The defense was the weakness throughout the WC tournament, in my opinion. They had great difficulty clearing the puck out of the Russian zone, and with opposing forwards cycling around, and the puck pinballing all over the place, eventually the puck ends up in your net.
For this, I think Bykov and Zakharkin are responsible. They are responsible for organizing a breakout play that the defensemen can execute. It has to be coordinated with the forwards, and the defensemen have to be able to get rid of the puck right away, without having to take the time to stop or look around. The Russians did not have an effective breakout play, and it cost them in this tournament.
Russia used the stretch pass a lot, passing from inside their own zone to the opposite blue line. That play was effective in 2008, but the other teams are ready for it now, and stack up along the blue line. They just kept trying it, unfortunately, which I interpret to mean that Bykov and Zakharkin failed to change tactics, even though they weren't working.
a lot of true stuff in here,
I'd like to add: I agree that the quality of the first pass was a big problem, and the all-around smartness on D is probably on a historical low. but for the lack of coordination, the forwards are guilty as well, their lack of support (or sharing the puck smartly) and poor positioning, when coming through the neutral zone was a big concern. and if you have to recieve a mediocre long pass, and you allready stand on the toes of 3 opposing players, don't dangle (except you are Datsyuk), but redirect it and go hard. I repeat, I still miss this element in most russian players' minds, it would make their game so much less predictable, and eventually much harder to play against, when it's executed correctly.
Their D system has been all the same through all years with Bykov, IMO, it's a passive , controlling system, taking out passing lines. Keeping the opponent's play on the perimeter, more than forcing the clearence of the zone. they are constantly weak in holding their own blueline. It's effective when perfectly executed (like in the 3rd period against CAN at the WC 2009), but it's a bit anacronistic.
I know time changes memory, but IIRC, the WC-Final win 2008 and the loss at the OG against Canada. I had the same feelings in both games through most of the game. Completely outplayed both times in the first period by a stronger,simpler, smarter and fast-playing system, with the Russians struggeling heavily to pass the canadian blue line. IMO, if the quality had been a bit higher in Canada's team 2008 they could have finished Russia through 2 periods, they missed several open-net plays on the backdoor. And than a combination of Canada getting more passive on D, opening the blueline, and the unbroken, desperate passion in Russia's team turned this game into one of my alltime favourites.
they won despite their system.
or generally put, when I started watching hockey (mid 80s), Russia had the best system on international level, nowadays it's one of the worst...
