No matter how early you get to the rink, Vladislav Kolyachonok always beats you there.
You wouldn’t know it by talking to the 23-year-old Belarusian defenseman for the Utah Hockey Club, but he’s among the hardest workers in the NHL. He’s very soft-spoken — if you can get him to speak at all.
Kolyachonok is appalled by the spotlight. When I told him I was going to write an article about how good he’s been, he initially declined.
But when it’s time to work, he’s not shy at all.
“He’s continuing to find out what he’s going to be,” said Ian Cole, the most seasoned defenseman on Utah’s roster. “He has all the tools. He’s a heck of an athlete. He can skate really well, he can make plays, he can shoot the puck, he can pass, he can take the puck down, he can rush it. He’s a really, really great hockey player.”
If Kolyachonok has one tool that stands out above the rest for Cole, it’s his work ethic.
Cole compared Kolyachonok’s habits to those of Sidney Crosby, whose over-the-top discipline has afforded him nearly every trophy he’s eligible to win.
Cole mentioned that a lot of coaches believe it takes 200 games to really see what a defenseman will become.
He believes that held true in his own career and he wonders if it might be the same for Kolyachonok, who just played his 58th NHL game.
Why doesn’t Vladislav Kolyachonok play more?
Utah head coach André Tourigny agrees that Kolyachonok works as hard as anyone, but said he needs to see a bit more from him to justify putting him in the lineup more consistently.
“He’s really hard-working,” Tourigny said. “But it’s not the quantity, it’s the quality. … The discussion we’ve had with him, it’s not to work (just) to work. It’s to have intention in every detail you’re doing and being really detailed on your actions during the play. It’s not just about working — it’s working smart.”
For that reason, Kolyachonok has only played 19 of the team’s 35 games this season.
But when Robert Bortuzzo went down with a lower-body injury, he stepped right up and has played six of the seven games since.
Kolyachonok scored a goal immediately upon returning to the lineup on Dec. 12 and has allowed just one goal against in this stint.
Those who have watched his current stretch of games would probably agree that he’s working smart, just as Tourigny mentioned. He’s never intimidated by forecheckers, his head is always on a swivel, he closes on puck carriers extremely well and he’s even mucked it up in front of the net a few times.
When asked if it’s scary to play against guys like Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, Kolyachonok laughed.
“No, it’s actually a good challenge when you see them on the ice,” he said. “You don’t want them to do (anything).”
You’ve got a friend in me
Kolyachonok is one of just four active Belarusian players in the NHL, but having grown up speaking both Belarusian and Russian, he appreciates having Russian defenseman Mikhail Sergachev on the team to show him the ropes.
“He gives me lots of advice, based on his experience, which is unreal,” Kolyachonok said. “(I’m) really excited to have him here and use him as a resource.”
Sergachev also appreciates having someone with whom he can speak his native language.
“It’s great to have someone speaking your own language,” he said. “Sometimes you can express yourself better in your language, so (having Kolyachonok around), I don’t always have to go to my wife and talk about things. I can go to him and unwind.”
From Sergachev’s perspective, Kolyachonok is starting to figure everything out.
“I think he’s settling into what he needs to do,” he said. “Obviously, he was the man in juniors — He was the number-one guy, and I’m pretty sure in the AHL he was the same. Here, it’s different. You have to earn that role, and it takes a while. He understands more (now) what he needs to do and it’s good. It helps us as a team.”
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