Is Russia in danger?

[alce]

Lol, I played ice-hockey for 9 years with current Liiga and KHL players in my youth. My dad played in the Soviet system. Yeah. I know stuff you only can dream about online.

But continue on.

Oh, yes, LOL indeed. Who cares where have you played? We are talking about popularity of sports, aren't we? You don't need a f***ing inside information for that. My 40+ years of living in USSR/Russia is enough for me to judge it myself. It's not like we are talking about something that's on about the same level. Football is at least 10 times more popular than all remaining team sports combined. It always was that way and always will be. Lol, even f***ing hockey players are football fans in Russia (like Ovechkin for example). Any banal news about Spartak or Zenith will generate at least 10 times more comments on sport sites than anything hockey related. A football player had retired few weeks ago and there was a big discussion about goal he conceded in WC qualification about 20 years ago. 20 f***ing years. Nobody, except only hardcore fans, even remember who had played 20 years ago in Olympic hockey tournament. That how big difference between popularity of hockey and football in Russia is.

 

[WadeRedden]

Yeah Russia is fine.

Canada has way more elite players but Russia will always have enough to ice a team that could contend for gold at a best-on-best. I was immensely impressed with Sergachev and especially Provorov when I watched them play live in Ottawa this year. Both are studs and will be brilliant shutdown guys for Russia at the 2020 World Cup of Hockey. They're set at the goaltending position obv and goalscoring is never an issue for them.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Let's stay on topic please.

 

[Critical13]

If anything Russias defense will be even better than it is now. All these young blueliners will be in their prime.

Sergachev
Tryamkin
Provorov
Gavrikov
Zadorov
Rykov

Their defense will be fine for Russias standard.

I might be alone in thinking this, but that looks very weak for a superpower.

 

[cg98]

I might be alone in thinking this, but that looks very weak for a superpower.

Key words here are Russia's standard. Also Orlov and Voynov will be more than serviceable for another best on best tournament.

 

[Bear12Good]

Eh looks okay. An elite young goaltender, some young defencemen better than Russia has had in 20 years. Forwards don't match Ovechkin/Malkin/Datsyuk.Kovalchuk but it isn't like those guys came close to winning anything big. Russia's player development is a bit different that that of many other nations in that some guys (Kucherov, Panarin in recent times) come into their own a bit later than usual. Russia with a top goaltender, some elite defencemen and worse (but not significantly so) forwards is more dangerous than Russia with three lines of dangerous forwards and little else.

+ Dadonov for example.

 

[Bear12Good]

Yeah Russia is fine.

Canada has way more elite players but Russia will always have enough to ice a team that could contend for gold at a best-on-best. I was immensely impressed with Sergachev and especially Provorov when I watched them play live in Ottawa this year. Both are studs and will be brilliant shutdown guys for Russia at the 2020 World Cup of Hockey. They're set at the goaltending position obv and goalscoring is never an issue for them.

Agree. But Team Russia always play not good in allstars touraments . Like team England in soccer.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Agree. But Team Russia always play not good in allstars touraments . Like team England in soccer.

england in soccer do not have very good players , 2010 was the last time they had a good team. they are on the level of russia,sweden, denmark right now

 

[Bear12Good]

england in soccer do not have very good players , 2010 was the last time they had a good team. they are on the level of russia,sweden, denmark right now

I dont agree. Sterling,Henderson,Stones,Kane,Vardi, Young and etc top players

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Their 96 D was much better than what they currently have. It had Zubov, Kasperitis, Zhitnik and Karpotsov. They also had Konstantiov who missed the tourney (don't remember why he didn't get into that horrific accident until June of 1997) and they also had an up and coming Gonchar. They also had a veteran in Fetisov. Provorov and Sergachev are going to have to both be top 10 defenders in the world to off-set the depth of those Russian teams. Zubov was one of the best offensive defenders in the game and Kasperitis among the most feared. Konstantinov was an elite all-around player (he finished 4th in Norris voting that year and 2nd the next). Guys like Karpotsov and Zhitnik were legitimate #2 or #3 defenders on most teams. Russia has ways to go to recapture that depth.

Yep. You also forgot Malakhov, who was considered a #1D back during his 90s heyday.

 

[maximafinogenov7]

sweden is also in danger

Are you f***ing kidding me?

 

[Spirit of 67]

What kind of danger?

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

I dont agree. Sterling,Henderson,Stones,Kane,Vardi, Young and etc top players

Russian hockey players are better than English football players. We have other kinds of problems.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

When i look at Russia u-25 players they are not really that good and i dont see that big potential.

in nhl they only have one superstar under 25 and that is kucherov. in khl they have kaprizov and gusev but its not certain they would be superstars or even very good nhlers.

buchnevich a 40 pointer in nhl is the best they have behind kucherov, then its yakupov, goldobin, barbashoyv, slepyshev, zykov, scherbak, mamin and khlers like grigorenko, nichushkin....they are all mediocre and i dont really see any big potential in these guys. Evgeni Svechnikov looks like a bust so far.

when it comes to d-man they have provorov, zadarov, sergchyov....there is nobody else in that level from what i can see. behind these guys there is only mediocre d-mans.

goalies are good.

when i compare russia u25 players to the u25 players from usa, canada and finland there is no doubt that russia are miles behind.

i am not bashing russia, sweden is also in danger, looks like sweden/russia in the future will be on czech/switzerland/slovakia level with canada/usa/finland at the top.

am i correct? cheers.

With all the due respect, I think that you are watching things more from an NHL point of view. There's Gusev, there's Kaprizov. Players can also get from nowhere and become solid NHLers like Zaitsev.
Russia always had good players and always will. Problems lay in other areas, definitely not in the talents area

 

[Eye of Ra]

Are you ****ing kidding me?

nope

look at u25 swedish forwards and goalies, its not that good.

 

[Bear12Good]

nope

look at u25 swedish forwards and goalies, its not that good.

Dansk good goalie

 

[Eye of Ra]

I dont agree. Sterling,Henderson,Stones,Kane,Vardi, Young and etc top players

sterling, henderson, stones, young are decent players but not very good players, the only reason they play for such good teams is because they are english. vardy is nothing special. kane yeah he is world class.

england is not on same level as spain, portugal, brazil, argentine, germany, belgium, france, they are miles behind this teams.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Dansk good goalie

because of 10 good games? not really.

 

[Kshahdoo]

When i look at Russia u-25 players they are not really that good and i dont see that big potential.

in nhl they only have one superstar under 25 and that is kucherov. in khl they have kaprizov and gusev but its not certain they would be superstars or even very good nhlers.

buchnevich a 40 pointer in nhl is the best they have behind kucherov, then its yakupov, goldobin, barbashoyv, slepyshev, zykov, scherbak, mamin and khlers like grigorenko, nichushkin....they are all mediocre and i dont really see any big potential in these guys. Evgeni Svechnikov looks like a bust so far.

when it comes to d-man they have provorov, zadarov, sergchyov....there is nobody else in that level from what i can see. behind these guys there is only mediocre d-mans.

goalies are good.

when i compare russia u25 players to the u25 players from usa, canada and finland there is no doubt that russia are miles behind.

i am not bashing russia, sweden is also in danger, looks like sweden/russia in the future will be on czech/switzerland/slovakia level with canada/usa/finland at the top.

am i correct? cheers.

How many 5 vs 5 points did McJesus score, playing vs shity KHL defensemen like Gavrikov (who is younger, than Zadorov) and Kiselevich? Gavrikov is very underrated, but he's already the best Russian defensive defenseman (even with NHLers) and showing some offensive potential as well. Tryamkin is still raw, but he's 23, and it takes some time to develop such big defensemen (look at Chara and Hedman). Of course, Gavrikov and Tryamkin need to get to the NHL as soon as possible...

Russian defense will become top 3 in the world in a couple of years. Russian netminders are the best in the world. And our offense will somehow survive...

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Of course, Gavrikov and Tryamkin need to get to the NHL as soon as possible...

To what purpose? I think that Yakovlev needs to go there much more than Gavrikov or Tryamkin.

 

[vorky]

You talk about U20 - U25 players, so born 1993-1998. They started with hockey in late 90 or early 00, the period of chaos in Russia. By chaos I mean bad economic-social enviroment in the country. There was a lack of money, hockey development suffered, especially if the best players/coaches moved abroad. One poster blamed the KHL for lack of money in hockey development. That is not true, a lot of money has been invested into hockey - including youth hockey - since the KHL´s establishment. It is naive to think that without the KHL, all these money would be invested into youth hockey. No, it would not. And do not forget that the KHL launched nation-wide junior league (the MHL). There was no such a league before. By saying this, I do not understand why a poster blames the KHL.

Yes, all can be done better. The FHR is responsible for youth hockey (U6 - U17), so if you want to blame anybody, the FHR is a place to start with. The FHR wants to reform a develpment prgram, but they started the work one or two years ago. They are working on modern developing methods, building of small rinks, launching regional hockey centers/academies etc.

Last but not least, there is too many Russian prospects moving abroad. There is no reason to do this en masse. The FHR approved new agent licence program. Hope, they will stop agents from taking prospects abroad.

 

[Yakushev72]

The issue is not whether there are a few Russian talents or even superstars. Of course, there are a few superstars like Ovechkin and Malkin. But if you are a Russian, in comparison to a Finn, a Swede, or a Canadian, and you have outstanding physical talent, what are the chances that your talents will be identified, recruited, trained, and developed? If you are from a rabid and wealthy hockey nation like Sweden, Canada, or Finland, there is a zero percent chance that if you have talent, you won't be identified and recruited. You will have every opportunity to develop your talent as far as you are capable.

On the other hand, if you are Russian and have a lot of natural talent for hockey, I would estimate your opportunity to be identified at somewhere between 15 to 25%. The other 75-85% do not have access to hockey that would allow identification other than by accident. And then, only 5 or 6 regions have a city where there is qualified coaching to reach even elemental levels of development. The Traktor school is a huge outlier to the vast indifferent hockey wasteland outside those centers. And no one in a position to change this shows any interest in doing so.

 

[kp61c]

england in soccer do not have very good players , 2010 was the last time they had a good team. they are on the level of russia,sweden, denmark right now

our soccer team is beyond brutal, i doubt england is on the same level

 

[Ducks76]

I dont agree. Sterling,Henderson,Stones,Kane,Vardi, Young and etc top players

our soccer team is beyond brutal, i doubt england is on the same level

For England give it in the world of soccer a horrible word: GERMANY! !

 

[Sentinel]

Lol, I played ice-hockey for 9 years with current Liiga and KHL players in my youth. My dad played in the Soviet system. Yeah. I know stuff you only can dream about online.

But continue on.

He is actually closer to the truth that you are. The only time hockey was anything close to soccer is late 60s and 70s, when there was a semblance of competition in the Vysshaya Liga, and people like Starshinov and Firsov, and then Harlamov and Maltsev captured the minds of millions. In the Tihonov era, with all competitiveness gone from hockey and soccer doing reasonably well domestically and internationally (Lobanovsky), soccer left hockey in the dust.