Disappointed boss. SKA began to clean up the composition, parting ways with two KHL stars.
Jun 1, 2023 03:30 pm UTC Audio Version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Yashkin and Zhafyarov did not justify the confidence of Roman Rotenberg, who now needs to make room for himself in the composition and in the payment of new favorites.
St. Petersburg SKA spent May under the sign of aggressive and massive transfer work. Despite the words of Roman Rotenberg after another loss to CSKA in the Western Conference finals that the young team from the banks of the Neva is in the process of growing up and just needs time, the Neva army team in the first month of the new off-season updated a significant part of the roster and, it seems, changed the selection vector again. What they need now is not talented youngsters who have not gone through the system, but experienced and prepared players, especially those who know by personal example how to beat CSKA in the playoffs. So, in St. Petersburg, troops landed from Avangard (Dedunov, Tolchinsky, Gritsyuk), defender Sergeev, who played for CSKA for the last three years, moved, center forward Kadeikin, who is in his prime, so like a lot of newcomers with a more modest background.
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Roman Rotenberg’s SKA principle when it comes to recruiting a team is not even a mat, but a choppy and nervous selection, a series of purely emotional decisions without a hint of clear strategy. Almost every year in St. Petersburg they destroy everything almost to the ground, they recruit a new lineup, so that after a new defeat of the long-standing and powerfully structured CSKA, they will be disappointed in yesterday’s hopes and start from scratch.
dmitri yashkin
Photo: Yuri Kuzmin, photo.khl.ru
It is clear that the regular revolutions with a lineup that has little to do with the normal and competitive work in the market, helps SKA to a privileged position in the league. After all, only the Neva army team has several unofficial farm clubs in the KHL, where you can always poke those who ran into the bad mood of the head coach. Or those with whom they recklessly entered into too long a contract. Therefore, even in a situation where 95% of last season’s team has valid agreements, SKA can afford to hire half a team of newcomers and increase the payment to one and a half billion rubles by June. Indeed, by the beginning of the season, the army team will smoothly push those who are disappointed and put the “cap” in order.
Yesterday, SKA had just started the purge, and the leaders of last year’s team immediately fell under the distribution. So the army team did not renew the contract with Dmitry Yashkin. The captain, the club’s top scorer and sharpshooter in the regular phase, completely failed the conference final series with CSKA (0+0 in six games) and, in fact, stopped interest Rotenberg. Commenting on the break with Yashkin, Roman Borisovich recalled the salary cap, but it is obvious that if SKA really needed the Russian Czech, then in St. Petersburg they would have agreed to him.
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Now Yashkin is likely to sign for a long time in Kazan, although Dmitry’s wife convinces that the striker has not yet agreed with anyone on anything. Let’s see how it will be, but in any case, Yashkin will not disappear in the KHL.
At the same time, there is no trick in parting with Yashkin by SKA – the NSA terminated the contract, they did not agree on a new one, and the player entered the market, that’s all. But after the former captain, another leader of last year’s squad, Damir Zhafyarov, who had a contract until the end of April next year, left “cold.” And here is the classic SKA – the hockey player let Rotenberg down (first of all, playing in the playoffs, but in the regular season Damir seemed weaker than in the “torpedo” times) and therefore it should be kicked out for good. of a place on the payroll and composition for newcomers, regardless of contractual obligations.
Of course, SKA not only sins with such “termination by mutual consent”, but too often in St. Petersburg they part with those who have long been wanted and who were given powerful advances and “fat” contracts. Zhafyarov is no longer a SKA player, they disowned Nikita Gusev a little earlier, and, as they say, the separation of Igor Ozhiganov and Nikolai Prokhorkin is on the way. The mood of some people in the northern capital is changing very quickly.
Damir Zhafyarov
Photo: Ilya Smirnov, foto.khl.ru/
The SKA roster purge will continue for a long time, and in the autumn we will see an almost new team. To what extent will the new acquisition vector bring the St. Petersburgers closer to the championship? We’ll see next spring. It is unlikely that complete fuss and constant throwing will help SKA to beat the main rival, but starting next season a crossover tiebreaker is introduced into the KHL (Roman Borisovich was very “drowned” by this initiative), which increases the chances of Rotenberg’s team. to get around the hated obstacle at least to the end.
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And if we return to Zhafyarov for a while, then it is worth noting an interesting fact. Damir is a client of agent Shumi Babaev, who this offseason not only shocked the entire league with Avangard, but also contributed significantly to the relocation of Omsk’s main assets (Tolchinsky and Gritsyuk) to St. Petersburg. Sergey has already signed a five-year contract with SKA, Arseniy will probably also be registered in the northern capital for a long time, but both former “hawks” should take into account the example of Zhafyarov, who even the elegant relationship of the agent with Rotenberg he did not help hold out at the club until the end of a contract of only two years.
