| CSKA is ready to take away the status of the capital's flagship from Dynamo The Russian hockey holidays are ending. One after another, teams come out of vacation and begin preparations for the next season. By mid-June, the first, largest stage of the transfer campaign was completed, accompanied by a mass migration of players from club to club. The rosters of most teams are almost complete. And although before the start of the national championship we will, of course, still have high-profile transitions, they are unlikely to radically change the current situation.
The fever in the transfer market during the off-season, characteristic of recent years, was also observed this year. But it did not become the impetus for fundamental changes in the usual table of ranks. Elite clubs have mostly managed without a significant shake-up of personnel, and the acquisitions of most “middle class” clubs hardly allow them to count on fighting for medals. There were some exceptions, which will add special intrigue and flavor to the championship, which starts on September 10.
Ak Bars showed the greatest activity in selection among the leaders of the super league. Kazan invited three leading masters from the camp of their competitor - Severstal - Vadim Epanchintsev, Vasily Turkovsky, Ruslan Nurtdinov, as well as the Czech “collection” Radek Duda, the Latvian NHL goalkeeper Peter Skudra and a group of talented youth. But the main move of the Leopards at the hockey auction was the acquisition of the winning Czech coach Vladimir Vuitek from Lokomotiv. The hunt for stars has led to the fact that Ak Bars' budget for the season, according to the club's management, is approaching the fantastic mark of a billion (!) rubles.
From the group of leading clubs, Dynamo also made a very high-quality selection. The Muscovites lost only Oleg Orekhovsky, who was offered an exorbitant contract in Omsk, and parted with Andrei Razin and Alexander Semak, who apparently did not fit into the coaching concept of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. But the “blue and white” have secured the support of the now former Ak Bars symbol Alexey Chupin, Alexander Kharitonov and Igor Shchadilov have returned to their native lands, and two foreign players - Czech Robert Kantor and Slovak Miroslav Glinka - promise to become noticeable figures in the Super League.
But the most noise during the off-season was caused by the second representative of the capital in the strongest class - CSKA. Last season, the young team became the revelation of the championship, almost making it to the playoffs in the first season after returning to the super league. The successful performance impressed both the fans and the club's owners, who significantly increased the team's funding.
The first sign on the list of CSKA recruits was the best passer in the league, Razin, and this high-profile transfer set the tone for the entire recruitment campaign of Viktor Tikhonov’s team. “I was offered to return to Magnitogorsk. Moreover, they offered good conditions. Even too good. But a period came in my life when it was necessary to stay in Moscow. There are only two super league clubs in the capital. I got fired from one, so I wanted to join the army team. Besides, since childhood I dreamed of playing for CSKA,” Andrei Razin explained his transfer.
Following Razin, Slovak Martin Strbak and Czech Jan Geida, Evgeny Namestnikov, Dmitry Upper, Sergei Soin, a galaxy of young stars, and, finally, the best goalkeeper of last season, Maxim Mikhailovsky, signed up for Tikhonov’s army. At the same time, the Muscovites completely retained all the leading players, releasing only those who are not able to help in the fight for high places. With such a selection of masters, the “red-blues” are capable of not only making it to the playoffs and intervening in the dispute for medals, but also regaining the title of the flagship of Moscow hockey, which Dynamo has owned for more than a decade.
“Last season, the army team did not have enough good central forwards to reach the playoffs, and the defensive line was also weak. Now the army team has an excellent balance of experience and youth. With such an alloy you can compete for medals,” says two-time Olympic champion Evgeniy Zimin. We will only find out in the spring if the expert is right or wrong. But now we can say with confidence that for the first time in 10 years, two capital teams at once have a real chance of intervening in the fight for a set of Super League medals. Victor SHUMOV |
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