Ever since he was a young boy, Alexander Radulov wanted to play hockey. He grew up watching his father play for his hometown club team, and learned how to skate when he was 3 years old; he even remembers how one day he got a new pair of skates and was so happy he went to bed still wearing them. But simply playing local hockey wasn’t going to be enough for him; he was dreaming much, much bigger.
From his early years, right through his teenage years when he first began to play competitive hockey, Radulov recalls waiting expectantly for the weekly NHL highlight show that used to air in Russia.