KHL Season 2017/18

[joshyhockey26]

Love the preview! Can't wait for the season kick off

 

[SoundAndFury]

So, part 2.

#9 Torpedo. Got better

Torpedo will basically have an entirely new team so a lot of moving pieces here but looking at their moves today first thing which catches an eye is that they didn't lose many big names, significant players. Dmitri Syomin and Maxim Osipov are two players they would have liked to keep but others, you can see the logic of them being gone. Ashton, Proskuryakov, Shulenin and even Zherdev, I guess, are good players for their roles but not exactly ones you would think about as a huge losses. Incoming meanwhile are big and proven names: Jeglic, Mursak, Kundratek, Kostitsyn, Parshin, Mamashev.. Those guys are bigger and better compared to what Torpedo had so if they click together this team did get a lot better. Maybe their defense doesn't look great but at forward this is great, 4 lines deep team on par with the best in the East.

#10 Traktor. Stayed the same

A bit of a surprise team last year (mostly because how weak the East is, to be honest) they didn't make many changes and I think their goal was to keep the same team minus foreigners that didn't work for them. Long story short, they replaced 3 forwards with 3 little better forwards and 2 defensemen with 2 a bit worse defensemen. Having Bailen and Koltsov on the same team is somewhat brave. Maybe they will add a more defensive-minded D eventually which they need in my opinion later but at this point it seems they didn't get worse but a lot more adventurous.

#11 Vityaz. Got worse

It's hard not to get worse when 4 of your leaders leave to the NHL because you know, it's pretty hard for KHL club to get NHL level talent. They did what they could, their defense got even better with Mozik and Burstrom signed but offensively they are gambling on two KHL rookies from Kalpa to carry the load but I think it's safe to say Jaakko Rissanen is no Miro Aaltonen. Also Biryukov-Saprykin goalie duo really doesn't fill me with confidence.

To be continued..

 

[Atas2000]

KHL training camps are going in full force so out of boredom I decided to write impressions on the teams, if they got better or worse over summer. Partially also to get a better impression what's changed. So lets go.

#1 last year, CSKA. Got a lot better.

CSKA made loads of moves, they got weaker in the crease in theory replacing Fasth with Johansson but not like it really matters. Got better on defense replacing 3 30+ guys (Panin, Kutuzov and Denisov) with 3 guys who are younger AND better (Pashnin, Robinson and Nesterov). Not a huge upgrade but an upgrade nonetheless even though it depends a lot what impact Nesterov has. Biggest improvement comes at forward, CSKA improved their depth at center dramatically and overall skill level significantly by adding every good forward previously on Sibir, Luybimov, Burdasov, Grigorenko and Kaprizov (most likely). Last year it felt like CSKA has one skilled line and 3 lines of grinders, 36 y.o. Popov was their 2nd line center which is just sad. Now they have to make some moves as they have too many players but that's sort of a good problem to have. Not a fan of sacking Kvartalnov, really think this roster could be amazing in his hands

#2 SKA. Got slightly(?) worse.

SKA on the other hand didn't do much, didn't need to do much. Added their 3 depth forwards and 2 defensemen to have a nice 30 player roster. Why not, am I right? However they lost 2 superstars of the league and will be forced to replace them with mere mortals, also Datsyuk got even older. Hence they got worse.

#3 Magnitka. Got (a lot) worse.

Magnitka is either in conscious rebuild mode or forced not having money mode. But they replaced Chris Lee with a guy who was forced to go to Europe because he didn't find an AHL job (4 years ago but still). That paints the picture. Downgrades across the board with defense being a complete smoking wreck in particular. I like most of their signings to be honest but obviously the amount of money spent on them is a lot lower when we were used to.

#4 Dynamo Moscow. Got a lot worse.

Dynamo understandably won't be the same team we are used to see but things aren't terrible either. Their roster is still obviously under construction and losing Karpov or Robinson obviously stings but if you are building it around Hietanen, Boyd and Karsums it's really not that bad. Dynamo seem to become a play-off contender in that Vityaz mold.

#5 Lokomotiv. Got slightly worse.

Very, very quiet summer for Loko. No impact signings. 3 quality players - Gavrikov, Pashnin and Loktionov - left to where the grass is greener (and it is undoubtedly a lot greener for the former 2) but they can take a hit on defense due to their excellent depth and their kids will take a step forward. So all in all, those are big losses that sort of heal from within, I think.

#6 Avangard. Stayed the same.

Now this is tricky. Avangard improved their depth but at the same time, Sobotka was most likely better player than Sundstrom, Ilya Zubov is better than Stas. Burdasov and Pestushko are more or less equal to Everberg and Kugryshev. So at the end of the day Ava got better by adding Maxim Berezin and forward depth but worse by losing good players at key positions. Really interesting to see how it plays out. Being at the same level when most teams got worse isn't a bad thing, also Skabelka > Kanareikin. So yeah, one of the more interesting teams to see in the new season.

#7 Ak Bars. Got slightly better.

Also a quiet summer, made their VHL team a lot better by signing bunch of Kuznya guys, replaced Varnakov with Zaripov which to me seems pretty lateral at this stage of Zaripov's career but also signed Lander and Galiev which overall improves that forward group a lot. Defense is a question mark as Elliot and Jordan who left are holes that will have to be filled but I'm pretty sure those are going to be filled eventually, maybe they are waiting for SKA to come to conclusion they don't want to start the season with 12 defensemen and give them one, wouldn't be the worst plan.

#8 Dinamo Minsk. Got a lot worse.

I was a bit shocked to see Minsk finished 8th in the league last year (but hey comrades, East conference is strong, honest) and they are bound to fall big time unless some miracles happen. They got Enroth to replace leaving Scrivens and brought Vladimir Denisov home. That's solid. At forward, meanwhile, they lost Kostitsyn, Palushaj, Ellison, Stas, Pettersson and potentially even Nikita Komarov. That is crippling. Looks like after year of overachieving Minsk are ready to fight for the place in the play-offs as they had so many years before.

To be continued, I got hungry. Also Torpedo is next and boy is it a head scratcher.

A hilarious biased piece of delusion.

1. Losing Fasth is an improvement. Also how is this relevant to a team with Sorokin in net? Oh, oh, he is russian, I get it. Unproven, young, nearly worthless CSKA's only reason to sign aforeingn goaltender is to have a backup plan for the time when Sorokin leaves, if he leaves at all. They have one of the best starters in net. Their goaltending situation is rock solid.

The Sibir additions are more than questionable on the other hand. Depth players. If CSKA expects them to carry the load they are in trouble. Their main asset is Kaprizov(why most likely?). Other additions will make up for significant losses, but come with question marks. How much damage has NA inflicted on Grigorenko's game?

Replacing vetetans on defence doesn't make it better. Nesterov is a question mark.

Also an expected love affair with Kvartalnov. His hockey was proven ineffective before last season. Letting him go finally was a good thing. The man needs to think about changes. If you are a fan of Kvartalnov's hockey then you are not a fan of CSKA. Dumb hockey doesn't work in the KHL.

There are too many question marks around CSKA. Whether they will figure that out we shall see.

2.SKA lost 2/3 of their top line.They didn't need to do much?

3.Russian team rebuilds after keeping a core for years and winning cups? No money! Clear as day!

Calm down. After winning it all more than once it was expected some players will move on. Young guys trying to make the NHL(some of them shouldn't). Zaripov probably planning a perfect retirement in Tatarstan. And why should they throw money at players now? They are not SKA stupid. They will try to build another core. That is done with patience. It will allow them to do some good signings during the season too. Of course they got worse, but that's the nature of things for teams that are not buying every player they've put their sleepy eye on like SKA.

4.Dynamo a playoff contender? They will make the playoffs. Comfortably.

7.How's Galiev an asset at all? A medoicre AHLer. And you are really trying hard Why would we need SKA's crap? Let them have it. AkBars is definitely not looking for anybody's leftovers. Hate the East as much as you like(I've read your post about Traktor).

The D is good as it is. There is potential from within. No need to jump the gun with unnecessary knee jerk signings. We have 10 D-men signed of which 7 are proven KHLers.

I see the roster as not improved at all. It relies on potential. Many young players gained experience and should take a step forward. Got rid of some underachievers. Except for Lander no big additions. Lander is a good signing on paper.

Zaripov Tkachyov Sekac

Azevedo Lander

is solid.

 

[hansomreiste]

The best part of not having hockey is... Season previews! For anyone interested, Patrick Conway also started his preview which you can follow on his blog here. Some of you are probably familiar with him because he collaborated with our vorky for some of his articles. If sharing other links is forbidden, I'm sorry but I don't think this is the case... This is by no means a promotion or some kind of stupid stuff. Just wanted to share while we are on previews. So, thank you SoundAndFury, honestly I'd read if ten different people wrote previews. It's always good stuff.

I'm also impressed with Atas2000's ability to fight literally everything, though I like the fact that he went on to express why he thinks the way he does. Now someone please tell me something like, "Dude, Avangard/Amur/Torpedo/Traktor has put up a really amazing roster. I'm definitely expecting them to hoist the cup."

 

[SoundAndFury]

<...>

Oh my God, stop with this "biased" BS.

1) Regarding CSKA goaltending situation I wrote "not like it really matters" because obviously they have Sorokin in net. Yet you go on a rant implying I called Sorokin useless.. Just please..

Then you go on calling Shalunov a depth player.. What is this, anti-Sibir bias for causing too much trouble to Ak Bars over the years?

2) Regarding SKA, they had Khokhlachev healthy scratched for half of last season so no, they didn't need to do much other than promote from within. And that's exactly what they done. Isn't that so?

3) They lost Zaripov, Bereglazov, Lee and Antipov. How is that keeping core? They literally lost 3 their best Ds and that's keeping core? Are you high?

7) "How's Galiev an asset at all? A medoicre AHLer. And you are really trying hard Why would we need SKA's crap? Let them have it. AkBars is definitely not looking for anybody's leftovers" - such a proud unbiased opinion Also what's your assessment, Galiev will play in the VHL?

Also the argument that East is super weak has been proven so many times yet somehow you contest it. 8 out of top 12 teams were from the West last year, how can you argue with that, for God's sake.

The best part of not having hockey is... Season previews! For anyone interested, Patrick Conway also started his preview which you can follow on his blog here

With all due respect to him for putting the time in he will always remain the guy who called rag-tag Barys roster cup contenders last year. That just killed his reputation in my eyes.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Ok, part 3.

#12 Jokerit. Got better

It's a gamble but Jokerit might have improved a lot in goal since they got the guy many considered best KHL goalie at one point. And he can't be worse than Helenius so there is that. They rebuilt their defense completely by replacing 4 good Ds with 4 good Ds so it remains to be seen how it plays out but offensively, the only player worth noting the lost is Salminen while they added Palola, Nicklas Jensen, Henri Ikonen and Tolvanen. So obviously they got a lot deeper and better when attacking. However, they still desperately need an adequate 2nd line C (which Hishon wasn't anyway last season).

#13 Barys. Got worse

Much like in Shipachyov's or Lee's cases, you can't really just replace KHL star with something else and not get worse. So Brandon Bochenski is gone and somebody will have to score those goals he isn't going to anymore. Linden Vey is good addition and you can't get much better than that but he isn't a proven commodity. Furthermore, if they will play him on the wing it leaves Corey Trivino as their 2C which isn't great to say the least. Long story short, Barys has two round holes in their roster and only square pegs to fill them. In the West, this roster isn't making the playoffs. In the East, time will tell. Also Barys are no strangers to adding late so maybe they can get at least one more impact forward.

#14 Sochi. Stayed the same, only different

This is the team which is never happy with what they have, it's revolving door every year. A massive overhaul (8 of 10 their top scorers left) but after missing the playoffs maybe you can call it somewhat justified, at least. Again, it's not easy calling if entirely new team is better or worse than something but main takeaways are: 1) really hard to replaced Fantnberg or Petersson, players like that leaving make you weaker; 2) Sochi really didn't try to improve their defense, Renat Mamashev got replaced by Shchitov (both are old and have their issues) but Fantenberg (quite possibly an NHL talent) is probably going to be replaced by.. Andrei Shefer who hasn't played for a year. Hmm... 3) you have to really like their forward group, if Alexei Tsvetkov is your 3rd line center (arguably a 4th line center looking purely at the depth chart but they are just going to play Collins or Onerud on wing, undoubtedly) one would think the team is bloody good. They are also complimented with a lot of scoring wingers. Only thing which is missing in this forward group is star power but that's something that can be easily replaced by good team work. 4) Last year Sochi missed the playoffs because they were hit by injuries very, very hard. Otherwise, this team is better than that.

#15 Salavat Yulaev. Got better because it can't get worse than last season

First of all, let me explain the tittle. Svedberg was sinking this team for 2 years, both by his atrociously terrible play and by his massive salary. So letting him go was addition by subtraction at its best. Let me illustrate the ridiculousness of it a bit further. If goalie saves very solid yet unspectacular 92% of shots over full season that's easily 30 less goals allowed than Svedberg and his 89,7%. And I think Scrivens/Kareyev can get that 92% save percentage without much worries. So that is great. Otherwise, really likable additions by SU but losing Kaprizov make it all go sour. Overall though, really good summer, they cleaned up on terrible contracts (Soin, Grigorenko, Korneyev) and signed guys who are really solid or cheap. Or both (Kareyev, Osipov and Fedorov are at the peak of their value at the moment, I'd think). So a lot better times ahead.

#16 Admiral. Got worse

The team which achieved incredible feet in the KHL - kept all 5 of their foreigners. Amazing. I like this "don't fix what's not broken" approach by them. Having said that, they lost solid role players (Fisenko most notably), signed bad role players and Vladimir Tkachyov currently has no contract with the team. That's bad. If they can get him back (as his rights still belong to them) it will be fine but currently this team looks quite a bit worse.

#17 Slovan. Too early to tell but doesn't look too bad.

Slovan currently has 5 Ds and 10Fs under contract so it is a bit early to judge them. They got worse in goal as it is well documented Janus is no Barry Brust. However, with Taffe and Smolenak reportedly being signed, forward group with Repik, Kaspar, Buchtele and Mikus really doesn't look bad. Looks rather good to be honest. Signings on defense eventually will determine how good this team is.

#18 Kunlun. Improved slightly

Quantity over quality. Tons of new players but how many of the new additions are just undeniably really good? Kinrade, Kulda, Wolski, Kostitsyn, Gynge.. That is more or less it. This team will be a little bit deeper but it's not going to overpower anyone with the sheer quality. Unless someone like Matt Frattin becomes KHL all-star. This team did improve but not as much as it might seem by the overwhelming number of their signings.

#19. Sibir. Got so much worse

Now this one is super easy. Sibir lost half of their quality players and replaced them with absolutely mediocre ones. Really a different Sibir when we were used to see. Salak, Polasek and Sannikov really have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Also, Atas, what are your arguments for calling Kvartalnov's hockey ineffective? His systems crush teams and produce undoubtedly the best results possesion-wise. His only flaw that you can only compensate for lack of talent for so long and when you meet supremely more talented SKA roster it crumbles. What are the actual arguments for "ineffective" hockey? Has his teams underachieved, ever? How ineffective was it when Sibir kicked out like 4 times richer Ak Bars in the playoffs? Or is this those anti-Sibir bias again?

#NeverForget

 

[Atas2000]

Oh my God, stop with this "biased" BS.

1) Regarding CSKA goaltending situation I wrote "not like it really matters" because obviously they have Sorokin in net. Yet you go on a rant implying I called Sorokin useless.. Just please..

Then you go on calling Shalunov a depth player.. What is this, anti-Sibir bias for causing too much trouble to Ak Bars over the years?

2) Regarding SKA, they had Khokhlachev healthy scratched for half of last season so no, they didn't need to do much other than promote from within. And that's exactly what they done. Isn't that so?

3) They lost Zaripov, Bereglazov, Lee and Antipov. How is that keeping core? They literally lost 3 their best Ds and that's keeping core? Are you high?

7) "How's Galiev an asset at all? A medoicre AHLer. And you are really trying hard Why would we need SKA's crap? Let them have it. AkBars is definitely not looking for anybody's leftovers" - such a proud unbiased opinion Also what's your assessment, Galiev will play in the VHL?

Also the argument that East is super weak has been proven so many times yet somehow you contest it. 8 out of top 12 teams were from the West last year, how can you argue with that, for God's sake.

1.You have not even mentioned Sorokin.

Shalunov is a depth player. And you can't get rid of the idiotic methodolgy of hate/love relationships. Why would I care about the past? Why would I care about Sibir? I am talking about a player I know. Obviously you somehow have that kind of thinking with all the biases. All the luck to CSKA while I think their Sibir shopping spree was stupid. Because of the players they got. One of them might have been a good depth signing.

2.SKA is a weird animal. Noone knows what they will do. They could promote players they have stolen from the league or go on and buy half a team elsewhere again. Noone knows. As well as noone knows their plans for the season. Maybe they've really been caught off guard by Shipachyov and Dadonov.

3.Have you read my post?

7.It is not "proud". Again, you operate with such inappropriate terms when it comes to rosters. Yes, the KHL is a 2 classes society, but AkBars never was in that tier of teams that must rely on players available and affordable that are not snatched away by the big teams. You try to sell that to us here by implying AkBars would wait for some SKA players to get tossed. You are wrong as so often.

I am biased about AkBars. Captain Obvious.

I am still just realistic about what the team is capable of.

Galiev will end up in the VHL soon. He does have the right name. It is also right for Almet'evsk. He might get traded though. Playing in NA is not a positive on a resume.

Oh well, you can't let go off your East hate. Stay as you are. Stability is important.

 

[Atas2000]

Also, Atas, what are your arguments for calling Kvartalnov's hockey ineffective? His systems crush teams and produce undoubtedly the best results possesion-wise. His only flaw that you can only compensate for lack of talent for so long and when you meet supremely more talented SKA roster it crumbles. What are the actual arguments for "ineffective" hockey? Has his teams underachieved, ever? How ineffective was it when Sibir kicked out like 4 times richer Ak Bars in the playoffs? Or is this those anti-Sibir bias again?

#NeverForget

Kvartalnov's hockey is dumb. That is why he never could win. Even with a better roster. [Mod]

He's had better rosters than SKA(but worse than some East teams) and failed. He even more obviously failed with less talented rosters. The biggest problem is that he never adjusted his style. And the one he is playing is straight forward, not using the talent he has, trying to break through the wall.

But you can't even stay at one trail of thonott. Your emotions consume you. You probably think you might hurt my feelings by talking about AkBars instead of the actual topic. You might not. You arguments are that of the many many fans that don't understand a thing. Rich? What is rich? You can't get rid of the contracts you signed(even if you try to sell us that too) even if the contracts get bad. I don't know how old you are and I honestly don't care, but I follow hockey for quite some time now. A team going through some phases natural to me. You can't always win. AkBars is still rebuilding. They made a push this summer, but it was a gamble and it did not work out. So it is still a roster to be improved. Through that rebuild there were losses and unexpected wins. So what? I expect this team to go through a couple more rebuilds over the years and maybe win cups on the road.

 

[hansomreiste]

AkBars is still rebuilding. They made a push this summer, but it was a gamble and it did not work out. So it is still a roster to be improved. Through that rebuild there were losses and unexpected wins. So what? I expect this team to go through a couple more rebuilds over the years and maybe win cups on the road.

Wait, do you think Ak Bars' season was a failure? Why so? Obviously, I'm not the best hockey analyst but as far as I know, Bilyaletdinov is not a big fan of having to work with young guys. Even so, with an arguably weaker team, Ak Bars managed to make conference finals. If this is not success for a rebuilding team, I don't know what is.

And what about Kvartalnov? Did he sign with any team or is he supposed to? Checked the recent news but couldn't find anything of worth.

 

[SoundAndFury]

1.You have not even mentioned Sorokin.

Shalunov is a depth player. And you can't get rid of the idiotic methodolgy of hate/love relationships. Why would I care about the past? Why would I care about Sibir? I am talking about a player I know. Obviously you somehow have that kind of thinking with all the biases. All the luck to CSKA while I think their Sibir shopping spree was stupid. Because of the players they got. One of them might have been a good depth signing.

2.SKA is a weird animal. Noone knows what they will do. They could promote players they have stolen from the league or go on and buy half a team elsewhere again. Noone knows. As well as noone knows their plans for the season. Maybe they've really been caught off guard by Shipachyov and Dadonov.

3.Have you read my post?

7.It is not "proud". Again, you operate with such inappropriate terms when it comes to rosters. Yes, the KHL is a 2 classes society, but AkBars never was in that tier of teams that must rely on players available and affordable that are not snatched away by the big teams. You try to sell that to us here by implying AkBars would wait for some SKA players to get tossed. You are wrong as so often.

I am biased about AkBars. Captain Obvious.

I am still just realistic about what the team is capable of.

Galiev will end up in the VHL soon. He does have the right name. It is also right for Almet'evsk. He might get traded though. Playing in NA is not a positive on a resume.

Oh well, you can't let go off your East hate. Stay as you are. Stability is important.

1. I have not mentioned Sorokin because I think it was obvious he was there and he was the starter. Much like I haven't mentioned Kovalchuk or Mozyakin anywhere, I don't think this is the board where people aren't aware those players are there and are what they are. Obviously CSKA only switched backups but since their backup won the WC few months ago and all he is kind of worth mentioning. I added that yeah, at the end of the day it doesn't matter.

Shalunov is easily the best center on CSKA last year. This year he is still very likely their 1st line center. How is that a "depth player" I do not know.

2. Well at this point I think their plan for the season is obvious as it's late July. Also they probably had been thinking about extensions all year long because come on, how likely is that thing like that, which is obvious to most fans, would catch hockey executives off guard.

3. Honestly looks like I did not, for that I apologize. Having said that, your argument is still extremely dodgy. Why would they rebuild when Mozyakin has only few good years left? And they still have Kovar for the last year possibly. Ill timed rebuild if that is so.

7. There is no better way to argue with biased person than to bias him back, am I right?

And what about Kvartalnov? Did he sign with any team or is he supposed to? Checked the recent news but couldn't find anything of worth.

He isn't doing anything, on the surface.

 

[Foppa]

Thanks for the preview S&F, it is very informative for an outside casual fan of the KHL. I even enjoy the banter you guys have - for an outsider it is informative to read arguments and disagreements. I'll have to check out hans' link to that preview as well.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Part 4

#20 Neftekhimik. Got worse

One more team that changes a whole lot of things every year just to achieve very much the same result every year. Yezhov and Makarov will be unspectacular yet decent duo in goal but on defense quality players (Kinrade, Lyamin, Berezin) were replaced with gambles: Piganovich who hasn't played for a year and was rolling downhill fast years before, Graborenko who literally hasn't ever played a full pro season before and Sharipzyanov who tries to escape the ECHL. Offensively things got worse as well, keeping Sexton for at least one more year was great success and new additions - Hanzl and Rau - form a pretty scary 1st line. However, this is where it ends, this team doesn't seem to have any secondary scoring whatsoever. Rough season ahead.

#21 Avtomobilist. Got a lot better

Again, a lot of changes but in Avto's case you can understand them - they had a lot of parts that needed fixing. They got rid off a lot of underachieving players and looking at those who left it's hard to call any of them a loss. Koukal, Andersen and Kivisto are good players but they didn't excel in too big of a roles for them. Additions are mostly very solid. Firstly, Jakub Kovar is back in net after Ustinsky blew his chance. Tryamkin, Lyamin, Misharin and Denis Bodrov are additions on defense and this looks very strong, looking at their 8 defensemen group it is easily top-5 in the conference. Francis Pare, Ilya Krikunov and Taylor Beck are big additions upfront. The only fault of this team is that Torchenyuk and Ticar as top 2 centers are not a tragedy but far from a strength either. Having said that, this team will be back to playoffs.

#22 Amur. Got worse

Juha Metsola and the band of merry men. No Artyom Zub. No Tomas Zohorna either. Really no bright spots on this team this year, Kvapil is great addition but he is alone. Just no top-end talent, this roster doesn't have many goals in them at all. Bogdan Potekhin and Alex Frolov will have to pop like 15 goals each for this team to not be out of it by New Year. Which, I feel it's safe to say, they aren't capable.

#23 Severstal. Got better

No huge turnover here. Severstal have to be happy they kept all the key players, their youngsters will take another step forward and adding Holik plus Stransky give them one more scoring line. Maybe they could improve on defense but overall, definitely a step forward for this team, one of the dark horses this season.

Edit: I guess Kovar for Hudacek switch in goal has to be mentioned but I don't think it impacts the strength of the team much, just a different name in goal.

#25 Yugra. Stayed the same

Few useful players left, few useful players arrived. Meh team, meh summer, meh roster, no fireworks here. ~65 points at the end of the season if Proskuryakov doesn't brake mentally.

#26 Spartak. Got slightly better

Now this is the team which doesn't belong here, below Yugra. Lets see what a new coach does with this team because it has potential, I'm really a fan of Radil-Stoa-Leschenko line and those guys all stayed for one more year so that's great. The losses are Gilroy and Dyblenko but they were replaced quite adequately with Ville Lajunen and glut of young Ds (Kulik, Yudin, Sinitsyn). Ben Maxwell give them a solid 2nd line center they needed and Stanislav Chistov might also still be of some use. This team will still have to fight very hard for the playoff spot but they really don't belong 30 points off it.

#27 Lada. Got worse

Genoway and Ashton are good additions. Other guys are "best we can get" additions. Roster that wasn't very good last year bled some more with 3 top 6 forwards leaving. Taylor Aronson, who wasn't bad in my opinion, left to the DEL as well. It really got from bad to worse. Again, just really hard to see how can this team achieve any kind of success.

#28 Dinamo Riga. Got better

Elephant in the room is Lauris Darzins is still unsigned. If he doesn't sign at all it will be a massive hit. Also this team desperately needs at least a quality center. The more the better but at least one would do wonders as the current situation (or last year's situation, for that matter) is ugly. On the bright side, none of the players worth mentioning left (again, Darzins being a question mark) and depth on the wings is terrific with Lessio, Kristo and McMillan signed. So this team still has a lot of holes and question marks but it doesn't look as bad as last year and, possibly, if they somehow manage to add a few guys, it will actually be ok. Still no match for a team like Severstal though which just has to feel bad.

That is it, nice if some of you found it informative and worth reading, thanks for all those who did read or discuss this and special thanks for Atas for having resiliency to do so.

 

[ozo]

Thanks SoundAndFury for taking time going through team transfers! Well written,fun and educational posts.

 

[aonb]

#22 Amur. Got worse

Juha Metsola and the band of merry men. No Artyom Zub. No Tomas Zohorna either. Really no bright spots on this team this year, Kvapil is great addition but he is alone. Just no top-end talent, this roster doesn't have many goals in them at all. Bogdan Potekhin and Alex Frolov will have to pop like 15 goals each for this team to not be out of it by New Year. Which, I feel it's safe to say, they aren't capable.

.

GJ mate, I agree with most of things you said in yours predictions

Agree on Amur as well, but don't you think Ushenin's brothers are worth mentioning in terms of great talents? No top-end talents for sure, but still. IMO they are going to have breakout season and will help this team a lot, but of course - still no playoffs or something.

Vyacheslav scored only 4 goals, but man, his slapshot is something else. I wish he'll has more puck luck, because dynamite is in his hand, thats for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQygOSlUAWw

And good passing skills. His brother in action

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah, them and Byvaltsev are brightest spots in the dark, dark Amur's sky. But in the general sense, they aren't deal breakers.

 

[Go Donbass]

Apparently Danis Zaripov has tested positive for some sort of banned stimulant and is suspended for the next 2 years. Probably hurts Ak Bars a little.

 

[ozo]

Wow, that is some kind of news...

 

[Jussi]

Apparently Danis Zaripov has tested positive for some sort of banned stimulant and is suspended for the next 2 years. Probably hurts Ak Bars a little.

He's 36 already, career over as well?

 

[Go Donbass]

That's the debate raging in the Russian press right now. I think he comes back for at least a season. No athlete wants that to be their legacy.

 

[Milos Krasic]

Terrible news about Zaripov. Yikes.

 

[maxim84]

Zaripov tried to cheat also by taking diuretics, that is why he got extended punishment... Konev got something small, probably for marijuana?
Can't think what it was for Derek Smith...

 

[Go Donbass]

On the bright side, pre-season games have started up. I watched Traktor lay a beating on Sochi last night. Game appeared to be played in some community rink in the backwoods of Finland.

Really nice and raucous crowd in Bratislava to watch Slovan beat Spartak in a shootout.

Nice to have games to watch again, even if they are meaningless.

 

[hansomreiste]

First televised game of the pre-season on KHL TV is going to be played today in Governor's Cup between Torpedo and Salavat at 19:00 (MSK). Three weeks left for the real deal. Hype hype hype!

 

[SoundAndFury]

Belarus TV braodcasted all the games of Minsk tournament, Laola did show some too.