Vyacheslav Voinov: Ak Bars wanted to sign me last year. The conditions here are amazing!

Vyacheslav Voinov – one of the most titled Russian defenders. He won two Stanley Cups, was recognized as the best defenseman in the Golden Olympics. All that remains is to win the World Championship to enter the Triple Golden Club. There, among the Russian defenders, only Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Malakhov and Alexei Gusarov.

This season, Voinov will go with Ak Bars for the Gagarin Cup, and in terms of line-up, the Kazan club is considered the main favorite in the KHL. After a morning training session at the base, Slava and I talked about his American stage of life, leaving Dynamo, and I also asked about defenders in modern world hockey.

“The rules have been changed as they see fit”

– Certain moments of your career remain white dots for me. Remind me why you completely missed the 2018/19 season? We won the Olympics, where you were recognized as the best defender – and suddenly we argued for a whole year.

– It was another attempt to come back to the NHL. I still couldn’t come to terms with the fact that my career there had been cut short.

– Have you been told in the NHL that you are not allowed to play anywhere to serve your suspension?

There were a lot of rules, and they changed every time. And in that sense, how convenient. And when I practically fulfilled all the conditions, I had another injury during the training process.

– You tore your Achilles.

– Yes. And they dragged this injury in such a way that I still couldn’t play anywhere.

– That is, they did not count the missed deadline due to health problems.

– It’s hard to remember everything and analyze everything, because it seemed like nonsense.

“Someone lied to someone”

– Then there was a good year at Avangard, and after that you missed the whole season again, already 2020/21. Why didn’t they play then?

“It’s another one of my attempts to come back to the NHL. Also very interesting. I had no further problems with US federal laws after the 2016 scandal. But other problems arose. To be more precise, in the 2018/19 season, the league specifically put a spoke in my wheels. But in the 2020/21 season, a purely human factor came into play. I already had a contract with the NHL club. But he has not yet been registered in the league. This season was after covid, and the championship didn’t start as usual, but in mid-January. There were fewer matches, and therefore the suspension was less. I should have been playing since the end of February.

– So interesting.

– That’s it, I already have a contract, a work visa has been put in my passport. And four days before the flight to America, they just refused to take me with the words: “Sorry, that just happened.”

– Who said that?

– The club I signed with.

– “Los Angeles”?

“It’s not the Kings, but I won’t name the team.

– It turns out that in this case you should have been paid under the contract.

— The contract was indeed signed. But not registered in the league. And a work visa was issued. That is, it turns out that someone there still, to put it mildly, deceived someone. And only I suffered financial losses. Another failed season, a whole year of training.

“A house in Los Angeles had to be sold”

– Now the door to the NHL is open to you?

– At the moment I have no disqualification in the NHL and I am absolutely clean. If I hadn’t had a contract with Ak Bars, I could have signed a contract in North America and I would have started the season from the first game.

– If no one throws you again.

– “Throw” is a strong word. It’s just that a long work was carried out with the owner of this club for eight to nine months. All the nuances were mentioned that I was a problem player, that a lot of negativity could come from the local press, and that would affect the team.

– Did someone block his ears?

– No, I specifically said it would be like that. He replied, “I’m a businessman and I don’t care. I want to win the Stanley Cup and have a player for as little money as possible. »

– Have you opted for an annual contract of 750,000 dollars?

– Yes, I was ready to go to the NHL for any money. But, apparently, the last week before I arrived, partners turned to him and said that if you sign Voinov, the same sponsors will turn away from you. This step will not find understanding. And he decided it was better to give me up for free than lose advertisers.

– Remember, before the story that shattered your overseas career, you signed a five-year contract with Los Angeles for 25 million dollars.

It was simply crossed out, as if it didn’t exist.

– You also had a house in Los Angeles. What about him?

I kept it for about four years. But then I realized: what’s the point of supporting him for 11 months, only coming three or four weeks a year? I had to sell.

– You are not disappointed with America? After all, you can fly to Miami on vacation.

– It’s a little different. You bought an apartment in Miami, you can rent it for 10 months. Then for two months to come live. But the house was located in a residential area of ​​Los Angeles – on Manhattan Beach, where the Kings’ training base is located. If you rent a house, then for four or five years. Turns out you can’t be there yourself. But you also need to monitor the condition of your property, how it is being treated. Therefore, we decided at the family council that it was better to sell this house.

“If something annoys Shipacheva, the whole team feels it”

– You were one of the leaders of Dynamo. Why did Muscovites send you and Vadim Shipachev to Ak Bars for nothing? Did you figure it out yourself?

– Vadik had a lot of complaints and questions from the management, which were personally incomprehensible to me. And I think I will never understand it.

Thank goodness no one approached me with such claims. But still, that tension was literally hanging in the air. If something is wrong with Vadik and something irritates him, then the whole team feels it immediately. He is the main actor, the leader of the main link. And when there was such an attitude towards Shipachev, everyone felt it.

– You rarely see that a better defender is given to another club for 1000 rubles. It’s like moving Victor Hedman from Tampa to Colorado for $100. Did this move surprise you?

– To comment on this, you need to know absolutely all the nuances – financial components, rules and exchanges that take place in the KHL. From the outside it looks very funny and incomprehensible. And we really have to go further…

– There was an unloading of payment at Dynamo.

– Well yes. Although if you observe from the side, why did they pay a thousand rubles and did not receive some kind of compensation for me? But that’s none of my business. And there is no need to comment on it.

– Now you play for star Ak Bars.

– Let’s start with the fact that Kazan, in 2021, when I signed a contract with Dynamo, claimed me. But for family reasons I had to stay in Moscow. Also, I chose Dynamo – they were a good team.

Well, at Ak Bars the conditions are just great. Play hockey and think of nothing else. The team brought together the best coaches. It remains to be proven in practice that the Gagarin Cup can be won.

“I don’t watch NHL games at all anymore”

– What is your main motivation at 32? If you want, you can play hockey for another eight years.

“I miss the big wins. When you know this feeling, you want to feel it all the time, from time to time.

I’ve been flying first and then second rounds for four years now. It doesn’t suit me at all. I want to go all the way, and that’s my big motivation.

– What about Cale Makar, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ Most Valuable Player? Is it a new type of defender? He has even been compared to Bobby Orr.

– Makar in defense is like McDavid in attack. I don’t see any analogues of Makar, either at the moment or in the past.

How can you compare today’s Makar with those who played 50 years ago? Look at Formula 1. How can a driver who drives at 100 km/h teach young people who drive cars at 320 km/h?

In the past there were the best people for their time, they respect and respect each other. But now the players are completely different. Makar admires me for his ability to play every inch of the pitch. He has a shot, a pass and everything else. In my opinion, he is a brilliant player. If every club had such a hockey player, the level of hockey would have increased a lot.

– Vasily Podkolzin joked that Makar was grown in a test tube. Can a defender of this type be trained?

“I don’t think it’s possible to reach that level. There are players who get to the goal through work, diligence. Up to your ideal. The same Roman Yosi – he scored 10 points more in the championship than Makar (96 against 86). He’s the best too. You can see how Yossi works and tries. But it depends on the partners and different shades.

Makar, on the other hand, can at some point, as an attacker, take and turn the tide of the match. He takes the puck and goes to the solo pass, beats someone on the blue line, puts the puck in the top nine. It’s wonderful.

– They said that Yossi just stuffed his stats at the end of the season, forgetting about defense. Therefore, the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the league won Makar. Have you analyzed this situation?

No, and I don’t watch NHL games at all. Cut only the best moments, and selectively – the teams with which I sympathize. First of all, it’s Tampa, Colorado, Edmonton…

How Yossi scored – I heard this version that he hit a hundred, forgetting the rest. If so, that’s a huge downside. But those who determine the winner of the trophy must know exactly how he plays. And they definitely watched his matches.

But you have to look. You will see a hockey player in the highlights – he scored three goals in the game. Wow! But then you watch the game again and he scored six goals in his own net.

But with Makar, you watch a few episodes, extracts from matches. You listen to the opinions of others, even the NHL, and only hockey fans. They all call him a player of the highest level. So there just aren’t two different opinions on this.