Playing Career
Koltsov started out playing for Junactva Miensk in the Belarusian 1st division during the 1997–98 season, and moved to Russian Severstal Cherepovets for the next season. Due to his incredible speed and stick handling, he was often referred to as the "Russian Rocket II" due to his similar playing style to that of Russian great Pavel Bure.
He was drafted to the NHL in the 1999 entry draft as the Pittsburgh Penguins' first round pick, making him the 18th player overall in the draft. He played for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL in the 2002–03 season, and started playing full-time for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003–04 season, playing 82 games and scoring nine goals and twenty assists.
During the NHL lockout, Koltsov played for the Spartak Moscow hockey team.
The following season, Koltsov moved between Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh until January where he stayed in the NHL until the end of the season finishing with 3 goals and 6 assists. However, as a result of the Penguins not extending a qualifying offer, Koltsov became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2006. In August of that year he returned to Russia, signing a contract to play for Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Russian Super League.
During the 2007–08 RSL season, Koltsov would be a part of a Salavat Yulaev Ufa squad that would defeat Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to capture the RSL League Title. With the absorption of the RSL into the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) at the start of the 2008–09 season, Salavat Yulaev Ufa would become the last standing RSL champion.
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