Gotta like their prospects

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/09/2011 (5462 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alexander Burmistrov is holding court with a small media group at the MTS IcePlex, his back flat against a wall like a man being questioned by a collection of KGB agents.

The 19-year old product of Kazan, Russia, is polite and personable, although apparently still a tad uncomfortable speaking in English.

Interestingly while Burmistrov is doing his thing, Carl Klingberg — the Jets’ highly touted Swedish prospect — is stationed behind the media and staring right at the Russian, silently copy-catting his answers through a wide grin that is short an incisor or two.

And when it is his turn to slip in front of the microphones, the first word out of his mouth is an enthusiastic ‘Awesome!’ in an interview in which he also used the terms ‘sick’ and ‘dude.’

Now, quite clearly this is a scene Klingberg would kill to see repeat itself over and over again this season because it would mean one thing: the 20-year-old had made the big-league club and, in the process, fulfilled a lifelong dream.

And just for the record, the lifelong dream would be to play in the NHL, not to mock Burmistrov.

“My goal is to take the jersey and play in the NHL from the start,” Klingberg said after his first on-ice workout in Winnipeg. “I’m going to fight like hell to make a spot on the Jets, but you never know what’s happening. It’s a new start for everyone. I’ll do what I do great and then see what happens. It’s stupid to focus on whether I’m going to make the team or not because it just takes energy from me.

“I’m just going to be myself and be a happy dude here and try and make the team. Hopefully, I do it.”

Yes, if enthusiasm and want-to count for anything — and it sure as heck can’t hurt — then Klingberg has a real shot at landing a regular gig with the Jets. He’s big at 6-foot-3, 205, but looks like he hasn’t finished filling out yet. And this ‘happy dude’ certainly isn’t lacking in confidence.

“I’m not the typical European player, I’m actually like a North American,” said Klingberg, who played one game with the Atlanta Thrashers and eight with the Chicago Wolves after coming over from Sweden at the end of last season. “I like to go straight to the net and take the puck with me. I like to stand in front of the net and hit hard and probably produce some points as well. Being a power forward with skill that can still score… I’m like an energy guy, not a fourth-liner that only fights and stuff, because I can actually score.”

Klingberg will attend the NHL Young Stars tournament in Penticton, B.C., from Sept. 11-15 with the rest of the Jet prospects before returning to the team’s main camp at the end of which, he hopes, he has opened enough eyes to stick.

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“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Everybody who lives in this city has the feeling I have,” he said. “I mean, everybody that I meet asks me what I’m doing here. I tell them I’m playing hockey, and they say, ‘Oh, with the Jets?’ When I say yeah, it’s ‘Oh sick, man. It’s going to be an awesome year for you.’ “

Burmistrov, meanwhile, has a different goal: he wants to become a much more productive and consistent player — he had six goals and 14 assists in 74 games with the Thrashers a year ago . And if he can take that next critical step, just as so many believe he is poised to do, some of the questions about where the Jets will find offence this year will be answered.

“I was drafted to score goals,” said Burmistrov. “I thought I would play better last year. I think it was an OK season last year so this season I’ll try to play better.

“I understand hockey now, NHL hockey. This season will be better for me, I think.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait