49 years Andrei Razin in five years he has become a cult person for Cherepovets hockey. With him, in the status of head coach, Severstal fought on equal terms in the first round against Dynamo Moscow and CSKA. Razin, in the role of general manager, also made high-profile, successful and profitable trades.
“I have already taken over my contract over the years,” Razin told a press conference.
On Thursday, Andrey Razin announced that he was leaving Severstal. Immediately afterwards, the columnist called the coach.
“The decision to leave has been ripe for a long time”
– I understand that everything went to this. But when was your decision made?
– For a long time, the president of the club asked me about this in the regular season. There were ten rounds to go, we didn’t even make the playoffs officially. Even then, I thought about it and nevertheless decided that I was leaving.
– It turns out that Severstal has reached its ceiling? Twice in a row – loss in the seventh game of the first round.
– It’s hard for me to talk about the ceiling. A new coach will come – maybe he will do better than me. How can I know? I cannot say the same about the limit of possibilities of Severstal.
It is a young and promising team. A lot of guys have made a lot of progress. Who knew before this season who Ruslan Abrosimov was? And he had a great season, became the leader of the team. Ilya Ivantsov made a leap in his career. The same Pavel Denisov – he is 21 years old, very young guys added this year. Makar Khabarov, from whom I expected such progress for a very long time. Too bad he broke his leg in the first playoff game. He would have helped us a lot in the series with CSKA.
– How did you guys say goodbye?
— Yesterday we went to a banquet after the playoffs. And I said to them all: “Thank you!” He thanked both for the season and for all the years of working together. I just worked with someone for five years – the same Daniil Vovchenko, Igor Geraskin, Khabarov or Yuri Viktorovich Trubachev. He was with me both as a hockey player and as a coach.
– Can Yury Trubachev replace you as head coach of Severstal?
– It’s not for me to decide, but for the club management and Trubatchev himself. I would gladly invite Yuri Viktorovich to my new coaching staff.
“There was a conversation about Minsk – and maybe there will be”
You said you weren’t going anywhere. And it is worrying. But there is demand for Razin in the KHL. How would you rate your current condition?
“To be honest, I’m very tired now. You yourself saw how many emotions came out after the last game against CSKA. I controlled them. But you know, two nights before the seventh game, I didn’t I haven’t slept at all. I woke up at five in the morning, and all my thoughts were on the game, on hockey. After that, I just fell off my feet. Today is the first day that my head started thinking again more or less.
I had anxiety in October-November, when I read and watched the news that Razin had run out. But now I understand that I have proven myself as a coach. Not as a blogger or locker room dictator. Everyone saw our tactics in the playoffs and everything.
I’m not worried about being unemployed. There is anxiety that you need to make the right decision, to take the right step. I really don’t want to be wrong. I have to enter a club where they will trust me, like Severstal. Of course, I had mistakes in Cherepovets, but they were tolerated. And, in the end, the result came.
Although if you look at my career, take even Ugra, where everything was completely sad – public interest always increased, where I came to work. It is very important for me.
– Are you upset that Avtomobilist closed a coaching position today, after agreeing with Nikolai Zavarukhin for another two years? You live in Yekaterinburg.
— Of course, I would like to work in Yekaterinburg. Another thing is that the current management fired me. Although that is history, and I don’t know what will happen next in a long coaching career. So let’s wait and see.
– Persistent rumors associated you with Dynamo Minsk. But is it true that you gave up this option?
– There was a conversation about Minsk – and maybe there will be more. But now there are no details. And my agent told me that there were other clubs that were considering me. They are not one or two. That’s why I say I have to make the right choice.
– When do you decide?
– As soon as possible. At the end of the championship, I had a conversation with a KHL club, they said through an agent: “Come to negotiations.” I replied that until we finish the playoffs, I cannot leave the team and go to another club to agree on something. Or maybe they’ll invite again tomorrow? I can’t make any predictions here.
“What if I pick up a gun and start shooting?”
– What do you think of the talk in the press that Razin has a complex character? Does it bother you?
– I see experts on the KHL TV channel saying: if Razin comes to a top club, then suddenly he will speak there? Something frank or outrageous to say?
It amuses me. What if I pull out a gun and start shooting? You can actually say that.
Yes, there have been mistakes in my career, I agree. Somehow I went too far. But to say that I will continue to do so? I learn from my mistakes. Once upon a time, I couldn’t read or write, but I knew it. Therefore, you should not talk about the fact that Razin will come and start screaming.
Take even the last press conference of the series with CSKA. I could say so much! The emotions were there! But I held them back. I said nothing more. So I think I’ve become a lot more experienced and more patient.
“How are you going to rest?”
– You won’t believe it, but my last thoughts were in the playoffs, when we played, and I even expressed in the coaching room: “When am I going to go to sea?!”
We were in Mexico, Cuba – I really want to go somewhere. Somewhere in May, but for now the children are studying.
– Do you have a premonition who will win the Gagarin Cup?
– Now we have gained a lot of strength in CSKA, and they play with Lokomotiv. If Yaroslavl quickly overtakes them… Well, Torpedo will definitely drink a lot of SKA blood… Now I think Lokomotiv will reach the Western final.
In the East too, the picture is disconcerting. Magnitka is generally unpredictable now. Ak Bars is the favorite, but if they fly to Vladivostok twice, it will be very difficult for them.
In general, my prediction is that I would always predict that Lokomotiv will win the Gagarin Cup. Moreover, they have never won it yet.
***
Watch live broadcasts of KHL matches on the federal channel , 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.
