ANAHEIM, CALIF.—We’re Canadians, we tell Bryz. He’s wearing black — a sort of cardigan, black shirt, black pants and shoes — and he’s pretty relaxed “Oh yeah,” he says. “You guys put sanctions against my country.” America, which also issued sanctions against Russia, is not mentioned. Eh, Bryz.

Ilya Bryzgalov was out of hockey, until he got pulled back in. In the fall he was in New Jersey with his family, taking kids to school, taking his son to hockey and his daughter to figure skating. He was Zen. He wasn’t sure if his career was over. He didn’t think about it much.

“You know, I never even asked myself that question, to be honest,” said Bryzgalov, before his Anaheim Ducks took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. “I was not worried about hockey at that time. If something come up good, I consider to look after, what is it, what kind of team, and if it’s not, I was in a great position too. I consider I have a pretty good career. If nothing comes up, I guess it’s time, you know?”

Zen. Bryz bounced around after Philadelphia bought out of the final seven years of that absurd, only-in-Philadelphia contract, which will pay him $126,000 (U.S.) twice a month until 2027, like one of those lifetime lotteries. Edmonton, Minnesota, whatever. It didn’t last.

And now, Anaheim. His first game was the one where the Leafs drilled the Ducks to cap off Toronto’s long-gone 10-1-1 run, when he entered the game in relief. His numbers aren’t very good yet.

But Bryz is not making headlines. Bryz is not talking about the parks in Winnipeg, or the size of the universe, though he may be contemplating it in his spare time. Bryz seems pretty cool about everything.

“I don’t regret about anything in my career,” says Bryzgalov, 34. “I was thankful for opportunity. I played at so many high levels, and so many years, and obviously we all made some mistakes, and when I look back, obviously if I had opportunity I might be done something differently, but I don’t regret. I was happy, and I have one more year right now with a beautiful organization, where my career was start. It’s a great opportunity again, one more year of hockey, and I’m excited.”

He’s always been a bit of a book of contradictions, but he’s at home here. Other places, he stood out too much, was too much of a scene. He was one of two Russian players who stopped to speak to English reporters in the mixed zone after Russia got hammered by Canada in the Vancouver Olympics, bless him, and that’s where he said they were like gorillas coming out of the cage. (“Bryz, what were you thinking, watching Canada score all those goals before you entered the game?” “What I think? I’m thinking, ‘uh-oh.’ ”)

And in Philadelphia, he spent HBO’s 24/7 talking about the universe, and how the solar system was so humungous big, and his on-camera exploration of the cosmos obscured the fact he was using it to point out that his problems were, in the grand scale of things, pretty small.

That’s where Bryz is now. “Exactly,” he says. “I read lots of articles about myself in the newspapers, journalists try to say, he felt bad, he’s got to come back. No, I feel great. I was enjoying my life.”

But he loves Anaheim, where he spent nearly seven years, got married, had a son, won a Cup. It’s his son’s favourite team. It’s his happy place. He could have gone to the KHL while he was in exile. He didn’t.

“In October, I don’t know — I didn’t feel like I was ready to go home,” says Bryzgalov. “You know, again, if I — I would love to go home. But it’s a difficult step because I’m gonna go, and my family is going to stay here, and it’s long flights, you know, to go back and forth to see them. Most of the decisions right now, it’s depending on the family. You know, I’m trying to do what’s best for my family.”

The only time he really gets exercised is in defence of Russia, actually, where the ruble is plummeting due to declining oil prices. Then, Bryz becomes the bear.

“I talk to friends, and yes, the ruble falls down,” says Bryzgalov. “About what’s going on in KHL, I don’t really know. But inside the country, it seems like everything’s fine. I talk to my friends, and they say, everything’s fine. It’s just bad in the newspapers. It’s gonna be inflation, but I hope it’s not going to be that bad. I hope it’s not going to hit middle, and just bellow middle-class peoples. But the rest of the stuff, why you heff to wonder what a dollar if worth if the prices for the food gonna be the same?”

(According to people in Russia, prices for food have in fact shot up, propelled by inflation. Still, carry on.)

“I feel very comfortable (in Russia),” Bryzgalov says. “I talk to most of the guys and they say, oh, there are lots of crimes, mafia, and my brother’s telling me — I say guys, you don’t know the country. There was nothing like that. It was a nice European country, like everything that you want, you can get. They have good schools. Obviously, like every country in the world, we have poor, middle class, rich. Do you have in Canada same thing? I don’t know, it’s like some kind of propaganda, told every time Russia is bad. It’s not really true, guys. I’m telling you as a guy who lives in that country. I spend every summer out there. If I say, how was it, when it was the mid-’90s and right now, there was not even comparable how much better it is right now than it was in that time.”

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OK, then. Still, he is Zen. He is cool. He is in California, living in some of the best weather in the universe. He grins, all peaceful like.

“It’s tough to complain,” he says. “I have nothing to complain. Life is beautiful. I’ve been so lucky in my life, and I appreciate it.”