19-year-old Artem Duda, at a very young age, already has a number of prestigious international titles and even managed to play a significant period of matches for the main team of CSKA. It would seem that the most logical thing would be to further develop in one of the best clubs in Russia under the leadership of Sergei Fedorov, but for some reason the young talent decided to go to America, and to the student league. And this is under the current agreement with the army!

Strange choice

It so happened that CSKA found itself in the spotlight in connection with player contracts twice in a short period of time. First there was a scandalous situation with goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, and now 19-year-old Artem Duda is in history. The young guy has made rapid progress over the past few years. In the 2020/2021 season, he began performing at a professional level as part of the army youth team; in January 2022, he was already allowed to participate in the matches of the Zvezda farm club at the VHL level.

And then he made his debut in the KHL. Duda was entrusted with as many as 14 matches for the main team of CSKA, for which he managed to score three assists. At the same time, Artem collected medals from international tournaments. In 2020, as a member of the Russian junior team, he won the Youth Olympics in Lausanne. A year later, at the Junior World Championships, Duda won silver medals. Add to this a victory in the prestigious Hlinka/Gretzky Cup – and excellent career prospects emerge.

In addition, in 2022, Arizona selected Artem in the NHL draft in the second round, 36th overall. This is a fairly high assessment of a hockey player’s talent, so the chances of breaking into the main hockey league in the world were quite tangible. And in such situations, a talented player chooses a trip to the American student league NCAA, where there is a good level of hockey, but clearly lower than the VHL and even more so the KHL. Strange. Very strange.

Artyom Duda / Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV

Lost Year of Career and a Lesson for Others

But that’s not even the most important thing. Hockey players who have professional experience are not allowed to play in the NCAA. Artyom obviously has one, and the most serious one and the one that cannot be hidden. In addition, he has a current contract with CSKA until April 30, 2024. Agree, with such introductory information, running away to America is a dubious idea.

Nevertheless, Duda decided to move and went to the University of Maine, where he attended classes and trained with the team. However, the Russian could not get permission to play in official matches for the university. And apparently, in America, having studied his contract with CSKA, they made the final verdict – he cannot play for the team. The NCAA leadership rejected the hockey player’s request.

Thus, an objectively very promising Russian player risks being left without normal hockey for a whole year. And this is at 19 years old, when wasting time threatens disaster. Perhaps we do not know any personal reasons for such an escape to America and do not see the full picture.

Based on the available information, the hockey player’s action looks, to put it mildly, contradictory. In Russia, Artem could develop and then choose whether to build a career in his native country for many years or then try to go to the NHL, having experience in the KHL. And now it’s unclear what to do and how CSKA will receive him.