Monday “Torpedo” announced that it has concluded a cooperation agreement with the “Horse Podolsk” youth team and the “Vityaz” sports school. At one time, Artemy Panarin, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Vasily Podkolzin, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Marat Khusnutdinov and other now famous hockey players came from this school.
talked about this and much more with the general director of the Nizhny Novgorod team, Maxim Gafurov.
— How come Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod signed a contract with a children’s hockey school in Podolsk?
— Signed as a free agent. But this is only a first step; There is still a lot to do. Because the school is truly legendary, we really appreciate the people who are responsible for it. We are in a great dialogue. I look at this with incredible positivity. We understand that we have to roll up our sleeves and see what is best for them.
There, in Podolsk, there is now an NMHL team. Maybe some of our guys born in 2007 should be sent there for training. Again, we are not going to take all the players en masse and transport them to Nizhny Novgorod. We are supporters of partnership.
The school has ambitious goals: reaching the finals in 2007. Again, in the NMHL you can play like a good gang in order to join the youth team next season.
— Torpedo General Director Alexander Kharlamov said that a year ago you took Ivan Vorobyov and Vasily Atanasov from Ugra, paying only 4.5 million rubles. Now the guys are visible in the KHL. Taking future stars is looking for talent, right?
– I would say not only. I always joke that there is scouting – and it was clear for a long time in the youth team that Atanasov was doing well. But there is also “withdrawal” – how to remove a player from a particular club. Thank goodness Ugra is open to dialogue. But, in turn, I can congratulate the admiral, who could be of great importance. At one time they bought Nikita Serebryakov from us, also for little money.
But that’s precisely the point of the system: how we let go of guys who don’t fit into our team or who have outgrown our team. The agreement with Ugra was concluded at a reasonable and absolutely marketable price at the time. They gave us Atanasov, but how many guys now would be happy to go to Ugra to repeat this path?
– That’s the business of modern hockey. There is no need to buy a player for 100 million rubles. You can make a star by spending two million.
– One hundred percent. And with the same “Ugra” look what kind of relationship we have – now Pasha Volokitin, champion of the MHL and winner of the Kharlamov Cup as part of the “Chaika”, plays there. A number of guys and I are having a preliminary dialogue for next year.
Last season Arseniy Varlakov came to us from Ugra and I hope he will make a strong statement in the KHL as well. There is therefore a fruitful long-term cooperation. And it’s great that the clubs are so open to dialogue. The same Kirill Svishchev, even through Traktor, ended up with us in Chaika.
— Do free agents line up when they see such open hockey from Igor Larionov? A lot of people want to play Torpedo.
— That’s right, and I’m the happiest general manager in the KHL. Because the coach and I can launch many young people into a great hockey life, give them a huge chance to play hockey. We must pay tribute to Igor Nikolaevich Larionov – he sometimes trusts young people more than me.
— Yes, you have two masked players: in the first three there is the attacker Nikita Artamonov, in the second pair there is the defender Anton Silaev. Both are 17 years old.
— This foundation has been built in Torpedo for many years. Artamonov came last season, and it was a good deal (along with Neftekhimik, trading for goaltender Andrei Tikhomirov). And this is a huge advantage that in Nizhny Novgorod talented guys play not only at the municipal or regional level – they are talented at the Russian level.
Silaev was a famous young player. For some reason this surprises a lot of people. But the man also won the Kharlamov Cup last year. In his first season in the MHL, he played in the first pair.
— When a mobile two-meter defender appears in the NHL, he is immediately appreciated in the draft. Why is there no such agitation abroad around Silaev yet?
— Knowing a little about the principles of the NHL, I understand that some clubs are looking for big players. This is considered old school, such amorphous pre-draft recognition. And someone, on the contrary, is looking for talents. And according to Anton, he does indeed have exceptional physical characteristics. Now he will become stronger, gain more muscles and do general physical training. And we’ll have a walking T. rex-tyrannosaurus. I’m afraid for my opponents who will face him on the field!
Watch the matches of the FONBET KHL championship on the channels of the Match holding company, 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.
