4 Tidbits From Slava Malamud You May Have Missed

Yesterday, Black & Blue & Gold published a fun, fluff post with 3 tidbits from the draft folks may have missed. Later that night, DC-based Russian hockey scribe (and unabashed Buffalo – Sabres and Bills – fan) Slava Malamud tossed a few choice tweets out there that had Sabres fans buzzing.

You may not follow Slava on Twitter, you may not read his Sports-Express pieces (they are in Russian, after all), or you may not have had time to sit down in front of the computer. In that case, here are 4 bon mots from Slava Malamud you may have missed!

1. Putting The Emphasis On The Right Syllable

@AaronTRW @musicallutheran @stephaniezd gree-gah-REN-ko—
Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) June 24, 2012

One to gladly tweet the proper pronunciation of various Russian players’ names, Slava did so again for some curious Sabres fans wondering how to correctly say “Grigorenko”.

BONUS: He also tossed out there the correct pronunciation of the Latvian Locomotive’s name.

@musicallutheran @aarontrw @stephaniezd ZEM-goos GEAR-gen-sons. The G is always pronounced as in "go", not as in "gin"—
Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) June 24, 2012

2. Hero Worship

Mikhail Girgorenko wants to know whether he can wear # 89 in Buffalo, in honor of his hometown hero Alex Mogilny #Sabres—
Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) June 24, 2012

In a nod to his hero (and fellow Khabarovsk native son), Grigorenko made it known to Slava that he’d like to wear Alexander Mogilny’s 89 for the Buffalo Sabres. Needless to say, the sentiment was warmly welcomed by the Sabres twitterati.

UPDATE: Fresh from the Sabres’ post-draft presser, Grigorenko had this to say:

Mikhail Grigorenko on potentially wearing #89 in Buffalo: "I don't think it would be nice to wear his (Mogilny) number."—
Kevin Snow (@kwsnow) June 25, 2012

Oh.

3. Tough Love

Grigorenko is a fan of Ruff. "He's a tough coach, but Roy wasn't soft either. If a coach doesn't demand a lot, he isn't good coach" #Sabres—
Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) June 24, 2012

Perhaps aware of the reputation Lindy Ruff has with Russian players, or maybe motivated by dropping 10 spots in the draft, Grigorenko offered praise for Ruff’s hard demeanor with just a hint of eager-to-please fire. Somewhere, Maxim Afinogenov and Dmitri Kalinin are laughing.

4. Get A Handle On It

#Sabres fans, Mikhail Grigorenko's Twitter handle is @MGriggy25. He does tweet in English.—
Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) June 25, 2012

Inquiring minds wanted to know, and now it’s confirmed that the Sabres’ newest star-in-waiting really is on Twitter. You can find Grigorenko, as well as Girgensons and other Sabres prospects, in the Black & Blue & Gold Prospects list.

UPDATE: Erm, or not. Turns out Grigorenko doesn’t have a Twitter at all. Oops.

Mikhail Grigorenko does NOT have a Twitter account. If you are following an account claiming to be him, it's a fake account.—
Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) June 25, 2012

You can read an excerpt of Slava’s interview with the 2012-2013 Sabres hopeful here (use Chrome’s built-in translator or Google Translate). You can find Slava on Twitter at @SlavaMalamud, where he tweets about Russian players, being a hockey dad, and the woes of being a Buffalo fan.