Bet on foreigners. KHL clubs where foreign goalkeepers will play
Pavel Panyshev August 12, 2024, 14:00 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Several teams voted in favor of Americans and Europeans at the same time.
The transfer campaign is slowly coming to an end, there are fewer and fewer vacancies in KHL clubs, although there are enough players on the free agent market. The league is getting younger, youngsters are growing and progressing, but there are still a lot of foreign players (especially after the limit was raised to five). We are talking about foreign goalkeepers in Kontinental League teams. By the way, the limit does not apply to two of them. Belarusians are not considered foreign players in the KHL, so we will not include Ivan Kulbakov, Pavel Moisevich and Lawrence Zinaddin in the list.
Goalkeeper rating in the West
Classification
Who has the best goaltenders in the KHL? Western Conference
Zach Fucale (“Tractor”), 29 years old
Canada
Perhaps the strongest foreign goalkeeper in the KHL. In fact, the Canadian’s injury deprived the Chelyabinsk team of the chance to beat Lokomotiv in the previous playoffs. Fucale is good both on the ice and in the locker room, where he is a real leader and encourages his teammates. The KHL definitely needs foreign players of this kind. Sergei Mylnikov should progress alongside Zach. Another important point: Fucale knows Traktor’s new coach Benoit Groux very well: under this coach, the goalkeeper became the winner of the U-20 World Cup in 2015.
Patrick Rybar (Spartak)
Slovakia
Slovak Patrik Rybar was doing very well for Spartak. Until I got injured. “We missed Patrick Rybar. We must pay tribute to Andrei Kareev. There were times when the other two goalkeepers couldn’t play, and he kept us on our toes. Andrei helped our team until the very end, each of the goalkeepers at one point or another made his contribution to the common cause,” Spartak coach Alexei Zhamnov said in an interview. It is true that Andrey Kareev is now playing for Dynamo Minsk, and Dmitry Nikolaev will compete with Rybar.
Patricio Rybar
Photo: Dmitry Golubovich, “Championship”
Hunter Miska (Dynamo Moscow)
Canada
The invitation of American Hunter Miska to Dynamo Moscow seems rather dubious. It is not entirely clear why he is stronger than Ilya Konovalov, exiled as “Admiral”. “Long-term work has been done to find a candidate for the number one position in the team. This is the new name of our league, so the issue of goalkeeper adaptation in the KHL is one of the most important. The head coach and goalkeeping coach carefully studied all the nuances of the goalkeeper’s game, after which a decision was made to sign a contract with him. This is a big challenge for Hunter. He is going to Russia highly motivated,” explained Alexey Sopin, the sporting director of the blue-and-white team. Well, let’s see how the goalkeeper, who moved to Russia from the German championship, will perform in the KHL. We will not be surprised if Maxim Motorygin wins his competition.
miska hunter
Photo: dynamo.ru
Kyle Keyser (Red Star Kunlun)
USA
Kunlun’s main goalkeeper is Jeremy Smith, but let’s not forget that he already has Chinese citizenship and plays for the Chinese national team, so for the “dragons” Smith, who recently renewed his contract with the club, is not considered a foreigner. Although Kunlun, strictly speaking, does not care – Mikhail Kravets’ team has no limit on foreign players. But the second number, American Kyle Keyser, will become Smith’s deputy. Russian Konstantin Volkov also has a chance to make a name for himself.
Goalkeeper ratings in the East
Classification
Who has the best goaltenders in the KHL? Eastern Conference
Johan Mattsson (Barys)
Sweden
Mattsson is well known among Russian fans for his performances for Avtomobilist and SKA. Now the Swede is called upon to strengthen the goalkeeping line of Barys, where, as in Kunlun, there is no limit for foreign players. Mattsson’s appearance is a good incentive for Nikita Boyarkin to work harder. When the Swede is in the mood, he is very good. The main thing is that there are fewer injuries, because Mattsson periodically had health problems in Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.
