KHL Season 2017/18
- Thread starter hansomreiste
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Sad to see Vorobiev go, always liked him as a coach and hes been around the metallurg system for years. Not even close to his fault - they lost 3 of top 4 d-men and Schaus/Denisov are no where near adequate replacements. Losing Zaripov is showing its effect, him and Mozyakin chemistry on the PP will never be replicated. Not to mention hopefuls like Shenfeld just having a terrible season. Losing Semin has also been an underrated loss - he was an excellent 2nd liner last season. Basically I dont think there is a team that got turned inside out worse than metallurg.
Go Donbass
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Anyone know how and why Salak fell out of favour in Novosibirsk? He hasn't played in forever, and he recently asked for a trade.
SoundAndFury
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And he is reportedly minutes away from being Loko's goalie.
The story seems simple, Salak wasn't playing great so Sibir went with Krasikov in goal who was playing well, albeit mostly against weak competition. And so he continued playing. Salak felt, that he wasn't given the chance to succeed and said if you do't play me trade me. Which they will because it's the sensible thing. At this point, Salak and his massive salary just isn't worth it for Sibir, trading him is win-win.
The story seems simple, Salak wasn't playing great so Sibir went with Krasikov in goal who was playing well, albeit mostly against weak competition. And so he continued playing. Salak felt, that he wasn't given the chance to succeed and said if you do't play me trade me. Which they will because it's the sensible thing. At this point, Salak and his massive salary just isn't worth it for Sibir, trading him is win-win.
Just checked KHL standings for the 1st time this year.. jaw dropped seeing SKA record. Amazing.
SoundAndFury
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Wait, am I the only one who actually didn't realize until today Spartak is basically in the play-off spot?
Because I figured Dynamo have been horrible for awhile at this point somebody has to be pushing them. And it's Spartak of all things. Didn't really expect it. And they have 1 regulation loss over last 10 games. That is impressive. Also quite impressive is the fact that not only SKA is dominating the league they managed to get their farm club in the play-offs as well.
Because I figured Dynamo have been horrible for awhile at this point somebody has to be pushing them. And it's Spartak of all things. Didn't really expect it. And they have 1 regulation loss over last 10 games. That is impressive. Also quite impressive is the fact that not only SKA is dominating the league they managed to get their farm club in the play-offs as well.
Go Donbass
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It's not just Spartak. Severstal is well in playoff territory and beating Dynamo Moscow in the third as I write this. Neftekhimik are in sight of first in the east, and Amur are now two points out of a playoff spot after they beat Sochi today. Lot's of pleasant surprises this season.
SoundAndFury
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I don't know, somehow Severstal doing well didn't surprise me. They started the season pretty OK, play the same boring albeit hard working style and have a very potent 1st line. A lot of teams achieved moderate success with this recipe.
Neftekhimik as well, they are doing great but as you look at their roster you can see where is it all coming from.
Spartak, however, really surprises me. Even though I said myself that it's not a bad team before the season but after they started it horribly and made so many changes, their success is something I didn't see coming.
Regarding Amur, it's lovely they are relevant but I think it's gonna end as soon as they start playing away from home again. They played 8 out of their last 12 games home so they are close.
Overall, however, I do agree, it's a great season. Other than SKA.
Neftekhimik as well, they are doing great but as you look at their roster you can see where is it all coming from.
Spartak, however, really surprises me. Even though I said myself that it's not a bad team before the season but after they started it horribly and made so many changes, their success is something I didn't see coming.
Regarding Amur, it's lovely they are relevant but I think it's gonna end as soon as they start playing away from home again. They played 8 out of their last 12 games home so they are close.
Overall, however, I do agree, it's a great season. Other than SKA.
Go Donbass
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I never saw Severstal coming, but am loving their season. But boring? They won their 47th game 1-0 tonight, how is that boring
? But you do get the feeling they are one Dmitri Kagarlitsky injury away from their season coming to a grinding halt. Neftekhimik had a couple of really nice off season signings, and ya, you could see them having a decent season. Plus they get some pretty decent goaltending.
Amur is a great story, but ya, I think they tend to get teams at the end of long brutal trips out east and take advantage of their opponents lethargy. They are fun team to watch though, and hope they can keep it up, even though it may be coming at Sibir's expense.
Definitely have a soft spot for Spartak and hope they can keep this momentum going.
SoundAndFury
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Regarding Kagarlitsky's injury - they definitely are. In general, I think their future is all about how they hold up physically. They have 2 import spots open though so maybe they are actually going to add to what is turning out to be a decent team as it is? Someone like Kvapil is still unsigned anywhere.
Some of Neftekhimik's signings were really nice but they also won some gambles. Piganovich came back pretty much better than ever even though before the season I penciled him in more like a stop-gap. Sharipzyanov and Bryntsev are also a lot better than I would have expected. It's not wildly unexpected because I guess Neftekhimik's board had exactly this scenario in mind when they signed all those guys but it is panning out in pretty much best way possible for them, in all cases. Ezhov isn't even doing anything spectacular in goal, just being Ezhov (.924 career average Sv% and .926 this season) but the team in front of him is playing well enough to win.
The real interesting part about Amur to me is do they sell out every decent player like every year or do they actually at least try to go for it, somewhat. They sold Zub on December 1st last year, that time is approaching. There are a lot of teams who could use Byvaltsev for example..
Some of Neftekhimik's signings were really nice but they also won some gambles. Piganovich came back pretty much better than ever even though before the season I penciled him in more like a stop-gap. Sharipzyanov and Bryntsev are also a lot better than I would have expected. It's not wildly unexpected because I guess Neftekhimik's board had exactly this scenario in mind when they signed all those guys but it is panning out in pretty much best way possible for them, in all cases. Ezhov isn't even doing anything spectacular in goal, just being Ezhov (.924 career average Sv% and .926 this season) but the team in front of him is playing well enough to win.
The real interesting part about Amur to me is do they sell out every decent player like every year or do they actually at least try to go for it, somewhat. They sold Zub on December 1st last year, that time is approaching. There are a lot of teams who could use Byvaltsev for example..
Go Donbass
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Neftekhimik also got that Ogurtsev ( I think that's his name) from the CSKA MHL team. He's having a real nice season for them as well. I like this team. They play well defensively as you said, but they also go on the attack and generate offensive chances, which makes them a fun team to watch. It's too bad I see so many empty seats at their home games.
If Amur is this close and sell off their assets at this point, I think it might totally kill off any fan interest in Khabarovsk. I know Yugra have never been a really hot ticket in Khanti Mantsysk, but they always did fairly well attendance wise until the year they sold Gusev to SKA, half way through the year when they were sitting in fourth place at the time. After that their attendance tanked along with the team and it's never recovered. The worst thing you can do is say to your fan base, "Sorry even though we have a decent team and a real shot at the playoffs, we're gonna kill any hope you may have of seeing a playoff game this year". But then again it is European hockey and the almighty (insert currency name here) always rules.
If Amur is this close and sell off their assets at this point, I think it might totally kill off any fan interest in Khabarovsk. I know Yugra have never been a really hot ticket in Khanti Mantsysk, but they always did fairly well attendance wise until the year they sold Gusev to SKA, half way through the year when they were sitting in fourth place at the time. After that their attendance tanked along with the team and it's never recovered. The worst thing you can do is say to your fan base, "Sorry even though we have a decent team and a real shot at the playoffs, we're gonna kill any hope you may have of seeing a playoff game this year". But then again it is European hockey and the almighty (insert currency name here) always rules.
SoundAndFury
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Ogurtsov is CSKA product but he is already playing his 3rd season for Neftekhimik. Was one of the few known quantities on that team before the start of the season.
SoundAndFury
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And it's announced now Magnitka are getting Bereglazov back as well for a year. As they should. Vorobyov's firing looks even more mistimed now. If you do understand your roster was inadequate why fire the coach? In a second their defense went from being terrible to being best ever they have had, probably. But no, still, the coach had to be fired. Got to love that logic.
SoundAndFury
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Salak is playing today so it puts all that "insider info" about him moving to Loko at ease. Obviously he wouldn't be playing if any kind of deal was close.
Go Donbass
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Ya, firing Vorobyov made no sense. It's the same coach that won a Gagarin Cup and went to another Gagarin Cup in consecutive years. Clearly he wasn't the issue.
Would be great if Salak finished the season at least. Sibir are playing well this year, way above expectations, and if they can get into the playoffs, a hot goalie like Salak could them a round or two deep. First game back for Sibir are against Neftekhimik, so that will be a nice test of where they are competitively, in the east at least.
Would be great if Salak finished the season at least. Sibir are playing well this year, way above expectations, and if they can get into the playoffs, a hot goalie like Salak could them a round or two deep. First game back for Sibir are against Neftekhimik, so that will be a nice test of where they are competitively, in the east at least.
Alessandro Seren Rosso
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SoundAndFury
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Dueling Banjos
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Barys are good this season. Attractive team. And now they try that 4-3 play in overtime. It adds even more fun into their games.
Go Donbass
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After today's win we're only 2 points shy of 8th.... With one game in hand.... Dreaming is still allowed...
Definitely loving the Amur story this year, but my goodness that was a huge win for Sibir over Barys today.
SoundAndFury
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I honestly cannot explain how is Sibir destroying Barys so bad every time they meet.
Regarding Amur, they have 1 game left of the 8 game home stand. It's lovely that they managed to hang around playoff spot but realistically, they need to start winning away from home if they want to make. Which, needless to say, is tough.
Regarding Amur, they have 1 game left of the 8 game home stand. It's lovely that they managed to hang around playoff spot but realistically, they need to start winning away from home if they want to make. Which, needless to say, is tough.
Go Donbass
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He's definitely playing much better than Salak right now. If Salak wants a trade, his play of late is really dropping his value. He looked awful in the game against Neftekhimik. If and when he gets traded I sure hope it's to a team like SKA or CSKA, who could really use a decent player or two
SoundAndFury
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Well CSKA or SKA don't need a goalie, that's for sure. Loko and Ak Bars do but I guess they think they can't make it work with 5 import rule.
