Athletistic / Hockey. Former Russian hockey player and now expert Valery Pokrovsky believes that the team’s head coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, is to blame for Ak Bars’ failure this season. According to Pokrovsky, the Kazan coach placed the star players in a strict framework in which they could not reach their potential.
“Even Bilyaletdinov could not do anything with the star hockey players. He placed them in a setting in which they were not comfortable playing. More creative and advanced hockey players were collected in Kazan, which did not correspond to the game required of them. “The players did not have a free hand to be able to improvise, enjoy hockey and thus bring joy to the fans,” Pokrovsky said in the Championship.
Ak Bars lost to Avtomobilist in the first round of the KHL playoffs in five matches (1-4) and finished the season. Last year, the Kazan team reached the final, where they lost to CSKA Moscow in seven matches (3-4).
Source: Sport
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