The equal fight in the Gagarin Cup is not linked to a strict salary cap in the KHL, but to the departure of talented players from the league, the two-time Olympic champion said in a conversation with Boris Maireov .
After four matches in the first round of the Gagarin Cup in six series out of eight, draw: 2–2. The obvious leaders of the conferences – SKA, CSKA, Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev – could not get an advantage.
“It’s amazing to see how the league leaders are performing in the first round of playoffs,” Mayorov told . – After all, not only SKA has a draw in the series with Dynamo Minsk. CSKA, with the exception of the fourth game, does not shine either. Dynamo Moscow is tinkering with Torpedo, although Dynamo today cannot be said to be a very powerful team. And what is happening in the East! Ak Bars can’t beat Neftekhimik, the Ufa team is forced to catch up in the Admiral series.
– Have our clubs really improved so much thanks to the introduction of the salary cap?
– The ceiling has been introduced, but what is it for? If I had three rubles, then I live on them. And the other one had ten, it was reduced to nine. Of course, this is not very convenient. But at the same time, some KHL clubs are one step away from the 900 million cap, and there are those who spend just over 300 million on player salaries, that’s still too big a difference. The ceiling has played its part – wages have been equalized. But I don’t think he had a big impact on the playoffs, that’s different. We level teams in terms of skills. Well, where do we now have a stellar team that is head and shoulders above the rest? At one time such were SKA, CSKA, Metallurg, Ak Bars … But now they are not.
But why did this alignment happen?
– It’s not a question of money, but the fact that the level of hockey we have on average. Players who can be described as hockey stars are leaving our league.
On Thursday, in the fifth match of the first round of the Gagarin Cup, Salavat Yulaev and Admiral, Ak Bars and Neftekhimik, SKA and Minsk Dynamo, Lokomotiv and Vityaz will meet.
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
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
