Dan Milstein remembers the humble beginnings of Artyom Levshunov’s American journey.
Levshunov had lost his father to COVID-19 and his family had been going through hard times financially before Milstein’s agency, Gold Star Sports Management, brought the teenager from Belarus with little grasp of English to the United States to start his long path to the NHL.
“So two years ago, a kid in shorts, flip-flops and a T-shirt, but nothing else in his name or in his luggage, showed up at my doorstep,” Milstein told the Tribune. “He was very soft-spoken — you couldn’t even hear him say (much) — and a year later this kid is going to college.”
The Michigan State defenseman has made a persuasive case on the ice to be the No. 2 pick, owned by the Chicago Blackhawks, in the NHL draft next week in Las Vegas.
Those who know him say the fact he hasn’t allowed personal tragedy to derail his NHL dream has been just as compelling.
“Arty has real perspectives,” Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale said. “Sometimes we talk about adversity in sports and it’s really not adversity. Like, we talk about the real things that happen in life, and Arty’s lived some of those.
“I can’t imagine losing my father and things were tight for his family and all those different things. I’ve talked to him about it, but he’s always got a positive spin on it.”
Said Nash Nienhuis, Levshunov’s defensive partner on the Spartans: “I think it just shaped his character. And for a kid to have gone through all that, and then just to see how he shows up every day, just willing to work and have fun and make light of most situations, he’s great.”
The Hawks have been taking a long look at Levshunov, as well as another of Milstein’s clients: KHL junior-league winger Ivan Demidov.
The Hawks courted both prospects this week during Milstein’s showcase in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a last chance to get to know them before the Hawks get to select one of them — or someone else — when they hand in their draft card Friday early in the first round at Sphere Las Vegas.
But they’ve been gathering intel on Levshunov for a while, those in his circle say. They talked to the Tribune about his remarkable rise.
“When he was 13 years old, we instantly knew he was a success and he was a future star player,” Milstein said.
Because he was playing in Belarus, somewhat sequestered (along with Russia) from the international community because of political tensions, Levshunov was an unknown.
“No one had ever seen him. There was no way to see him play,” Milstein said. “We knew the moment that we brought him, within minutes everybody’s going to be talking about it. And sure enough, we were right.”
After a camp Milstein put on for the USHL, Levshunov became the “instant talk of the scouting community as soon as he arrived here in North America.”
“I called Mike Leone, the head coach for Green Bay at the time … and I said, ‘Mike, I have the son that you never had,’” Milstein said. “I’m going to send you this kid and he’s extremely special. And you’re going to be bragging about him for as long as you’re in coaching. And he of course didn’t believe, but he called me shortly after the camp,”
Levshunov signed on with the Gamblers. He recorded 13 goals and 29 assists in 62 games, and the buzz continued to build.
There had been a question of what would be the next stage of Levshunov’s development: the CHL or somewhere else.
“We watched him from a distance” at Green Bay, said Michigan State coach Adam Nightingale, adding that he heavily recruits from the USHL. “But at that time, he wasn’t going to go to college, he was possibly going to go to the Canadian Hockey League.
“And then they had the ban on Russian and Belarusian players (first instituted in April 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, but still in effect). So we got a call probably right around this time last summer that Arty wants to go to school, and you’re on a list of five schools. And so we get to Zoom with him and show them what we’re about, and fortunately he decided he wanted to come to Michigan State.
“I like that about Arty too. He wanted to be part of really turning this place around, and he definitely has been.”
Before his first semester in Lansing, Levshunov took eight hours of English class daily for six weeks
“I can’t imagine if you drop me in Belarus and say, ‘Go to college,’ ” Nightingale said. “Like, what the heck? Just him diving into the team, diving into the community, he found a church in town on his own, a Russian church. He made a connection with a lady there who will pick him up and bring him there. Those are pretty uncommon things for kids his age.”
Nienhuis appreciates how Levshunov keeps the draft hype in perspective.
“He’s a pretty humble kid for all the noise around him,” Nienhuis said. “He doesn’t like to talk about where he’s listed in the draft as much (he’s NHL Central Scouting’s second-ranked North American skater), he’s just trying to get better every day. He never really talks about it, which I love. Because obviously, you know, that there could be guys in his position that don’t stop talking about it and almost kind of annoy you.”
That’s not to say Levshunov had it all together since he walked in the door.
He had to learn consistency and resist the temptation trying to hit the home run offensively.
“Early on, I thought his first few games, he was wanting every time he was on the ice (for something to happen),” Nightingale said. “That’s a good quality, but you don’t want to play immature, right? You’re trying to find the balance.”
Nienhuis saw him evolve.
“What I loved about him was his ability to take, not criticism, but take I guess you could say ‘guidance,’ ” Nienhuis said. “For instance, ‘I think you should do this here.’ And instead of him being like, ‘No, this is what I do,’ like, he’s very receptive to coaching and vice versa. I love it, too, when he would say, ‘Maybe do that.’ And that’s kind of how we built our relationship on the ice.”
By the end of the season, Levshunov was named Big Ten defensive player of the year and freshman of the year. Nightingale, the coach of the year, brought home the program’s first regular-season and conference tournament titles.
He remembered Levshunov had some standout performances.
“The play he made against Western Michigan, when we had the goalie pulled, and we were down in the NCAA Tournament, and then with about 30 seconds left, he grabbed the puck behind the net,” Nightingale said. “He’s an effortless skater and it looks like he’s not moving, but we all know on the bench that he’s moving and he beat three guys wide and passed it backdoor to Karsen Dorwart for the tying goal and we ended up winning in overtime.
“That’s the one (moment) that really you could tell like, that’s where he’s different. It’s like, you need a big-time player to make a big-time play at that point in that game, and he did.”
If Levshunov ends up making big plays for the Hawks one day, he wouldn’t be the first Michigan State defenseman to do so. That would be three-time champion Duncan Keith.
“On a daily, there’s pictures of Duncan with the Stanley Cup and with the Norris trophy and all those different things,” Nightingale said.
He sees some similarities to Keith’s situation that could play out for Levshunov if he lands in Chicago. The Hawks were early in a rebuild too.
“You had (Patrick) Kane and (Jonathan) Toews, and then you put Duncan in there. And (now) obviously, you’ve got Bedard there,” Nightingale said. “But you put a really good defensemen, it’s a similar formula.”
Nightingale said the Hawks have picked his brain about Levshunov.
“‘How does he take coaching?’ he was asked by the Hawks. “He takes it great, he wants to be coached. …
“All the teams I’ve talked with, that’s the feedback. He’s a really good kid and he wants to help the team be great. And that’s sometimes hard to find right with high-end guys. … It’s about them and their brand and their game. And (Levshunov) likes to be a part of a team and helping the team win, and I think that probably stood out to them.”
Milstein said he’s heard feedback that physically the 6-foot-2, 208-pound right-shot defenseman could stand up to the rigors of the NHL.
“We had advised him he needed to spend more time in the gym and add the strength and size and body, and he did just that,” he said.
But mentally, it’s a different story.
“Shortly after the draft, we would sit down with the team that selects him and then decide what’s best for Arty: to spend a year to finish another year of college and come out to the NHL in March or April, as soon as his season’s over in the NCAA, or come out and join the team right away,” Milstein said. “Also he’s AHL-eligible, so all of that is going to be decided and discussed.”
If Levshunov does find himself in a Hawks sweater, he’ll have a common spirit in Bedard, who’s notorious for wearing out the ice in practice.
In fact, Nienhuis said Levshunov would be on the ice right up to the minute he’s supposed to be in the gym for strength coach Will Morlock’s after-practice program.
“Let’s say it was (scheduled for) 12:30, and Arty would always stay out on the ice late working on stuff,” Nienhuis said. “He’s the last one to leave and so he would always show up maybe right on the dot, maybe a minute after, and it’s just funny to see him coming in, the whole team waiting for him.
“And he’s just got a smile on his face.”
