In the United States, it has long been said about coaches and managers whose positions can hardly be considered safe: “the place is burning under them.” Hot spots have become much more common lately in the NHL than in our league, where coaches are once again trusted. However, not all KHL coaches can feel safe and today we rank them according to the “warmth” of their places.
Burning cold
Roman Rotenberg (SKA), Andrey Razin (Metallurg), Igor Larionov (Torpedo)
The head coach and general director of SKA is a king in his club, but he is not yet a king and a god at the same time. After being eliminated in the second round by Avtomobilist, the club president Alexander Medvedev first spoke about the board meeting, but then expressed full support for Rotenberg and joined in the criticism of the refereeing. Well, Roman Borisovich himself does not forget to thank the general sponsor in every second public speech.
Last year, Razin’s place might seem warm to some, but the championship, won a year earlier than expected, gives him a guarantee of free work for at least a year, especially since Magnitogorsk also strengthened in the summer. Larionov, despite Torpedo’s failure in the second half of last season, received a three-year extension and actually won the hardware war. Now Torpedo is de facto his personal project.
Andrey Razin
Photo: Maxim Shmakov, foto.khl.ru
Cold
Igor Nikitin (Lokomotiv), Alexey Kudashov (Dynamo), Nikolay Zavarukhin (Avtomobilist), Anvar Gatiyatulin (Ak Bars), Alexey Zhamnov (Spartak)
The positions of the two medalists could be greatly affected in the event of another early departure. However, Zavarukhin, who, according to rumours, could have been fired in November, pulled the team out of the autumn peak and led Yekaterinburg to the first medals in the history of the KHL, and Nikitin was able to correct the psychological problems of his team. Both “Avtomobilist” and “Lokomotiv” have retained most of their core and strengthened their positions. The only factor that can affect Nikitin is that his contract expires at the end of the season. However, now, unlike the situations with the resignations of Kudashov and Skabelka, there are no well-known coaches on the market who could immediately reinforce Loko.
The Ak Bars team lost a lot of luster in the summer; however, in the Kakhael era, they really don’t like to fire coaches mid-season in Kazan. The resignation of Oleg Znarok was an exception against the background of a disastrous superstar team, and Gatiyatulin rightly has a reputation as a coach who knows how to create the right microclimate. Last year, Spartak not only jumped over its head, but was also one of the most entertaining KHL teams in the game. At the end of the season, “Megasport” began to constantly fill up with spectators, and this alone is a good reason to talk about the safety of Alexei Zhamnov’s position.
Finally, Alexei Kudashov’s position has been under media attack throughout the entire time the coach has been working at the club. However, the retention of Alexei Sopin as sporting director clearly showed that all attacks were repelled and that the newly arrived stars are turning the blue-and-white team into the most balanced team in the West. We should not expect any moves here at least until the end of the season.
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Cold
Leonid Tambiev (Admiral), Andrey Martemyanov (Amur), Ilya Vorobyov (CSKA), Andrey Kozyrev (Severstal)
Igor Esmantovich was quite surprised by the statement that a “dream team” had been assembled in Moscow: we can only guess at the prospects of most of CSKA’s newcomers at the KHL level. As we already know from the examples of Igor Nikitin and Sergei Fedorov, at CSKA now any result other than a championship can become a reason for resignation, and expectations are high even before the start of the season. Another thing is that in the middle of the season they will definitely not wave the sabre in Moscow.
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Two coaches of Far Eastern clubs extended their contracts at the end of last season, but their situations are different. Tambiev in Vladivostok has already begun the process of becoming Peteris Skudra, by whose will four dozen people could easily pass through the team in one season. “Amur”, although it lost its patron-governor, kept its previous funding for at least one season and conducted a fairly smart transfer campaign without showering veterans with money. It is unlikely that the new management will try to kill the coach who last year led the Tigers to the best result in history.
Leonid Tambiev
Photo: Dmitry Soroka, foto.khl.ru
Finally, Andrei Kozyrev in Severstal built an even brighter team in terms of playing style than Torpedo 2022/2023, and this summer the coach transferred many famous players to Cherepovets, including Alexey, who a couple of years ago had his best season Kruchinina. Kozyrev’s position can only be influenced by the youth of the team and the possible “second year syndrome” among the players who showed their bright colors a year ago.
room temperature
Mikhail Kravets (Kunlun), Oleg Leontyev (Neftekhimik), Sergey Zubov (Sochi), Oleg Bratash (Lada), David Nemirovsky (Barys), Pavel Desyatkov (Vityaz)
This category includes novice coaches at mid-level clubs or specialists who have already proven their ability to jump over their heads with limited resources. So far, their resignation seems possible only in the event of some kind of total disaster at the start of the season. Leontyev stands out here: Neftekhimik has already had such a catastrophe for two seasons in a row, but last season Nizhnekamsk pulled itself out by the hair, but last year it did not have enough strength. The third case will not seem like an accident.
Warm
Sergey Zvyagin (“Vanguard”), Viktor Kozlov (“Salavat Yulaev”)
Zvyagin’s situation at the Omsk club is suspiciously reminiscent of the appointment of Dmitry Ryabykin: both coaches had no experience working as head coaches in the KHL, while the appointment of both appealed to the continuity of “Hartley hockey”. Ryabykin had at first a force majeure situation with a month-long away series, while Zvyagin will have to play for at least a month without the two team leaders. In addition, Avangard players have already started to suffer unpleasant injuries in the local tournament.
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Salavat Yulaev invested heavily in two legionnaires who are poorly understood by the KHL, but at the same time they lost a lot of depth and definitely weakened their defense. Kozlov twice remained in his place after two sensational eliminations in the first round, while in both seasons he received a lot of criticism after a poor performance in the regular season (last year he lasted until autumn). However, it is not clear whether the SY management believes that it still has a top-level club: judging by the investments in the contracts of Rempal and Todd, it clearly does. In this case, any problems at the start of the season will affect the coach.
Hot
Vadim Epanchintsev (Sibir), Benoit Grou (Traktor), Dmitry Kvartalnov (Dynamo Mn)
The situation in Siberia could turn into a “perfect storm”. The new management received contracts according to a strange “1+2” scheme and abandoned the obvious rejuvenation of the squad, investing heavily in veterans who had passed their peak. The regional governor has already stated that it will not be enough to reach the playoffs and has raised expectations to the final. Epanchintsev does not have experienced assistants; Nemirovsky had the same problem a year ago. In general, the pressure is enormous, and Siberia’s resources are no better than last year.
“Traktor” performed well at the tournament in Blinov, but until the beginning of September, Gru’s pre-season match and beautiful press conferences will mean nothing. The former coach of the Canadian youth team has already faced unprecedented pressure from the public, which began to shower him immediately after his appointment. The first potential failures will significantly strengthen him, and everyone in Chelyabinsk will remember that the club dismissed the coach with medals. This does not mean that Gru is doomed to failure, but his safety margin in case of an unforeseen situation seems less than that of his colleagues.
Dmitry Kvartalnov
Photo: Dmitry Loshkarev, photo.khl.ru
Dynamo Minsk, it would seem, could have taken a step forward last year, but for most of the season it was in 8th place in conditions where the three teams outside the playoffs fell very quickly. The initial conditions at the end of August are as follows: almost the entire defense of the Minsk team is now made up of foreign players, with whom Kvartalnov allegedly has not had a good relationship for a long time, Andrey Kareev at the last stage leaves a lot of questions in the off-season, the Minsk team concedes seven goals from the “Admiral” and 10 (albeit incomplete) from “Metallurg”. There are a lot of threatening factors.
