Growing up in the Soviet Union, Mogilny was recruited at a young age to join CSKA Moscow, commonly referred to as the "Red Army Team". The Red Army Team was the powerhouse hockey team of the Soviet league and was able to pull off a long run of dominance. During that time, the CSKA organization was a functioning division of the Soviet Army. Taking advantage of the fact that all able-bodied Soviet males had to serve in the military, it was able to draft the best young hockey players in the Soviet Union onto the team. With such an overlap between the two teams, the Red Army hockey team often supplied the nucleus of the Soviet national team.\n', '

In 1986, Mogilny was made a full-time player of CSKA Moscow. He finished his first year with 15 goals and 16 points in 28 games. At only 17 years old, Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov were the youngest members on the team. Still, team officials anticipated that the duo, along with the looming arrival of Pavel Bure, would succeed the top line of Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov. Mogilny\'s first major appearance for the Soviet Union on the international stage was at the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He finished the tournament with 3 goals and 2 assists in 6 games. However, his team was ejected from the tournament during its last game as a result of the brawl between the Soviet Union players and Team Canada known as the "Punch-up in Piestany". The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) suspended all the players involved in that game from competing in international events for 18 months. The penalty was eventually reduced to six months, which allowed Mogilny to compete in the 1988 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. He finished the tournament with 9 goals and 18 points in 7 games en route to a silver medal finish and winning the Top Forward award. He also played with the senior team at the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he won a gold medal as the team\'s youngest player. The next year, at the 1989 World Junior Championships, he served as team captain and was a part of the commanding Bure-Fedorov-Mogilny line which led their team to a gold medal. Mogilny finished that tournament with 7 goals and 12 points in 7 games. He went on to win his first World Championships when the Soviet Union won the 1989 World Ice Hockey Championships. Despite his success with the Soviet National team, and his growing importance on CSKA Moscow, Mogilny yearned for a life in the NHL and decided to join the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL team that had drafted him 89th overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. He boarded a plane in Stockholm at the conclusion of the 1989 World Championships and defected to North America \n', '

Prior to the start of his rookie season, Mogilny was given the number 89 by team management in recognition of both the year he arrived and his place in the draft. He subsequently wore #89 for his entire playing career.\n', '

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