Ex-NHL goon now KHL coach punches out team doctor, may face charges

The team doctor for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL was reportedly hospitalized after being punched by the team’s coach.

Andrei Nazarov doesn’t punch people in the face for a living anymore. But that doesn’t mean he won’t still punch people in the face.

Nazarov, the former NHL goon who is now coach of the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg club, is alleged to have delivered a haymaker to the head of team doctor Yegor Kozlov on Tuesday. According to the Russian website Business Online, Kozlov has been hospitalized with a possible traumatic brain injury.

The two men were reportedly heard arguing before the alleged assault took place. The doctor is considering pressing charges.

Nazarov, a 6' 5", 230-pound winger who was drafted by the Sharks with the 10th pick in the 1992 draft, played parts of 12 seasons in the NHL with San Jose, the Lightning, the Flames, the Ducks, the Bruins, the Coyotes and the Wild. He scored 53 goals in 571 career games, but earned his keep by racking up a whopping 1,409 penalty minutes. He served 131 fighting majors along the way, including 31 during the 2001–02 season, which he split between Boston and Phoenix.

In other SKA news that just might be connected to Nazarov’s apparent lack of restraint, former Maple Leafs wing Nikolai Borschevski resigned as the team’s assistant coach.

(s/t to Igor Kleyner)