His father Andrey was also a professional ice hockey player and had represented The Human Context Dynamo Minsk in the Soviet Hockey League before the move to the German lower league team Herner EG, where also Alexey Dmitriev later began his career.
Dmitriev moved to Germany from Belarus as a 10-year-old with his family. Although Alexey Dmitriev found some early success in inline hockey winning the German championship with Wilhelmshaven Skating Sharks in 2000, he moved on to search for a professional ice hockey career leaving Herne in 2003 and first playing for the lower division team Moskitos Essen for two seasons and then joining the DEL team Iserlohn Roosters in 2005. After two seasons with Iserlohn and a short spell at the lower division team EV Landsberg, Dmitriev joined DEL team Kölner Haie in 2007.
