He remained with his Russian team until the 2008–09 season, when he moved to the American Hockey League, playing in Albany, New York.

In his third season in the AHL, he was called up to play for the Devils, initially for only one game in October 2010, to fill in for Ilya Kovalchuk.

[3] Vasyunov scored his first NHL goal on November 12, 2010, against Devan Dubnyk of the Edmonton Oilers.

A Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger aircraft carrying nearly his entire Lokomotiv team crashed on takeoff, just outside Yaroslavl, Russia.

[5] The team was traveling to Minsk to play their opening game of the season, with its coaching staff and prospects.