Russian coach Vladimir Krikunov in a conversation with , he spoke about the farewell match of the captain of Ak Bars Danisa Zaripova and compared him to current KHL leaders.
On Friday, Zaripov will play the last game of his career, in which Ak Bars in Kazan will meet Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the regular season match of the KHL Fonbet Championship. Previously, the 41-year-old striker had won the Gagarin Cup five times in his career: three times with Ak Bars and twice with Metallurg.
“I remember how we invited Zaripov to the national team for the first time,” Krikunov recalled. – We put it in a link, it will play immediately. In another – and he immediately plays better. Danis is a generalist, he did not depend much on his partners, on the contrary, he made them more productive. Although in his career there were two of the most magnificent bundles – first with Morozov, then with Mozyakin. Because both are masters. They did it with Mozyaka, a Czech there (Jan Kovarzh – about “”), of course, he was just with them, he rose in this trio. But, I repeat, Zaripov and other partners could play very well – and give, and score, a master of all trades.
– Is it a pity that this generation of masters is leaving?
– Nothing, new ones will grow – there are a lot of boys. Zaripov also did not immediately become a star. When he was taken from Chelyabinsk, he didn’t really stand out. And then he left, he left. Well, a cool troika has been found in Ak Bars.
– Among modern KHL players, who can be compared to Zaripov?
“You don’t say it right away. CSKA has a strong team, but there are no stars of this level. Here in St. Petersburg … Khairullin can be compared to Zaripov. Marat seems barely visible on the ice, but he plays very usefully! A player of the same plan, only at the beginning of his journey. It also happened.
In the current KHL championship, Zaripov played 14 games, scoring 3 (0 + 3) points with a utility indicator of “-6”. In total, the hockey player played 816 games in the KHL and scored 685 points (292 goals + 393 assists), playing for Ak Bars and Metallurg.
Watch live broadcasts of KHL matches on the federal channel and thematic channels of the holding, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
Source : MatchTV

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