Defender “Chicago Blackhawks » Nikita Zaitsev in an interview with he said that he did not understand the word “finish the match”, because he could not do it in hockey countries, but he intended to continue to demonstrate a high level in the top league.
In the 2023/24 season, Zaitsev played 38 matches for Chicago and scored 7 (2+5) points with a utility indicator of -5. The Russian was injured Jan. 16 in a game against San Jose and missed two months. The 32-year-old defenseman’s contract with the NHL club expires this year; he has previously played for Toronto and Ottawa, as well as in Russia for Sibir and CSKA.
— Do you think CSKA had such a brutal restart, removing many star players from the roster?
— Perestroika is happening, what else can you call it? This is practiced all over the world and it does not surprise me. This management decides how to further develop the team. It will be interesting to see what happens next.
— Do you communicate with anyone from CSKA?
— To be honest, I don’t know many people there anymore since I played there. Everything has already changed a lot after I left.
— If you decide to continue your career in the KHL, will you come here to finish the match? Or do you want to build a new career in Russia?
– You know, wherever I am, I will continue to plow like a horse. I’m definitely not going to finish the game. Better finish! I don’t really understand this word – finish the game. The KHL has become a pretty strong league. And you have to come here to work hard. You have to be ready to play. Well, we can finish the match in Spain or Italy,” Zaitsev told .
At the end of March, Ilya Vorobyov became the head coach of CSKA, replacing Sergei Fedorov in this position. Last season in the KHL, the Moscow club was eliminated in the first round of the Gagarin Cup, losing to Lokomotiv with a score of 1-4 in the series.
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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.
