Gagarin Cup winner with Avangard and Olympic silver medalist in 2022, New Jersey Devils’ forward Arseny Gritsyuk spent his last two seasons with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Next season, he’s set to debut in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils after the franchise signed him to an entry-level contract in May. In an interview with Sport-Express, Gritsyuk spoke about his expectations for the world’s top league, how Evgenii Dadonov might help him adjust to life in the U.S., and the challenges of learning English.
** You can read the original interview in Gritsyuk’s native Russian on Sport-Express by Alexei Shevchenko here **
It was about time for Gritsyuk to sign with the Devils, after the franchise drafted him back in 2019. The forward admittedly was waiting for this to happen. “I’d been waiting for it for a long time,” Gritsyuk confirms. “I’m really eager to test myself in the league, especially in hockey terms — to see the level. Why don’t all players succeed there? Why didn’t it work out for someone like Vladimir Tkachev?”
Gritsyuk Looking Ready for His New Challenge
At 24, Gritsyuk is now very motivated to break in the NHL. “I’m at the age where it’s better to go now and try,” he admits. “And if it doesn’t work out — come back. But honestly, I’m not even thinking about coming back. I want to spend the whole year over there and give it everything I’ve got.”
SKA St. Petersburg went into a full rebuild this summer after a disappointing 2024-2025 campaign, where the contending team suffered from a first-round exit. The team is now shuffling its roster and hired former NHL great Igor Larionov as its head coach. This, however, had no impact on Gritsyuk. “We had a clear agreement — I’d play out my two-year contract with SKA, and then I’d head to the NHL. Roman Rotenberg didn’t interfere or pressure me. He knew I had this dream and this goal.”
Gritsyuk is yet to have conversations with New Jersey about what role the team sees for him, but has talked with the representatives. I’ve been in touch with one of their scouts, the guy responsible for prospect development,” he explains. “He’s been in regular contact. I think they want to see where I’m at, and from there it’s all up to me.” He also confirmed to feel confident about his move to the big league. “I think I’m ready.”
Last term, Gritsyuk had a career-high 44 points in the regular season with SKA across 49 regular-season games. “I think it was a stable season for me,” the forward said of his latest campaign. “Sure, I could’ve done better points-wise. You know how competitive the lineup was at SKA — not everyone could get consistent ice time, and there were stretches where that dipped. The power play didn’t click either. But by the end of the season, everything had stabilized. Everyone understood their roles. As for the team’s overall performance — yeah, it wasn’t the best. But from a personal standpoint, I made progress in a lot of areas.”
Dadonov Will Help, But the Language Barrier Remains
He’s now trying to get the first steps to adapt in his new world. “I’ve talked to the guys, Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Zaitsev, Yegor Chinakhov. It’ll be easier now that Evgenii Dadonov signed with the team,” he says. “He’s someone I know. At first, he’ll help me out a lot — with little things, especially since my English still isn’t that great.” He seems to have talked deeply with Chinakhov, who is now making the news in the NHL due to his trade rumors. We mostly discussed hockey stuff,” Gritsyuk explains. “In the KHL, you don’t touch the veterans — but in the NHL, no one cares. You have to earn your spot, and that’s it. You also have to make decisions faster on the ice. He gave me tips on technique and movement too. For example, I’m not great at handling the puck on my backhand. In practice, he always passes to my backhand side on purpose to help me work on it.
Most of the former KHL players who turned out very good in the NHL remained for a bit longer at home to further tune their game, such as Artemi Panarin and Kirill Kaprizov. “Maybe I could have waited a little bit more myself. But then it might’ve been too late. Better to go now, while I’m in my prime, and see what happens,” he firmly says.
Playing in North America comes with a huge challenge for many players from Russia, including the language barrier. Gritsyuk is trying to overcome it. “I used to take lessons twice a week, but lately I’ve been slacking a bit,” he explains. “I’ll get back on schedule now. I’m focusing on speaking. We don’t get into grammar too much — we just talk about real life. Then at the end of the lesson, we review a few rules and learn new words to help it all stick.” Gritsyuk is known at home for being a social guy, never scared of talking to the press. Russian NHL players like Kirill Marchenko and Andrei Kuzmenko gave interviews in English, even if it was broken — and fans appreciated it. “I’ll have a few weeks before the season. I think I’ll improve by then. My conversational English is okay, I know a lot of words. My problem is with all those little words — like is and are. I just don’t know where they go!”
Gritsyuk seems to be well informed about the Devils. “I watched the whole playoffs,” the forward says. “The games were late at night here, but I’d just had a couple minor surgeries and wasn’t sleeping much anyway. My surgeries weren’t hockey-related — just had my tonsils removed.”
Moreover, the forward has an out-clause in his contract, that will allow him to return to Russia if he doesn’t stick with the Devils full-time. “Yeah, there’s this clause,” he says. “If things don’t work out, I can go back.” However, he’s ready to be patient with playing in the American Hockey League, although not too much. “I’m ready to deal with that… but only for a little while. Two, maybe three months — no more.”
However, he has all the tools to make the team right away and post a good rookie season — that’s the most likely scenario at the moment.
