I always wondered about this. How many foreigners who play in the KHL for an extended time learn Russian? Can Dawes or Da Costa speak decent Russian? Do they use translators at practices, or does the coaching staff switch back and forth between English and Russian?
Most foreign players don't go beyond being able to order at a restaurant. All because English is used way too much on the bench. I get it that many russian players speak a least some English anyway. Look, on AkBars Tikhonov, Galiev, Pedan, Burmistrov all speak English. Add the foreigners and it's nearly half the team. I personally don't like it at all. There should be a strict policy of learning Russian.
But this has nothing to do with talking on the ice among say an all foreign or line like in the case you mentioned. On the ice it can even be a tactical move to not let the other team know hwat you are talking about
But at team meetings, during debriefs and stuff like that there should be just Russian and the foreigners should give it an effort and learn at least all the hockey basics. The practice of constantly translating back and forth and usinfg assistants as translators is absurd.
I kinda like the case of Torpedo here. Nemirovsky the headcoach is fluent in Russian and English obviously.
I understand they really don't want to pay Peters compensation but damn this team is a train wreck at the moment...
