Last season’s results for Kunlun were the same as six years earlier: the team missed the playoffs. There were objective reasons for this: a complex and dense schedule that was prepared so that the Chinese team could call up Kunlun players. True, not a single Red Star player made it to the final roster, which made all the fuss about the schedule completely meaningless.
The words about medals did not come out of nowhere. Mikhail Kravets, in a recent interview with “Championship”, said about the team’s ambitions: “We will prepare this team to win medals. The task of the coaching staff is this: we will not retreat anywhere, we will keep this positive in our heads and improve our game both in training and in the game.”
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“Kunlun’s goal is to fight for medals.” Interview with Mikhail Kravets at the head of the new team
Let us see what the words of the new helmsman of Kunlun mean. What is this: ambition, reality or reasoning?
Changes in the technical team
Missing: Andrey Parfenov, Brett Bellmar. Came: Mikhail Kravets, Alexander Savchenkov.
The main change, of course, is the change of coach. Viktor Ignatiev, who definitely could not be thrown onto the field last season, is no longer the head coach of the team. But he did not lose his position, remaining in the team’s coaching staff. The main role was taken by Mikhail Kravets, who was hastily dismissed from Omsk in the spring, and a year and a half ago won medals with Avangard.
At least on paper, it appears that Kunlun has gained more than it has lost.
Lineup changes
Missing: Nikita Parfenyuk, Jemel Smith, Teemu Pulkkinen, Devin Brosseau, Ryan Sproul, Alex Rich, Turner Ottenbreit, Corey Kane, Jason Fram. Came: Martin Lefebvre, Ian McCoshen, Konstantin Volkov, Jayden Halbgewax, Hudson Elinuk, Chris Wilkie, Adam Clendening, Kyle Keyser, Yuri Pautov, Tomasz Jurcho, Danny O’Regan, Rourke Chartier, Nail Yakupov.
The main losses are the departure of Chinese veterans Kane and Sproul. The same could be said of Pulkkinen, but his effectiveness in Kunlun, if not zero, tended to be. Otherwise, losses for the Chinese team are quite common.
Readers are probably not familiar with half of the hockey players who came here, so we will quote the words of the head coach, who explained who was the focus when it came to strengthening: “We may not be able to recruit players for big money, but we took the experienced ones, those who played with the guys who were there before, someone played against them. We looked at a lot of guys and settled on those who showed a consistent game in the AHL and NHL; several of them played there. Maybe they didn’t take leadership positions there, but they played anyway. Also, we considered those who later went to Europe and showed good hockey and were productive.”
Among all the signings, the transfer of Tomas Jurcho stands out. Firstly, we know him very well and we can assume that at Kunlun the Slovakian can easily play in the front line. Secondly, Tomas rejected Avangard in favour of Kunlun. It is not clear whether this is due to the location of the team, the figure of the coach or the financial conditions.
Thomas Jurcho
Photo: Yuri Kuzmin, foto.khl.ru
Yesterday was the day of the most notable signing: Nail Yakupov is no longer unemployed. Nail proved last season that he can play in a leading position in a team that is not full of big stars. However, we still have to find out the consequences of the injury he received during last season.
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Perspectives
Let’s go in order. The figure of the coach does not raise any questions, as Kravets worked at a top club six months ago and is still passionate about his job. In addition, Mikhail Grigorievich lived and played for a long time in North America, so the head coach should not have any problems with foreigners, of whom there are many. Viktor Ignatiev, who until recently was the head coach, can also tell you about the nuances of work in Mytishchi. This should also be a plus.
The question of the adaptation of Americans to Russian hockey is always acute. It often happens that the environment and mentality do not allow players to perform at their best. But this argument is unlikely to apply to Kunlun, where a certain branch of the AHL club gathered. There will definitely be no communication problems. Yes, someone will definitely not live up to expectations, but the reason will lie elsewhere.
If we take into account the new Americans, the focus immediately falls on Adam Clendening, who spent seven years in the best league in the world and is expected to become the leader of the Kunlun defence, and Rourke Chartier, who last year played 37 games for Ottawa in the NHL. Yes, he served more as a corrector there, but in Mytishchi he will be assigned a different role.
Adam Clendening
Photo: Frank Jansky/Zuma/TASS
Of course, one cannot pay a little more attention to the first pick of the NHL draft, Nail Yakupov. He is already arguably the greatest achievement of the Chinese team’s ambitions, and he is not just a big name. It is possible, of course, that such a transition was possible only due to the lack of other options for continuing his career, but the very fact of such a transition shows that Kunlun is serious about the possibility of achieving such a transfer.
What will this seriousness and strong words about medals lead to? There will always be two sides arguing here, the first will be based on the fact that it is necessary to dream and set the highest goals, the second will include the cult quote from the movie “Brother”: “Carry the burden with you so that you do not fall while walking.”
Now let’s analyze the same thing without linking Kravets’ words about medals. It’s great that a team has appeared in the West that will not be a statistic and will seriously compete for the playoffs. And, quite possibly, in eight years we will see the Chinese team there. But it will be almost impossible to go further. After all, the competitors did not rest during the off-season either.
