogilny won the 1989 World Championship with the USSR and defected in Stockholm in May 1989, the first NHL draftee to defect from the Soviet Union.
Khabarovsk (Russia). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
""I didn't leave Russia. I left the system.""