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Russian Buddha’: The legend of Anton Khudobin, the Stars’ lovable lifesaver

Saad Yousuf 4h ago

Riley Emmerson answered the phone late Monday evening. It had been a full day of work in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with more to come in the morning, but he didn’t hesitate whatsoever to carve out some time. When it comes to Anton Khudobin, he never does.

“Anything for Dobby, man,” Emmerson replied. “He’s a beauty.”

Over a decade has passed since Emmerson and Khudobin were teammates in the ECHL, with the now-defunct Texas Wildcatters in 2007-08 and then again with the Florida Everblades the following season. Those are just two of the 10 teams the 34-year-old has played for in his North American hockey career (min. three games) before landing with the Stars in 2018, stints ranging from the WHL, ECHL, AHL and NHL. That odyssey has culminated in the most unexpected of places: three wins away from the Stanley Cup, with Khudobin coming off the bench to star as the main protagonist of Dallas’ surprising playoff journey. As NBC announcer Doc Emrick put it midway through Saturday’s Game 1, “a magical run for a guy who worked 14 years to become an overnight sensation.”

The Athletic spoke to 22 former teammates or coaches of Khudobin throughout his tour of North American hockey as well as his mentor, 13-year NHL veteran Evgeni Nabokov. They describe a beloved teammate, a flamboyant dresser, the ultimate competitor in net and a player who never gave up on his NHL dream.

Here are their memories.


“A Russian Buddha”
Ernie Hartlieb, Florida Everblades teammate (2008-09): He was from Kazakhstan, which he would always correct us (about).

Adam Geric, Saskatoon Blades teammate (2005-06): When he first came over, his English was terrible, but he was a fantastic goalie.

Michael MacAngus, Saskatoon Blades teammate (2005-06): We had to find different ways of communication, but he was a confident guy.

Geric: That first year he came over to Canada was the year that the trapezoid came into play, and there was not a hope that he was going to figure that out. He probably had more penalty minutes that year than most of the guys on our team, just from playing the puck outside of the trapezoid, and he had no clue what was going on there. There was nobody that could explain it to him. We had one Czech guy on the team and he would try to translate it a little bit and try to tell him that he’s not allowed to play the puck outside that trapezoid but he could not figure it out. We just kind of realized that we’re taking that two-minute penalty every once in a while.

Tim Cook, Texas Wildcatters and Florida Everblades teammate (2007-09): He taught me five words in Russian. Two of them are clean (hello and thank you) and the other three are curse words.

Geric: His demeanor, even as a guy in Canada for the first time not being able to speak the language, was exactly as you see it these days.

Matt Bartkowski, Boston and Providence Bruins teammate (2010-13): When I first met him, I didn’t really know a lot of foreign players and stuff, especially Russians, so it came off as he was yelling all the time. I don’t know why, he just kind of yells when he talks — which, once you get to know him, it’s hilarious. But at first, I was like, “Oh, God, it’s just an angry Russian guy.”

Cook: He would throw out like a funny, really dry comment, and everybody would die laughing because it’s a guy that hasn’t spoken in 15 minutes, and then he said something really funny with a Russian accent.



MacAngus: While he was learning English, whenever he had a great game, he understood everything the coaches said. If there was a rough game with a little bit of criticism, it was, “I don’t understand.” He’s not the only European to do that, but he played it very well. You knew he knows what the coach is talking about.

Cook: He’s like a Russian Buddha in the corner, and then kind of says something really funny. He just did his job and let things come to him as they come, like a Russian Buddhist, you know?


“He was a character”
Geric: He couldn’t care less if you were an All-Star or the fourth-line grinder or 16 years old or 20 years old, everybody on the team was his friend. It was very honest, very sincere. He was just always happy to be there, always happy to be part of your team, always happy to be around all of the guys.

Luke Strand, Houston Aeros assistant coach (2007-09): He was always there. If the guys needed extra (shots), he stayed. If the guys wanted (to start) early, he did it. All along, though, personally, he was going about his own business, improving his own ways and mannerisms.

Cook: He seemed to be very close and friendly with the other goalie. He had that fine mix between extreme confidence but also being very humble. He wasn’t arrogant, he wasn’t cocky but he was very confident.

David Leggio, Florida Everblades goalie partner (2008-09): I felt really comfortable with him as a partner, and fortunately, the coach gave both of us plenty of chances to play, and we both were playing well. I thought he was one of the best partners I ever had. We just both fed off of each other’s energy, there was no negativity towards each other.

Cook: We had an emergency goalie in Texas, like a practice goalie. This guy was a super nice guy; he was from up in New York and then moved down to Texas and played some men’s league. He was an older guy, like 35, but a really nice guy. He was backing Anton up one time because the other goalie went up to the AHL or something like that, and Anton made sure that that guy got in for the last like three minutes. He was like, “No, I’m coming out,” to the coach. So, that guy got in and I remember being like, “What a super nice guy,” that Anton cared enough to really make it a point that, “No, he needs to get a chance because he’s been working hard for us the whole year, and (I) want him to get some shine, too.”

Hartlieb: He was just a positive guy in the locker room. If something was down, with him, it was going to work out. Everything was going to be fine. And you knew that if he was going to be in the net, we were going to get the best goaltending possible. He was just one of those guys that everybody loved being around.

Kirk MacDonald, Providence Bruins teammate (2010-12): Teams are willing to give people a chance that are good people. If he was a shitty teammate, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because he’d (be) gone and they would have found somebody else by now. But he’s not. Teammates like him so it’s easy to want to bring guys like that in. It helps your locker room.

Bryan Moore, San Diego Gulls teammate (2015-16): Me being a first-year guy, walking into the locker room, he came up and introduced himself to me right away. That goes a long way for guys being young and coming into the league.

Jamie Tardif, Providence and Boston Bruins teammate (2011-13): When Dobby was a backup with the (Boston) Bruins, I had gotten my chance, I got called up to Boston. We were on the road, and I remember Dobby, because we had played together the year before in Providence, he grabbed me. I was obviously nervous and everything. I had gotten my first call up ever to the NHL, and we’re on the road in Montreal. I remember we landed and got off the bus at the hotel, and Dobby said, “Hey Tards, you’re coming out to dinner with me. I’m taking you out to dinner, this is a congratulations” because it was my first call-up ever. He took me out for a beautiful steak dinner in Montreal. That was just the type of guy he was, even though we hadn’t seen each other or spoken to each other in five or six months.

Bartkowski: He kind of knows how to read a room. He’ll keep it light if we need to keep it light, say something to make everybody get serious if he needs to, but his personality is just awesome. The people that played with him, all you have to do is mention Dobby and they know exactly what you’re talking about and everybody just starts laughing out of nowhere, because it’s Dobby.

Nick Schultz, Minnesota Wild teammate (2009-11): He only played a couple of games for Minnesota that year and his goal against was under one and his save percentage was (.979 percent). I just remember we gave him that player of the game thing, and his speech afterwards was priceless. The gist of it was he was being silly and kind of like, “Oh, it was all me” kind of thing. Even though he was a rookie, first game, guys were laughing and stuff. He kind of had that joking around demeanor to him.

Tardif: He wasn’t the dressing room clown but the guy that everybody liked to be around. He was always making jokes. He kept things very loose in the room.

Geric: He was a character. He was just a unique guy.

Mike Sgarbossa, San Diego Gulls teammate (2015-16): He’ll never complain. He’s just a very solid teammate, someone that’s never about him. The story or the game is never about him, it’s always about the team and he’s always ready.


We’re talking about practice
Geric: I’ve never seen a goalie do this, but all he would do before practice, he’d go on the ice, just himself and a player’s stick, and he would line up in his crease and he would just take wrist shots over the far end glass. I swear, every single puck was over the far end glass. He probably had a better shot than most guys on the team.

Cam Fowler, Anaheim Ducks teammate (2015-16): He was funny in practice. He was competitive, for sure, but there would be times where you would come down to shoot on him, and he would do something weird or unorthodox to kind of screw you up a little bit. He would slide to one side of the net or go down on one knee or do something, but then he would still make the save. He was always keeping things light but while still being competitive in the net.

Riley Nash, Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins teammate (2013-15, 2016-18): It seemed like he knew where you were shooting before you knew, so that would definitely play mind games with all of the guys. Over the course of practice, guys would try and trick him or change their shot so it could fool him. It seemed like once or twice per practice, he would make like a ridiculous save.

Emmerson: During practice, when guys would be missing on him or shooting and he’d be saving, he’d always have like a funny remark or his little chuckle or laugh after the shots. I think he’s still doing it now where he would call the shot before you’d shoot it. He’d say it out loud, like I’d be coming, and he’d be like, “High glove!” and I would shoot high glove and be like, “Oh, you bugger.”

Geric: He’s never going to give up on a shot, he’s never going to give up on a rebound. Even in practice, all he wanted to do at the end was just keep going.

Emmerson: Some goalies are super serious and don’t smile. He’s one of those guys that between drills, he’s laughing, joking around and stuff like that. But when it was time to work, he was ready to go.



Cars, clothes and sushi
Hartlieb: He specifically knew everything about cars and clothing.

Cook: He did wear a lot of Gucci and velour. I remember he wore a velour tracksuit one time. It was my first introduction like, “Oh, OK, this is a different animal, like, the Russian hockey player.” The Gucci frames and Armani sunglasses or whatever it was. But listen, man, he pulled it off. He was so confident in his stuff, he really pulled it off. The velour tracksuit was like burgundy or something ridiculous. It wasn’t even black.

Hartlieb: I remember coming to practice, and down here it’s 95 degrees out, and he shows up with fur Ugg boots and shorts and a T-shirt. I just remember him walking in the locker room wearing fur Uggs. He was like, “Oh, what? You like my shoes?” I’m like, “Anton, it’s like 100 degrees outside,” and he’s like, “These are the best.”



Emmerson: He would sweat, too. Like, he would show up in shorts, and he’d be sweating.

Leggio: He would listen to the same song on repeat and sing along.

Nash: He loves his sushi. He doesn’t mind (going) out for lunch and running up the bill for sushi so I learned that pretty quickly with him. If you want to go for a decent lunch, go on your own. If you want to spend a decent amount of cash on a regular lunch, take Dobby for sushi. It was kind of my wake-up call to the NHL when that happened. I never knew eating sushi like that was even possible.

Hartlieb: We were playing Gwinnett (now Atlanta) Gladiators, (and) him and I would go to the mall because he loved going to the mall. He loved cars. He knew everything about every car, from Mercedes, BMWs, race cars, what kind of horsepower. And so we were walking around the mall one day, and we ran across this store that had remote controlled cars, like, all of the cars that he knew, like BMWs and stuff. You could actually rent time and race them in the mall on this little track and so he went through and went through all of the cars, he was picking up all of these little cars, and he was explaining to me what this car was and how much horsepower it had, this is the car that he wanted to get, and then he would go and rent time. He would be in the mall in Atlanta, racing cars all afternoon. I would leave and come back and he would still be racing them… He would ask, “When are we going back to Gwinnett to play the Gladiators?” because he wanted to go back to that store and race cars.



“The weirdest goalie”
Adrian Foster, Houston Aeros teammate (2007-08): He was small. Both of our goaltenders were probably 6-2, 6-3 or taller, and most goaltenders in the league were 6 feet at least. Anton’s listed at 5-11, and that was kind of generous.

Bartkowski: He’s old school in the way he plays. He’s out of the net a little more, kind of all over the place and unorthodox. It doesn’t always look pretty, but he always makes the save.

MacAngus: I thought he was the weirdest goalie that I’ve ever played against in practice. Everybody at the time was kind of a butterfly-style goalie, and quite often, he’d be like stand-up, unorthodox from what you normally see in the North American goalie, so it throws you off right away.

Evgeni Nabokov, mentor: He’s not doing the same thing all of the time. He’s reading the plays and sometimes he poke checks, sometimes he goes on one knee and makes the save. He’s very unpredictable, but everything comes from (the fact that) he’s a gamer. These days, a lot of goalies do a lot of things the same.

Moore: He’ll come out, and he’ll challenge you. He’s not afraid to get out there and go to the puck if he needs to. I think he’s very different because he’s all over the net, he’ll jump from one side of the net to the other, making unbelievable saves, from diving and catching pucks and taking them off the head.

Bartkowski: It’s entertaining to watch. It’s not like every other good goalie around the league that’s getting more awards, it’s just kind of like ho-hum; it’s pretty exciting watching Dobby.

Foster: Anton would throw whatever body parts he could find to make a stop.

Strand: For me, it was kind of like his personality in the crease. They match. I don’t know if there’s a technical term for the way he plays all the time except for he plays for his life.

Nabokov: I think his unpredictability is what makes him special in these playoffs.





The competitive flair
Hartlieb: With Anton, we were grateful that he was with us, but we knew we wouldn’t have him for a long time because he was such a good goaltender in the way he competed on the ice.

Nathan Gerbe, Carolina Hurricanes teammate (2013-15): On the ice, boy, he has fun, but he’s competitive. It doesn’t matter what situation it’s in, whether you think you have an easy goal or not, he’s competing. Until that puck crosses the line or he has the puck, he competes.

Emmerson: He would always try to make it a competition. He’d say, ‘You’re not going to score a goal on me, ever, Riley.’ And every time he’d make a save, he’d be like, ‘See, you’re not going to score.’

Geric: It didn’t matter if it was a warmup drill or a playoff game, he’s going to be the exact same and he’s doing whatever it takes to keep the puck out of the net. He’s never going to give up on a shot, he’s never going to give up on a rebound.

Strand: His excitement for everyone on his team is always so high. I think it’s transparent when you watch (last Monday) night how excited they were for him. Even though their club won, not often is a game-winner in overtime celebrated with half of the crew coming down to the goalie.

Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild teammate (2009-11): To me, what stands out the most is the battle level. He battles each and every puck and never gives up on a play. He’s not a big guy, as a goaltender, and it just fires you up as a player as well when you see your goalie battle the way he battles, and you want to battle in front of him and you want to give him everything you got as long as they do that.

Fowler: The one thing I love about goaltenders is when they battle and fight and you never give up on it until it’s over the line or covered and Dobby is one of those guys. You knew he was going to scratch and claw his way to do anything he could to make the save.

Cook: He never got rattled. If a goal went in, it’s like water off a duck’s back, which is so refreshing for a defenseman to know that he’s not going to crumble.

Emmerson: When we needed a big save or we were having a bad night as a team in front of him, he was there to pick up the slack. He was our lifeline.



“This is his chance”
Nabokov: He’s been telling me since his time in Boston that he’s ready to be a No. 1, that he wants to be a No. 1. He hopes that people will give him a chance. Some people will say those words, and they don’t mean it. The way it comes out from his mouth, it’s with a passion, it’s with a belief that he can be that guy.

MacDonald: There’s a lot of really, really good hockey players out there, and sometimes you just need that opportunity to be able to run with it.

Bartkowski: I don’t know that he’s ever gotten that great of an opportunity where (the) goalie’s been hurt at the right time and he kind of takes over the reins.

Leon Hayward, assistant coach Texas Wildcatters (2007-08): He’s played behind and played with some great goaltenders over the course of his career, so that’s tough.

Nash: Even though he wasn’t called upon for a lot of the big moments, he was always ready for them whenever his number was called.

MacDonald: Credit to him: He’s bounced around a little bit, gotten waived, ended up in the minors and persevered.

Geric: I’m so happy for him now because, honestly, this opportunity should have come years ago. The way he’s battled up and been in a lot of backup roles and things like that, to see him really take the spotlight now and shine and now go out to the Stanley Cup Final, he’s definitely earned it.

Hartlieb: You just knew that once he was given that opportunity, he was going to run with it.

Gerbe: Sometimes you just need the chance, and this is his chance. It’s not like he’s been a bad goalie everywhere he’s been. He’s been a good goalie, he’s just never gotten the chance to be in the net for a long period of time and be the No. 1. This is his chance, and he’s showing everyone that he can do it and have great fun with it, which makes it all more special.



“One of the best stories”
Nabokov: I think his passion for the game is huge. He has such a big heart for hockey. He’s so emotional all of the time about (it). … To me, it always strikes (me) how much he cares and how much he pushes himself.

Nash: He’s paid his dues. To see a guy like that, his personality and character never wavered and to finally get a moment where it’s his, and he’s grabbing it and running with it, I think it’s just awesome. I think it’s one of the best stories in the playoffs right now.

Tardif: I think everybody sees the Dobby story and what kind of person he is and all of these fun pictures that you’re starting to see online, that just goes to show that — I know goalies are weird, I’ve played with a lot of great goalies, as a person and as a goalie — but Dobby, for me, is one of the top characters and great overall teammates and not the typical goalie.

Strand: You kind of got to giggle because, in my opinion, he did what he always set out to do, maybe as the underdog. You couldn’t be happier for this guy who had the perseverance and now has arrived. It’s so neat to see him and that smile is still the same smile.

Koivu: Once you earn that respect from your teammates and you’re always being a good, classy guy around your teammates and around the game, I think overall, I’m just happy and feel good for him.

Nabokov: He’s probably the best example for all of the goalies not to give up and always believe in yourself. Not many guys can do that, not many guys can be patient. He had a chance probably to go back to Russia and make a lot of money, but he never really wanted it. He was always telling me that he wants to stay here and maybe he will get a chance to be a No. 1. That’s what makes him different from everybody else.

Cook: The fact that he’s just killing it right now is just so satisfying because he’s a genuinely good guy. He’s an awesome teammate — no arrogance, super nice to everybody. And so when people like that do well, it’s awesome. I hope he wins the Cup.
Riley Emmerson answered the phone late Monday evening. It had been a full day of work in Abbotsford, British Columbia, with more to come in the morning, but he didn’t hesitate whatsoever to carve out some time. When it comes to Anton Khudobin, he never does.