King of Russia

Until now no Canadian had penetrated the coaching ranks of Russian hockey, but the year after the NHL lockout, Dave King became head coach of the Metallurg Magnitogorsk. From the beginning, King, Canada's long-time national coach and former coach of both the Flames and Blue Jackets, realized he was in for an adventure. His first meeting with team officials in a Vienna hotel lobby included six fast-talking Russians and the "bag-man"--Assistant general manager Oleg Kuprianov, who always carried a little black bag full of U.S. one hundred dollar bills. The mission seemed simple enough: keep th...