Apr 2, 2026
Utica, NY – We were joined after practice last week by Comets’ defenseman, Dmitry Osipov.
Osipov was born and spent the first 16 years of his life in Moscow, Russia. As a kid, he enjoyed partaking in various outdoor activities such as soccer, volleyball, and of course, hockey, although he started skating later than most kids, he says, at the age of seven.
Dmitry was the first in his family to play hockey and he had a rather unique introduction to the sport. He was at school one day in first grade when a local hockey coach popped into his class and asked who was interested in playing hockey. Dmitry said virtually all the boys in the class raised their hands, himself included, yet he was the only one to show up to the first practice which did not take place on the ice but rather consisted of a variety of off-ice drills to test athletic ability.
Not only was Dmitry the first in the Osipov family to play hockey, but the first to play sports of any kind. His younger brother followed in his footsteps and played hockey for a few years but quickly grew tired of getting up for 6 AM practices and did not continue playing past a young age. Dmitry himself admitted that the hockey schedule was indeed rigorous, consisting of practices before school and then often a second practice or off-ice training session after school, which left just a little time for activities that most kids looked forward to like playing video games or meeting up with friends around the neighborhood.
As a kid, Osipov was a big New Jersey Devils fan. During the NHL lockout in 2005, he had the privilege of meeting Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur who happened to be at the rink in Russia that Dmitry played at when he was growing up. He was enamored with the Devils’ logo on the hat that Brodeur was wearing and gave him 10 Rubles in exchange for the hat which Brodeur also signed.
Nowadays, Dmitry is almost always one of the bigger guys on the ice, but that wasn’t always the case. He was one of the smallest kids in his class until the age of 12. He shot up in height to 6’4” but didn’t fill out until several years later. When he moved to Canada to play for the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League (WHL) at the age of 16, his first time traveling to North America, he was only 178 pounds which presented a noticeable challenge when going up against many of his stockier opponents in the league. As suggested by his agent, Osipov adopted a structured weight training regimen and added around 50 pounds of muscle by the time he was 22.
When Osipov arrived in Vancouver in 2013, his knowledge of the English language was sparse. The Giants had linked him up with a teacher from whom he learned the basics but says he picked up the rest from his teammates around the locker room and from his then-girlfriend and now wife who was practically fluent in English. As one can imagine, moving over 5,000 miles away from home was a big adjustment. For one, the 10-hour time difference made it difficult to connect with family. Dmitry also had to contend with learning a new language and assimilating into a completely different culture. Despite the challenges, he fell in love with the area and has made several trips back over the years.
Osipov played four full seasons in the WHL. He was forced to move during his last season after he was traded from the Vancouver Giants to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The following season, in the fall of 2017, he made his professional debut with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. He would spend the next four years within the Chicago Blackhawks organization, playing for their affiliates, the Rockford IceHogs (AHL) and Indy Fuel (ECHL). He played the majority of his first season in Indy, suiting up in 66 games with the Fuel and just eight with the IceHogs. “It was hard in the beginning. Coming out of juniors, you have dreams of going straight to the NHL and then going to the ECHL is a bit of a reality check, but that team (the Fuel) supported me through and through. The owner there is unbelievable, I still talk to him to this day. The coach I had was great. Slowly but surely, I got myself into the AHL and worked my way to becoming one of the staple defensemen there.”
By the 2021-22 season, Osipov had indeed become a regular in the AHL, dressing in 45 games that year for Rockford which had become home for him. He says he still visits the Chicago area every summer.
Osipov ventured to the West Coast the following season where he played 57 games as a member of the San Diego Gulls. Despite a struggling team and high gas prices, he joked, he loved living in San Diego where he was exposed to seemingly constant sunshine and the drastically different, laid-back culture of Southern California.
He landed in Pennsylvania with the Hershey Bears a year later, which he says has been the best stop of his journey so far. Osipov was somewhat in limbo until about a month prior to that season when he signed a professional tryout with the Bears in mid-September of 2023. He entered the season without any grand expectations, especially following a tough season with the Gulls the year before, but it turned out to be the grandest season of his career, culminating with a Calder Cup victory in June of 2024.
Osipov arrived in Utica last season in December of 2024. Comets fans have come to love Dmitry for his personality, his grit, and his overwhelming success against opponents in the occasional scrap. In speaking with him about the concept of fights, he said, “I just let it come naturally. I never force or chase it. My size helps me with that stuff, but I was never a fighter, especially as a kid. I was kind of a softie I’d say. I started to get more into it when I started playing in Canada. No one really taught me; it was just something I figured out as I went along.”
Dmitry and his wife have enjoyed the year and a half they’ve spent in Utica so far. They’ve been married for six years and have been together since the age of 16. They were introduced by a mutual friend two weeks before he shipped off to Vancouver where she eventually moved a year later, and the rest is history.
Osipov has a wide array of interests away from the rink. He confessed that he has always been a huge LEGO fan and still builds LEGO’s to this day. He also dabbles on the piano. Lastly, among what he shared, Dmitry has had a love for motorcycles since the age of 11. He still has one of his original bikes, a 1987 Dnepr 11, which sits at his family’s country home in Russia. While riding and fixing motorcycles remains a strong passion, it is something that has taken a back seat given his professional hockey career and more recently, the birth of his first son.
Osipov and the Comets are back home this Saturday, April 4th at 6 pm when they host the Belleville Senators on Country Night. Tickets are still available. For more information, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.