AkBars Kazan 2017/2018 Champions Thread

[Atas2000]

Official roster as of now:

Goaltenders:

No.
30. Alexandr Sharychenkov
77. Emil' Garipov

Defencemen

No.
16. Roman Abrosimov
24. Vasiliy Tokranov
26. Roman Manukhov
31. Mihail Sidorov
32. Rafael' Batyrshin
33. Al'bert Yarullin
53. Timur Fatkullin
52. Atte Ohtamaa
64. Damir Musin
79. Andrei Markov
83. Maxim Salakhov
96. Nikita Lyamkin

Forwards

9. Andrej Popov
10. Anton Glinkin
11. Nikita Yaz'kov
12. Mihail Gluhov
15. Aleksandr Svitov
18. Yaroslav Kosov
22. Stanislav Galiev
25. Danis Zaripov
34. Dmitriy Obuhov
42. Vladislav Kara
49. Rob Klinkhammer
51. Justin Azevedo
55. Vladimir Tkachev
58. Anton Lander
69. Alexandr Burmistrov
89. Artem Lukoyanov
92. Jiri Sekac
97. Alexei Potapov
98. Fyodor Malykhin

Arena:
Главная | TATNEFT ARENA / ТАТНЕФТЬ АРЕНА
Official site:
Официальный сайт хоккейного клуба "Ак Барс" (ООО "СКП "Татнефть-Ак Барс"). Главная страница

Official YouTube Channel: Ak Bars

Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/ak_bars_ru

Click to read more...

 

[Atas2000]

Preview:

Projected lineup:

Zaripov - Tkachyov - Malyhin

Azevedo - Lander - Sekac

Glinkin - Popov - Lukoyanov

Arhipov - Svitov - Chibisov

Young contenders: Lazarev - Miheev - Tyanulin

Yarullin - Batyrshin

Ohtamaa - Tokranov

Musin - Zaharchuk

Sidorov - Abrosimov

Lyamkin, Fatkullin

Garipov
Bilyalov

The roster depth remains. The offence can be shuffled a lot if needed. Injuries and rotation will give young guys chances. The D is more mature and is basically set with the mix of youth and experience, offence and physicality. Sidorov and Lyamkin are the ones I expect big steps forward from. Bilyalov finally is on the big team. I am eager to see how he performs as a backup. I am not a fan of Garipov because he stopped growing and is still prone to mistakes, especially in big games. He is still a good starter for now.

 

[1909]

Andrei Markov going your way ?

 

[Atas2000]

Andrei Markov going your way ?

I reserve judgement until I hear something from a proven source. And I even have sources close to the team and until now I heard nothing of certainty.

 

[WildcatMapleLeafs28]

Where will Alexander Khovanov play this year ?

 

[Milos Krasic]

Where will Alexander Khovanov play this year ?

Atas may have extra insight, but I would imagine it's Irbis Kazan - Ak Bars' MHL team.

 

[Milos Krasic]

Also, I would assume Ak Bars is free from the financial commitment to Zaripov now. If they signed Markov, that's a lot of money, but will they sign another forward? They just released Grigorenko too.

 

[Atas2000]

Where will Alexander Khovanov play this year ?

Khovanov is officially listed on the Irbis roster for the MHL

 

[Atas2000]

Also, I would assume Ak Bars is free from the financial commitment to Zaripov now. If they signed Markov, that's a lot of money, but will they sign another forward? They just released Grigorenko too.

The attempt to sign Radulov means the front office is in the time to end the rebuild mode. With a lot of depth beyond the top line also taking the MHL/VHL depth into consideration and a lot of youth pushing for spots they will be looking for an (unexpected) elite signing. There is more than enough money there. There just aren't any valuable enough free agents out there.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Also I don't think they want to jump the gun this badly, they will wait to reinvest the Zaripov money until his story is done and dusted after the appeals etc. So I don't think they feel free/want to luck for something else just yet.

 

[Atas2000]

It is official. Andrei Markov signed a 2 year deal and will join the team in preparation for the season wearing his usual 79.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a General!

 

[tsamolotoff]

Projected lineup:

Zaripov - Tkachyov - Malyhin

Azevedo - Lander - Sekac

Glinkin - Popov - Lukoyanov

Arhipov - Svitov - Chibisov

Young contenders: Lazarev - Miheev - Tyanulin

Yarullin - Batyrshin

Ohtamaa - Tokranov

Musin - Zaharchuk

Sidorov - Abrosimov

Lyamkin, Fatkullin

Garipov
Bilyalov

I like these lines (when I looked at the current roster I wrote something like that down a few weeks ago), with the exception that I think there would be 3 pairs + sidorov instead of 4 pairs and Abrosimov would probably be the pickup in case someone is LTIRed or gets an 'injury of the upper part of the body' like Bill used to say few years ago. Hopefully both Markov and Galiev would adapt to the wide rinks and bring some more offense to the team.

In any case, judging from the preseason games, it seems our hockey would get somewhat more offensive than it used to be, although it can be just the fact that the team is still learning how to play in the mid (although it looks quite different from the previous two seasons). It seems that Lander is an okay addition to the team (Sekac also did not impress me initially, but he was a true beast in the playoffs, same is true about Ohtaamaa).

Now we just need another top-6 forward (in case Zaripov is not cleared of all charges), and probably the management should have aggressively pushed to sign Nilssen when he was a free agent, not sure we can really win the cup against both SKA monsters without a good goalie

 

[Atas2000]

I like these lines (when I looked at the current roster I wrote something like that down a few weeks ago), with the exception that I think there would be 3 pairs + sidorov instead of 4 pairs and Abrosimov would probably be the pickup in case someone is LTIRed or gets an 'injury of the upper part of the body' like Bill used to say few years ago. Hopefully both Markov and Galiev would adapt to the wide rinks and bring some more offense to the team.

In any case, judging from the preseason games, it seems our hockey would get somewhat more offensive than it used to be, although it can be just the fact that the team is still learning how to play in the mid (although it looks quite different from the previous two seasons). It seems that Lander is an okay addition to the team (Sekac also did not impress me initially, but he was a true beast in the playoffs, same is true about Ohtaamaa).

Now we just need another top-6 forward (in case Zaripov is not cleared of all charges), and probably the management should have aggressively pushed to sign Nilssen when he was a free agent, not sure we can really win the cup against both SKA monsters without a good goalie

The lines are obviously made before the Markov signing and the Zaripov situation.

Obviously a defenceman falls down the chart now. But it will really depend on how fast Markov can adapt to the rink and the system. If he can eat up top pairing minutes right away I can see some really solid pairings and an amazing 1st PP unit.

Sekac - Azevedo - Tkachyov

Tokranov/Yarullin - Markov

With Markov and Tkachyov dispatching other teams should stay out of the box really.

I do not expect much from Galiev. That is no big secret. I hope for more boost from the young guard down the stretch.

I stopped watching pre-season games long ago because I think they don't indicate much. The rosters aren't exactly close to opening day roster. And Bill stated himself he sees one line set so far. Obviously the foreigners line:

Azevedo - Lander - Sekac

Even with Zaripov we would need another top 6 forwatd.

And I am not a fan of foreign goalies for now. I am not worried about goaltending as it is now either.

 

[tsamolotoff]

Azevedo - Lander - Sekac

+ Svitov for the PP. Looks working quite nicely at this moment, although Azevedo is probably a huge liability defense-wise in a 1-defender PP setup.

 

[Atas2000]

+ Svitov for the PP. Looks working quite nicely at this moment, although Azevedo is probably a huge liability defense-wise in a 1-defender PP setup.

I'd like to see Svitov on the 2nd unit.

Pre-season games are so misleading with the incomplete and shuffled rosters.

I like Azevedo on the PP because he is good at faceoffs. Always a good option to keep posession in the offensive zone with 2 guys good at faceoffs.

He is also not bad defensively at all.

The 2nd unit is a bit of a headache now with the Zaripov fail. We need that top 6 forward.

 

[Atas2000]

And the last moves before the opener. Lazarev to Torpedo. That's how those moves to NA work out for them. Many of his peers are established KHLers by now.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

So today it's first Ak Bars game. Go Barsy!

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

And the last moves before the opener. Lazarev to Torpedo. That's how those moves to NA work out for them. Many of his peers are established KHLers by now.

Sadly, so true. I remember it wasn't more than three or four years ago when Lazarev and Nikolishin were thought as the new Malkin and Ovechkin. Of course it was exaggerated, but they did were the best 96 players back in the days.

 

[tsamolotoff]

There's rumours going off about team getting rid of Ohtamaa to buy Athanasiou. That would be kind of risky decision, Ohtamaa is a proven play-off fighter while the DRW greek is kind of wild card.

Also, Atlas was right about Galiev - not sure if bying him was worth it. It's kinda good that Zaripov was disqualified, having both of them on the same line would be even worse than Yak on defense.

 

[WildcatMapleLeafs28]

Any updates on Khovanov ?

 

[Atas2000]

Any updates on Khovanov ?

Oh joy! My posts are gone...

There is expectedly no news on Khovanov. He is off the roster and will need at least 6 months of treatment.

 

[tsamolotoff]

Yeah, well, replying to what was already gone, lol - I'm much more positive about this season than you - I really don't think buying @ was an option for the team - not sure if he can live peacefully along with Bill, he couldn't cope with Ryasensky and Zina, who are probably much more reasonable players than Radulov.


Still, I don't see the reason to paint everything in doom and gloom - it's probably the first season we did not loose key players and got sensible upgrades, it's just the fact that Tkachev had some sort of slump in the first 10 games, galimov not performing that great (although he's improving in a fashion, still a black hole defensively) and our goalies ... let's just not talk about them. Also, I think that Klinkhammer is more of a depth player (like Huvenen or Kukumberg) rather than a top line winger, but at least he's responsible defensively unlike Chibisov or Galiev.

 

[Atas2000]

Yeah, well, replying to what was already gone, lol - I'm much more positive about this season than you - I really don't think buying @ was an option for the team - not sure if he can live peacefully along with Bill, he couldn't cope with Ryasensky and Zina, who are probably much more reasonable players than Radulov.


Still, I don't see the reason to paint everything in doom and gloom - it's probably the first season we did not loose key players and got sensible upgrades, it's just the fact that Tkachev had some sort of slump in the first 10 games, galimov not performing that great (although he's improving in a fashion, still a black hole defensively) and our goalies ... let's just not talk about them. Also, I think that Klinkhammer is more of a depth player (like Huvenen or Kukumberg) rather than a top line winger, but at least he's responsible defensively unlike Chibisov or Galiev.

Klinkhammer is just getting better and better. Tkachev is back. Markov is slow.

And we are headed into the most decisive road trip that will basically define tis team.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Some Galiev guy with a 3 point game.

 

[Atas2000]

Some Galiev guy with a 3 point game.

Oh joy! Because he is on the line with some 5 points guy. Relax, Galiev will never be worth much on his own.