Tretyak: “Due to the decrease in the number of foreign players in the KHL, our guys have more chances to prove themselves”

President of the Russian Hockey Federation (RFH) Vladislav Tretiak believes that the strengthening of the limits imposed on foreign players in the Fonbet KHL championship has allowed young Russian players to prove themselves.

Last year, the Russian Sports Ministry approved tightening limits on foreign players in the KHL. From the 2023/24 season, Russian clubs cannot include more than three foreigners in their match requests.

— This season there are fewer foreign players in the KHL and a large number of young Russian players have appeared. It seems that the championship even won in terms of entertainment.

— Due to the decrease in the number of foreign players, our guys have more chances to prove themselves and become team leaders. My opinion: it is better to trust your youth than to bring in a large number of foreign players. Why allow foreigners to train in the management teams of the best clubs in the country, and even pay them huge sums of money? If we are investing so much effort and money into club hockey, then we need to invest in the development of national athletes.

This season I can note a number of young players who have shown themselves well. This is Metallurg goalkeeper Nabokov, one of the brightest strikers in the championship Atanasov from Torpedo, his teammate defender Silaev. I would like to mention the defender of CSKA Shuravin and a hockey player of the same role from Lokomotiv Simashev. The leaders of the junior national teams, Dynamo Chernyshov and Rimashevsky, are doing well at the adult level. There are other guys showing up,” Tretiak said according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

Watch KHL matches on the channels of the Match holding company, as well as on the sites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.

Russian newspaper