The KHL regular season is gaining momentum and generally pleases with entertaining matches, good attendance and September intrigue. Kunlun’s leadership, Torpedo’s impeccability, Barys’ complete bad luck, Lokomotiv’s limp, SKA, CSKA – all these are markers of the start of the 16th season of the league.
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In Chelyabinsk the “cult of Gatiyatulin” is over. And better late than never
Unexpected news came from Traktor. On September 11, Anvar Gatiyatulin, the team’s coach, ceased to be a member of the club’s board of directors. It seems to be on his own initiative. Now, if necessary, the Traktor board of directors will be able to fire the coach without problems; previously Gatiyatulin, as a member of the board of directors, would have had to vote against himself for a unanimous decision, which seemed unrealistic.
Of course, there is no reason to fire Gatiyatulin at this time. But it’s surprising why this decision wasn’t made last season, when it was the coaching staff’s miscalculations that sunk Traktor in the beginning, and then the team couldn’t dig itself out of the hole during the long regular season. Gatiyatulin’s resignation from the board would then have seemed much more logical: he would have left the Chelyabinsk leadership a free hand for any action that could save Traktor’s season, without any restrictions. But only now is the “reservation” for Gatiyatulin’s dismissal being raised.
And although this is inappropriate, it is correct. The “Cult of Gatiyatulin”, organized in Chelyabinsk, seemed like a blatant exaggeration, as did the closure of the entire long-term strategy of “Traktor” on one person. And the coach, no matter how important he is for the club and the city, must “be completely focused on the sporting part and achieving results”, as rightly pointed out in the statement from the general assembly. I don’t think that Gatiyatulin’s resignation from the board of directors is an indication of anything, but Traktor is doing the right thing by moving away from dependence on a local specialist, assuming in the future complete freedom of decision in case of emergency. situations.
We contacted SKA. Michkov goes on loan to Sochi to play
As soon as they publicly asked SKA to stop mocking Matvey Michkov, the military club sent the young forward to another team. Of course, in St. Petersburg they themselves understood that they could not remain inactive in the current situation, but it would be great if the lease agreement with Sochi was also influenced by the coverage of the story in the press.
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Well, we can only be happy for Matvey. From the SKA reserve team he moves to the vanguard of Leopards, who this season should not be as lost as in the past. That is, Michkov’s possible goals and points could also bring some tangible benefit to the club, although it is clear that this will also increase Matvey’s responsibility. But the main thing is that he will play. And this is good news both for the Philadelphia bosses and for all Russian hockey.
Matvey Michkov in a match for HC Sochi
Photo: Pavel Tabarchuk, foto.khl.ru
Sochi played a great game without a coach
Sochi itself still seems very mysterious at the start of the regular season. The desperate opening matches were followed by a productive journey along the difficult path Kazan – Moscow (VTB Arena) – Yaroslavl. The “Leopards” suddenly beat the “Ak Bars”, literally destroyed the “Lokomotiv” and lost to the Moscow “Dynamo”, in general, only in the minority. And what to do with this data? Is Sochi still pretty good or can we put it all down to underestimation by the top clubs? We continue monitoring.
It is curious that Sochi scored a charming 5-0 in Yaroslavl without the coach on the bench: Dmitry Kokorev could not lead the team in the match due to illness. We wish Dmitry Aleksandrovich only good health, but isn’t this a sign that the southerners are so far playing their best game of the season in the absence of their coach? And this is in Yaroslavl, and this is the fifth consecutive away game, when, according to Roman Rotenberg, the team should be castrated and heavy-legged due to life on airplanes. In short, the Sochi management has reason to think, and moreover, at the end of the offseason, questions arose for Kokorev.
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Barys is losing endlessly. The club’s management has no reason to keep Skabelka
“Torpedo” can only be applauded at the beginning of the season. Igor Larionov has so far pointed out all the critics who expected the Nizhny Novgorod team to experience a decline in the second season and problems due to the departure of Andrei Kozyrev. But now everything is great there.
At the other pole of well-being is Barys, the only team that remains without a win this season. And after all, in three matches the Astana team lost only outside of regulation time, and the count of offensive defeats is already off scale: “Barys” will be defeated by the most ridiculous rebounds or by the inexplicable actions of their own defender on the spot, or by discipline at the end of an essentially won match. In general, Andrei Skabelka has nothing to be ashamed of; Even without wins, Barys is somehow scoring points, and the team’s great potential in attack should sooner or later come true.
But with all this, I would now say that Skabelka’s position is the most precarious among all KHL coaches. Judge for yourself: last season, “Barys” under the leadership of the coach failed miserably, taking the last place in the East, and now, having made a fairly high-quality summer selection, the team is losing match after match , although often due to absurdities. It turns out that there have been no results for the second season. What should management think and do?
Andrei Skabelka (left).
Photo: Yuri Kuzmin, foto.khl.ru
Furthermore, Skabelka no longer has anything to do with the Kazakhstan national team. The story is not completely clarified, but at the 2023 World Cup the national team was led by Galym Mambetaliev and managed to confidently defend its place in the elite division. So, taking into account Barys’ current results, it makes no sense for the club’s management to cling to Skabelka and give him another chance: this coach has been known in Astana for many years and the team’s results are deteriorating with him. It is much more logical to put Mambetaliev himself at the head of the KHL club, who will play with the numerous young Kazakhs in the next World Cup with much more enthusiasm than Skabelka himself.
This, of course, is not a call to fire a good coach, but simply a reflection on the current reality. Now Barys returns home after a trip, the team has four free days of matches ahead and then a short home series with Admiral and Neftekhimik. Probably in this phase Skabelka’s fate in Astana will be decided. Although, of course, the club can make a decision before September 16.
