Probably the main hockey knowledge of the Russian national team is the idea of the Apertura Cup. The further we go, the more obvious it becomes why the Discovery Cup is not played in the KHL. Last season there was only one contender for this award, and September shows that they have not lost energy during the summer and their competitors are still far behind.
There has never before been a team in the league that gives playing time with such incredible confidence, no, not even to the young guys, to the guys. In the opening match of the championship in Torpedo there was a place for two 17-year-old masked players: striker Artamonov and defender Silaev. Furthermore, the first played just over 13 minutes and the second spent an entire time on the ice.
About Torpedo’s preseason:
“Instead of cylinders and running, it’s empty.” Larionov prepares Torpedo for the KHL season in an unconventional way
Silaev, a seven-foot-tall college kid, is on pace for a point per game (he has three assists), and we’d probably talk about him more enthusiastically if it weren’t for Vasily Atanasov. Right now, the 20-year-old forward eclipses everything that is unique and amazing about Torpedo.
Atanasov shares the lead among the tournament’s top scorers. He has four goals and three assists. Seven points, the same as those scored by Nikolai Goldobin of Spartak and Vitaly Pinchuk of Dynamo Minsk. Radulov, Shipachev, Yashkin, Tolchinsky, Tkachev – all the star and highest-paid players in the league are below.
But the main thing is not that Vasily accumulates statistics; What is even more important is HOW you do it. The most supernatural moment starring Atanasov can already be among the candidates for the best goal of the year. With seven touches, the forward humiliated the SKA defense and made a charitable pass to his teammate Kirill Voronin. Atanasov’s parade impressed even Larionov senior: on the bench he smiled as if he himself wanted to receive this transfer.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. You can watch the video on the league’s official YouTube channel.
The day before, on September 8, Atanasov scored a double in the match against Dinamo Minsk. The first goal was the result of a quick advance down the flank; To score the second, the short forward (175 cm) cleared.
“God willing, he will not have any injuries – a guy who weighs 67-68 kilograms,” Larionov explained in an interview with the YouTube channel “Cherkas-Atlant.” With his modest dimensions, NHL clubs overlooked Vasily in the draft. “This weight doesn’t scare me, it’s just that some things happen… I want to take care of him, not carry some kind of responsibility for his fragile things.” The boy is extraordinary. I think in a year or two he will get stronger and stronger.
I think if all goes well, we will get signals from NHL scouts and general managers in December. Today the brain is the main thing. It is clear that growth is needed, strength is needed. I won’t name names: a couple of general managers who work in the NHL say they have three or four people who think, and the rest run, skate, shoot fast, but they don’t know how to play hockey.
Atanasov made his KHL debut the previous season, scoring five points in eight games, including a spectacular shootout. In total, Vasily played 32 games in the regular season and 10 in the playoffs. An injury prevented him from achieving more: the hockey player recovered from the operation in two months.
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. The video can be seen on the official MHL YouTube channel.
After being eliminated in the second round by SKA, Torpedo sent Atanasov to Chaika, who continued their journey through the MHL playoffs. The striker immediately strengthened the youth team, starting with a hat-trick against his former team, Mamontov Ugra. Vasily has been playing for the Khanty-Mansiysk team since 2019 and in the third season he became their trump card. In the 2021/22 championship, Atanasov scored 68 points in 54 games and then moved to Nizhny Novgorod. The player’s contract with Torpedo is valid until 2025. The forward took his first steps on the ice in his native Nizhny Tagil and as a teenager he played for Dynamo St. Petersburg.
“I have gained confidence and I am ready to demonstrate my hockey in the KHL,” Atanasov did not have time to give many interviews yet, but in each one he spoke very specifically and freely. – There is no dizziness because of the points you scored in the first two games. We have preserved our core and thanks to this we act with more confidence. Last year we were young, this year we feel a little more solid. “We’ve gotten used to the KHL.”
Vasily spoke even more briefly and clearly during halftime in the MHL playoff game against Loko. When the correspondent asked him why he couldn’t score, the forward didn’t think twice: “In the end it doesn’t work. Now we will score, we will score opportunities. “I’m going to score now.”
Video rights belong to KHL LLC. The video can be seen on the official MHL YouTube channel.
Five minutes and five seconds after the resumption of play, Atanasov scored, taking advantage of a pass from the blue line.
