Will CSKA defend the Gagarin Cup without a head coach?
The question immediately arises: how is it without a head coach? Sergei Fedorov however, who made his debut in a coaching role after winning the Gagarin Cup, has not left.
It really is. But, remembering how to play CSKA at the start of last season and how he acted in the playoffs, but in general it was exactly the same hockey as when Igor Nikitin, it becomes clear that the main one (in terms of influence on the game, not hierarchy) was Evgeny Koreshkov. He ended up at army headquarters before the start of the 2018/19 season, and since then the club has reached the Gagarin Cup final in three out of three possible cases, winning it twice.
In the summer, Koreshkov moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and Igor Kravchuk came to his house. In fact, only Ravil Yakubov and goalkeeping coach Sergei Naumov remained in Nikitin’s league squad at Fedorov’s disposal. So now is the time for the army helmsman and his team to show whether last year’s championship was the work of new people or was achieved “on the baggage” of old coaches.
How many games will the former Zaripov play in the season?
“AK Bars” became the main headliner of the offseason. Kazan made an incredible purchase acquiring Shipachev, Voinov, Galiyev, Semenov, Tokranov, Khafizullin and Chudinov. They also brought back star veteran Alexander Radulov from abroad and invited three-time Gagarin Cup winner Oleg Znark as head coach. By all accounts, Ak Bars is the hot favorite for the new KHL season.
Currently, Kazan has at least 17 forwards who can play from the base. Among them is the 41-year-old legend of Ak Bars Danis Zaripovwho declared last season the last of his career, but in the summer of 2022 he signed a new one-year contract with the club for 10 million rubles.
Zaripov’s return from “retirement” should be more of a mental boost for the Kazan team than a game boost. The forward is trying to get as much out of it as possible, but on the ice it’s already showing hard. Last season he played 24 games in the regular season (4+7) and 3 in the playoffs (0+1), now he is unlikely to have more than 20 games in total.
When will Nikita Gusev return to the KHL?
Russian star, hero of Pyeongchang-2018 Nikita Gusev leaves no attempts to return to the NHL. Last fall, the striker, after two controversial seasons in New Jersey and Florida, was under a viewing contract with Toronto and in mid-October was at SKA, where he scored 35 (10 + 25) points in 31 games.
Until mid-September of this year, Gusev is again waiting for proposals from North America. It’s possible the striker will find another viewing deal, but it’s hard to believe in a full-fledged contract: he’s already 30, the speed the NHL needs to make decisions and move around the field obviously did not increase. , and most foreign clubs have already completed their top 6.
It’s highly likely that Gusev will spend this season in the KHL, starting in October. Where will Nikita end up? The option with SKA is obvious: Gusev has known the club and the city for a long time, his family will not have to spend time adapting, and Roman Rotenberg confirmed before the start of the championship that there was communication with the player.
Under the salary cap, about 50 million rubles remain in the army, and if Gusev is signed, one of the members of the current list will most likely be exchanged. Such a star would obviously not interfere with SKA: even though Damir Zhafyarov and Dmitry Yashkin were acquired in the summer, there is no real top person who could additionally attract spectators to the stands of St. Petersburg now.
How many goals will Avangard goalkeepers concede?
Four years later “Avant-garde” returns to Omsk. The club’s first game (against Sibir) at the new G-Drive Arena will take place on October 1, while the Hawks will have to play 12 away games in a row.
For the return, which all Omsk fans were waiting for, in which we were able to again during the presentation of the club, which was attended by 20,000 people, Avangard carefully prepared. A year later, the infamous Reed Boucher returns to the team, which will form a pair of shock legionnaires with Korban Knight, who extended the contract. Christian Yarosh from New Jersey was taken to the role of the main offensive defender, the star pupil of Omsk Vladimir E. Tkachev was bought from SKA for 1000 rubles.
In general, the club managed not only to minimize the losses of legionnaires (Kaski, Pokka, Tseglarik), but also to qualitatively strengthen the attacking line. The same cannot be said for the goalkeeper position: Stanislav Galimov and Vasily Demchenko, who returned from Finland, received a lot of criticism during the pre-season – both made gross mistakes, felt insecure in most matches and negatively influenced the team’s results. .
Due to the scarcity of the goalie market both in the KHL and overseas, it is unlikely that Avangard will be able to fix the problem in the near future. From then on, the club can only believe in the highest performance of its top 6 and count the number of missed goals, the number of which will be enormous.
Will Metallurg train a veteran goalkeeper again?
Last season, Magnitogorsk missed out on the Gagarin Cup, leading 3-1 in the final series. Crew Ilya Vorobiev was known for its attack system of the game, in which not one, not two, but three whole links were lit. But even more memorable Vasily Koshechkinwho, at 39, had one of the best playoffs of his career (2.19 KN, 93.1% OB) and had real chances for the Gagarin Cup MVP award.
During the offseason, Metallurg suffered minimal losses among outfield players and the focus was on strengthening the goalkeeper line. In the summer, the club signed a one-year contract for 62 million with the best goalkeeper of the 2020/21 KHL season, Eddie Pasquale.
On paper, the Canadian is a classy acquisition for Magnitogorsk. However, will it be the same Pasquale who ignited at Barys and the first year at Lokomotiv, or will he fail again, like last season? Great question. Pre-season games haven’t answered that, but you shouldn’t be surprised if by the start of the playoffs Metallurg will have to bet on veteran Koshechkin again.
How soon will Lokomotiv sack the head coach?
Yaroslavsky “Locomotive”, which is a regular top club in the Western Conference but hasn’t made it past the second round since the 2017/18 season, is known for its love of frequent coaching changes. Over the past five seasons, six specialists have managed to coach the railway workers, given the current head coach Igor Nikitin.
The peculiarity of the president of Lokomotiv Yuri Yakovlev was not only a change of coaches, but the timing of the decision: Alexei Kudashov was removed from office on October 3, 2017, and Craig McTavish and Andrei Skabelka on September 24 2019 and 2021, respectively. An unsuccessful first month of the season virtually guarantees any Lokomotiv manager a dismissal, whether or not he plans to bring the team to peak form in the future.
In the first three weeks, the Yaroslavl team will have to play with Avtomobilist, Traktor, CSKA, SKA and Dynamo Moscow – and this, in the absence of the team’s main defender, Alexei Marchenko, who was away for about three months. Champion coach Nikitin must prepare for these matches as much as possible, otherwise the fate of his predecessors, as practice shows, is guaranteed to him.
Who else will not come to Salavat Yulaev?
The Ufa club, almost the most in the KHL, suffered from the mass exodus of foreign players from the league. “Salavat” Over the years, he made a huge bet on foreign players: last season, Juha Metsola was the main goalkeeper, Philip Larsen was the main attacking defender, and Hartikainen, Manninen and Granlund made up the striker.
In last season’s playoffs, Tony Lyamsya was able to make up for the team’s losses at the expense of an internal resource, but the Ufimians are now managed by Viktor Kozlov. The club invited Ryan Murphy from the AHL, who had previously played in the KHL, and also signed a talented forward with a tough character, Joshua Ho-Sang, and a star from the San Jose agricultural club, Alexander Khmelevsky. The pre-season showed that these acquisitions could work.
However, Salavat Yulaev general manager Rinat Bashirov at the pre-season press conference arranged a column ‘They could have come, but they didn’t’, talking about failed transfers. According to Bashirov, the club was interested in Alexander Radulov (it was not possible to conclude a contract), Damir Zhafyarov (the Ufa team did not have 100% confidence in him), Alex Grant (choose St. Petersburg due to its proximity to the border) and Korban Knight (he only went together with Bush, conducted close negotiations with another club).
In early October, NHL training camps will close and some players will be released. It is possible that during the season we will learn about Salavat Yulaev’s unsuccessful interest in these hockey players. It is already clear that Ovechkin or Crosby will definitely not come to Ufa.
Which team will give the best show: Larionova or Nazarova?
During pre-season games, it became clear that two show teams had formed in the West: “Torpedo” the legendary teacher Igor Larionovwho first appeared in the role of club coach, and HC Sochi Andrey Nazarov.
The people of Nizhny Novgorod will dance like in hockey. Torpedo scored 37 goals in nine pre-season appearances and conceded 27, and head coach Igor Larionov Jr.’s son, who was on trial, entered the top 10 of summer scorers (8 points) and received a full contract for 3 million rubles. With such a match, it will not be easy for Nizhny Novgorod to fight for the playoffs (even if 8 out of 11 teams go there), but they are capable of receiving the audience award.
Even before the start of the matches, the Sochi players distinguished themselves with several fights in training, and at the summer tournaments their number only increased. Omsk Avangard became the main opponent, with whom Andrei Nazarov old scores: in two games they staged mass fights. The attitude of fans and experts to such a “style of play” of the southerners is very variable, but it will certainly be remembered more than the result of a team that is among the league’s underdogs in terms of composition. .
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
