Get ready for an explosive mix of Znarok – Radulov, Shipacheva: the plots of the KHL season

The new season of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) starts on 1 September.

A team of Oleg Znark, Alexander Radulov, Vadim Shipachev, Slava Voinov, Danis Zaripov, as well as Dmitry Voronkov and Stanislav Galiev cannot play boring or shoot in the media space. It is a question of whether he will win the trophy, but he will never get bored with Ak Bars, there is no doubt about it. An explosive combination of Znarok – Radulov is worth something. The history of Kazan (and not only) “dream teams” confirms that if talents do not realize themselves on the field, all the remaining energy is poured out in scandals and lawsuits, and it is better to avoid it.

Both debuted as head coaches in the KHL last season, and both are highly controversial. Fedorov will have to prove that winning the Gagarin Cup is not just a rookie chance. Rotenberg was preparing the team for the first time, and if something goes wrong, Roman Borisovich himself will take the blame, not Nazarov, Bragin, Vorobyov, Kudashov or Znarok.

Four years later, the KHL returned to Omsk, one of the most hockey cities on the map of Russia. A new 12,000-seat G-Drive Arena has been built to replace the demolished stadium, and Avangard will play their home games here. “I feel like I’m in Vegas,” said Alexander Krylov, chairman of the Omsk board, after one of their visits. “Vegas” spent its first season in the new arena with 100 percent occupancy per game and, with the help of fans, reached the NHL playoff finals. Vanguard may have a similar story.

This season can and should be the season of new records. The number of games in the regular season has increased to 68 from the usual 56-60, and this is an additional opportunity for goalkeepers, defenders and forwards to score new achievements in number of games, usage rate, goals, assists and zero. point.

And Shipachev can collect combos from new records. 53 more points and will be the top goal scorer in KHL regulars history. 23 more assists – and will be the first in the KHL to change the 400 assist mark. Or maybe he will surpass Evgeny Biryukov in terms of the number of matches played. As Vadim RIA Novosti said, he will gladly exchange all these records for a Gagarin Cup.

It would be naive to expect a steady game from a 17-year-old hockey player, but Michkov is no ordinary teenager but a potential superstar. Dominating at youth level, scoring in KHL and even doing wonders at EuroTour level. Why not imagine that Matvey will light up at SKA this season? Ovechkin scored 13 goals for Dynamo a year before the draft, and Evgeni Malkin scored 32 points in the NHL-star Super League at age 18. Michkov has someone to look up to, and if only he could!

In the 18 years since his acting career ended, The Professor has done a lot of evaluation, analysis, advice and commentary, but he hasn’t practically trained on his own, finally the time has come. At 62, he’s still a rookie coach for the KHL and I hope Torpedo doesn’t complete this experiment as soon as Larionov starts having his first challenges. And the fact that there will be difficulties, that’s for sure. Firstly, in the off-season, Nizhny Novgorod lost several leaders (Damir Zhafyarov and Ivan Chekhovich), secondly, in both matches with the best KHL clubs in September, thirdly, Larionov’s ideas as a coach still seem somewhat utopian for the Russians. truths.

The pre-season showed that these matches are not something to miss – you should not even be late for the start, but it is better to arrive before the exit to the stadium. You never know. Judging by the background of Andrei Nazarov, there is no doubt that the matter will not be limited to two fights in friendly matches. We mark September 21 and November 17 on the calendar and look forward to it.

Although it is interesting to see Nazarov’s team in other games. Last season, they were missing a few points to qualify for the playoffs, and their games were hot and fun. Vasily Glotov remained, and so good, and with former AHL club players Dmitry Zavgorodny, Alexei Melnichuk, Andrey Altybarmakyan, residents of Sochi can only make a little noise in the punches.

Or why this torture? The Chinese club is again spending the season not at home, but in the suburbs and re-forming the squad, as if recruiting players by announcement. Last season, this tactic brought the team seven wins in 48 games in regular time and 25 points (the worst record in the league). Another similar season – and even those who initially had a positive attitude towards the league’s expansion to the East will lose faith in China’s project in the KHL.

The two well-off and well-equipped teams have been waiting for a brilliant season for many years, but they are marking the time and are quietly returning. Lokomotiv has everything to challenge CSKA and SKA, but can’t remember the last time Yaroslavl made it through the second round of the playoffs. “Avtomobilist” every season clogs the payment system with contracts with famous foreign players and even coaches, but the results are even worse. Maybe something will change this season?

Loko did not fire the head coach out of habit and made very interesting transfers (Sergey Andronov, Ivan Chekhovich, Andrey Sergeev) and Avtomobilist retained the legionnaires, which can be a bonus compared to other clubs.

Spartak Roman Belyaev’s sports director did not doubt for a moment what to answer when asked about the team’s duties for the season. “Win every game and win the Gagarin Cup,” he said at a press conference after losing a friendly match against Kunlun. It will be even more interesting to follow the official matches of the Reds and Whites. Fans of “Spartak” hockey have been waiting for gold since 1976.