Ranking Russian hockey schools
- Thread starter MaxV
- Start date
Caser
@RUSProspects
I'm far from being expert on hockey schools, but my ranking (more like impression actually) would be the following:
1. Dynamo
2. CSKA
3. Lokomotiv
4. Ak Bars
5. Traktor
6. Magnitogorsk
7. Vityaz
1. Dynamo
2. CSKA
3. Lokomotiv
4. Ak Bars
5. Traktor
6. Magnitogorsk
7. Vityaz
Traktor is the best by far. It has the tradition of being the best, going all the way back to the Makarov brothers in the '70's. Few of today's best schools could match the Khimik school in Voskresensk or Dizelist school in Penza. They produced massive talent from tiny cities. Yaroslavl, Cherepovets and Magnitogorsk are among the best these days.
vorky
@vorkywh24
- Jan 23, 2010
- 11,413
- 1,272
ozo
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2010
- 4,338
- 434
Not picking Chelyabinsk as #1 is crazy - try finding one KHL team without Chelyabinsk born player on the roster. That said Lokomotiv is not far behind nowadays, if we ignore the fact that they are traditionally assembling their rosters from talanted youngsters from whole wide Russia, but if they succesfully brake in into senior hockey it has to count for something. Omsk lately has slowed down a bit, and I'd take CSKA, Dynamo over them. St. Petersburg is only now really establshing themselves as conveyer belt to proffesional hockey, Ufa churns out surprising amount random KHLers (probably due to Avto's weird obsession with their youngsters. Novokuznetsk is tough to judge, are they that good or their poor senior roster somehow puts them over the top?
Where Toggliatti and Kazan fits in, I have no clue without spending too much time thinking and doing some research.
Where Toggliatti and Kazan fits in, I have no clue without spending too much time thinking and doing some research.
That's really what I wanted to know. Is there an emerging new source of talent? I guess SKA's school, not really new but probably is getting more financial backing.
Can Sochi be a new source soon?
Can Sochi be a new source soon?
ozo
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2010
- 4,338
- 434
Sochi has nothing going on, though Khanty-Mansisk deserves a mention in this regard for their efforts in their region.
Caser
@RUSProspects
I think I might misunterstood the thread question a bit, are we talking about hockey schools all-time or just recently/currently?
Caser
@RUSProspects
If we're talking about the current situation, I'd highly doubt that Traktor is #1 as other posters stated here, not a lot of top prospects from there recently. In my opinion Dynamo, Lokomotiv, CSKA and Ak Bars (and by Ak Bars I kind of mean also other Tatarstan hockey schools like Neftyanik and Neftekhimik, because, iirc, Ak Bars pretty often lures top players out of there) are the top tier with Traktor and Magnitka a bit behind.
About the future, recently SKA made affiliations with Dynamo St. Petersburg and Serebryanie Lvy (and their hockey school has a solid reputation), so, if I understand correctly, now we can say that SKA covers all the St.Petersburg the same way as Traktor does in Chelyabinsk, so we might expect something good here.
About the future, recently SKA made affiliations with Dynamo St. Petersburg and Serebryanie Lvy (and their hockey school has a solid reputation), so, if I understand correctly, now we can say that SKA covers all the St.Petersburg the same way as Traktor does in Chelyabinsk, so we might expect something good here.
You can't really measure the success of a hockey school over a 2- or 3-year period. It has to be over time.
As for SKA, the St. Petersburg region has been the least productive of all over time. Only 3 top players in the last 50 years from Leningrad/St. Petersburg on the national team - Kasatonov, Gusarov and Drozdetskiy. That is a miserable rate of failure in producing hockey players from a region so large and relatively rich. SKA can't do worse than has already been done.
By the pure amount of high class players produced it's
1.Chlyabinsk
...
...
...
Everybody else.
Basically there aren't that many so we can cut it down to(in no particular order):
SKA, Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow, CSKA, SDYuSShOR "Belye Medvedy"(don't mix up with Traktor MHL affiliate), Vityaz, Cherepovets, Lokomotiv, AkBars, Salavat Yulaev, Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novokuznetsk.
Voskresensk and Krylya Sovetov might get revived in time.
If you'd ask me as a parent which school I'd send my kid to:
Chelyabinsk
CSKA
Dynamo Moscow
AkBars, Lokomotiv, Novokuznetsk same tier.
then everybody else.
Don't expect anything form Sochi. SKA is basically hurting it's own school by buying young talent from all over the country in bunches.
A school is a process. Top notch players aren't going to spring from the ground in a couple of years after creating a school.
I expect Yaroslavl and Kazan to start producing really good ones soon.
Some real good ones recently but under the radar are Nizhnekamsk and Novokuznetsk obviously because of the not so impressive KHL teams, but those schools produce amazing talent.
Last edited:
Just looking at population of these cities, it is amazing to me how a city of half-a-mill population like Yaroslavl, Magnitogorsk or Novokuznetsk can outproduce such a big city like St Petersburg. Chelyabinsk isn't very big either (just over a mill).
Improving production out of St Petersburg's schools has to be a big priority. Heck, Moscow is probably underachieving also.
Improving production out of St Petersburg's schools has to be a big priority. Heck, Moscow is probably underachieving also.
Caser
@RUSProspects
No real superstars yet, but quite a few good ones. That is what brought me to the conclusion.
Ad
Latest posts
-
GDT: WCQF Game 3: LA Kings vs Edmonton Oilers @7:30pm PT | Series tied 1-1- Latest: Oilslick941611
