Dmitri Kalinin
Dmitri Kalinin was born in Chelyabinsk, USSR, and began his career playing for the Chelyabinsk Traktor in the Russian League. He was drafted in 1998, 18th overall, by the Buffalo Sabres and made his way to play with the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL in 1998-1999. Kalinin spent most of that year with Moncton, but also played for the AHL’s Rochester Americans for three games. He spent the majority of 1999-2000 with the Americans in the AHL, but was called up to the Sabres for 4 NHL games. Kalinin impressed and became a fixture on the Sabres, starting in the 2000-2001 NHL season. He put together 22 points in 79 games that year and became an impressive rushing defenseman at the NHL level. Kalinin has played with the Sabres ever since, enjoying his best offensive season in 2003-2004 with 34 points in 77 regular season games. He headed to play for a team in Russia during the lockout year but returned to the Sabres immediately after, picking up right where he left off. Kalinin was impressive in the 2007 NHL playoffs, especially, as he scored 5 points in 16 playoff games and played with lots of heart. He is a reliable defender that usually is paired with Teppo Numminen. Kalinin often leads the Sabres in plus/minus stats and thinks the game very well. He can suffer injuries and setbacks, contributing to a drop in potential production, but he is a very smart player. Kalinin has good size and he knows how to use it, loving to throw big body checks all over the ice.
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