“Motivation from Nazarov remained at the same level. Another thing is how the players perceive it.” Badyukov – about Sochi

Dmitry Yerykalov Talking about how to get out of the last place in the KHL. After the defeat in Minsk, which became Sochi’s fifth in a row, we contacted Alexei Badyukov. The deputy general director for hockey operations of the Sochi club spoke about the future of Andrei Nazarov, the transition of Mikhail Berdin and methods for getting out of a difficult tournament situation. At the moment, the “leopards” occupy the last place in the KHL.– Information has passed that Sochi may soon dismiss Andrey Nazarov. What is the likelihood of the head coach being fired?
– It is clear that the result of the team at the moment does not suit anyone. No players, no coaching staff, no management. But we see what the reason is and are trying to correct the situation.– From the outside it looks like this. First, you reinforced the headquarters with Igor Gorbenko. Then they exchanged the captain in the person of Vasily Glotov. What should be the third step? Is it not the resignation of the head coach?
“I wouldn’t bring one to the other like that. We are always on the lookout. We are trying to improve the psychological situation in the team. We followed Igor Gorbenko for a long time. Eight years of work in top clubs are not in vain. We knew his system and now, after a month of his work in Sochi, we see that it works. You just need to give time for the players to pass this system through themselves. The training process has changed, and hockey players react positively to it. He works very productively with the players individually.– But at the same time, there is no visible result, if we talk about the place in the table, from his invitation.
– Please note that young guys began to appear in our team: Yarulin, Yuzbashyan, Kamensky, Sobolevsky and others. We already have 7 newcomers to the KHL, more than other teams. This happens not only because of injuries. Igor Yuryevich is trying to introduce the game system that will be understandable to all players, our system. This is what will give us a healthy competitive environment.– Who initiated the exchange of Vasily Glotov to SKA? He was the captain and the face of Sochi.
“The captaincy is a heavy burden. I know this firsthand. Perhaps because of his youth, at the beginning of the season, this role was difficult for Vasil, spending a lot of time on the ice, trying to do a lot more, hence the quality suffered. He is a good, responsible guy and worried about this. So the agreement that something needs to be changed was mutual. Now, when he got to SKA and he is doing well there, we are happy for him. So, the whole point really was in psychology, and not in the level of the player. Glotov is a hockey player for the first links with good prospects. We always say that the goal of Sochi is to reveal young players and their different sides.– Did Nazarov pinch him? Was there any friction between the head coach and the captain?
– Andrei Viktorovich has the same requirements for all players: is it a captain or a forward of the fourth link. Trying to get the most out of everyone. How well it works is another matter. It happens that a player gets into another system and, on emotions, begins to score one goal after another. Moreover, at that time there were many injured central forwards in SKA. We needed a forward player. We received it in the person of Fedorov. Artem is an experienced right-handed forward.– At the beginning of the season, not only Glotov, but also Andrey Altybarmakyan did not have a game. How did you manage to revive him?
– Andrei was initially positioned as an attacking forward and the team’s motor. He has never been indifferent to the team and the result. It was important to help him get out of a difficult situation, not to let him turn sour. Andrei this period, as we see, has passed.– Back in the summer, Sochi had not the most encouraging results. How were they perceived? Shouldn’t we have reacted more radically to these failures?
– If we talk about the pre-season and the regular season – we see what the reason is. Accordingly, we see ways out of this situation. But there are certain limitations. We look at the players on the market who could help, but we believe in our guys, we believe in their progress.– It is surprising that such a young team as Sochi scores quite a few and generally plays without courage. Unlike last season.
– Of the last 14 matches, we lost 8 in one puck. That is, the games come from the knife. Yes, the majority does not go – here it is necessary to improve, find strengthening from within. It is not possible to abruptly change the vector. Moreover, it is not known how the arrival of players from outside will affect the team climate. As for the style of play, attacking hockey was visible last season. We tried to leave the backbone in the off-season, but not all players show the hockey that was a year ago. But I am sure that the guys have gained experience in these two months and will soon reach the last year’s level and even surpass it.– From the side it seems that Nazarov can no longer ignite the players like that and his motivation does not work.
– Motivation from Nazarov remained at the same level. Another thing is how the players perceive it. The reaction of hockey players to what is happening is a very important point. This is a daily coaching job. One thing is clear: no one should be satisfied with a place in the table. Undoubtedly, we must all get out of this situation together. So that later it would not be ashamed to look into each other’s eyes.– Have the fights shifted the focus from the result and hockey itself?
– The result, of course, is more important than the fight. But in the summer we had a team rally where fights are part of that rally. In addition, we attracted the attention of the fans. You must have seen how many came to the match against Avangard? We have a lot more spectators in the stands this season than a year ago. Of course, fights must be supported by the result. If the viewer sees that the team takes everything out of itself and lays down with bones, then it will forgive even defeats.– Media reports that Alexei Melnichuk is moving to Traktor. Is it so?
I am not going to confirm or deny this yet.– But it is unlikely that Sochi will go further with three goalkeepers, given the arrival of Mikhail Berdin to the team. Breaking up with someone is inevitable?
— It would be great to have three goalkeepers. But we communicate with the guys, find out their opinion and listen to it. Not all goalkeepers are ready to sit on the bench and wait for their chance. If our guys are ready, great. But if not, then we will go forward.– Did you expect more from Alexei Melnichuk?
– What we wanted to get from Alexei, we got it. It is wrong to shift the responsibility for the result to some line or, moreover, to one player. We are waiting for him to add. We expected that after an unsuccessful stage of his career in North America, Melnychuk would have something to prove, and this he demonstrated. Melnichuk is a very good goalkeeper, we count on him in the future Alexei had good matches for Sochi. Just like with Maxim Tretiak, who reached a new level. Well, Mikhail Berdin does not need to be introduced – this is the goalkeeper of the NHL. Nobody can doubt his level. We believe that he will pick up the optimal shape as soon as possible.– Tretiak’s statistics are currently worse than Melnichuk’s. And he plays a lot more. This raises questions: is Maxim playing under someone’s patronage? For example, his legendary grandfather.
– There is definitely no patronage from Vladislav Alexandrovich. Sochi is a professional club. Initially, we saw the situation in such a way that Tretyak and Melnichuk are two equal goalkeepers. There are goalkeepers who are used to being number one all season, and there are those who are only helped by competition. Max and Alexei belong to the second type. I am sure that with the advent of Berdin, competition will only increase. Last season, despite the fact that Magnus Hellberg played more than Tretiak, Maxim got a very serious experience.– How was the option with Berdin born?
We first talked about it at the end of last season. Michael and I were always in touch. While other KHL teams had problems finding goalkeepers, we had three options on the table at once, including with Berdin. But there were certain difficulties associated with the presence of a unilateral contract with Winnipeg. This created uncertainty. Therefore, we made a choice in favor of Melnychuk, which we do not regret at all. Now, when the opportunity arose to invite Berdin, we took advantage of it.– You are talking about the high level of Berdin, but playing for SKA the year before last, he left an ambiguous impression. Aren’t you confused by his Kakhaelian experience?
— The fact that Berdin is able to strengthen any team, we were convinced. A lot of clubs were interested in him. Accordingly, we understood that this is a running goalkeeper. It’s good that we managed to make an exchange with SKA. In St. Petersburg, everything is in order with the goalkeepers, so we managed to agree.– It’s no secret that Andrey Zyuzin is Berdin’s stepfather. How did this affect the negotiations? Did he help or, on the contrary, did you want to avoid talking about family ties?
– Andrey Yuryevich had nothing to do with the negotiation process. It is clear that they communicated and kept each other informed. The fact that Zyuzin works in Sochi was not a key factor in the transition, rather the opposite. First of all, he is a good goalkeeper, whom we know well.– For Berdin, you gave the rights to Maxim Muranov. How did they end up in Sochi, given that Maxim is a Dynamo player?
– It happened last year. I knew Max well from my work at Dynamo. He is a center forward who will improve in the future.– It is clear that Sochi has limited opportunities, and the market is rather scarce. But are there any plans to strengthen the squad?
– First of all, I would say that we have injured three main defenders: Zorkin, Morrow and Gormley. We expect both legionnaires to come out in the next matches. Plus, we have Sergei Popov, the central striker, should appear. We are monitoring the market situation. The problem is that injuries have gone all over the KHL and because of this, teams do not want to part with good players. In principle, we already knew in the summer that this would be the case. The length of the bench is extremely important. So we are waiting for the return of the injured and developing young players.– Dmitry Kvartalnov was spotted at the home match against Neftekhimik. Did you or did you have contact with him?
– He came to Sochi at the invitation of “Sirus” under the training program for young hockey players. Dmitry Vyacheslavovich just came to watch hockey with his wife. I think he followed Igor Yuryevich (Gorbenko – approx.) more from old memory. We exchanged a couple of phrases with him, but nothing more.– That is, we can’t wait for the reunion of the coaching tandem Kvartalnov – Gorbenko in Sochi?
– So far, there are no such conversations.– What is your team’s goal for the remaining 2/3 of the championship? The gap from eighth place is quite large.
“First, our goal is to win. Even without a certain cohort of players. This is what good teams are famous for, that even in difficult times they play according to the system and get points. The task is to play consistently and improve the components that are not working now.– Ahead of Sochi is a match with Torpedo, a team of a comparable budget, which is much higher in the table. Will this game or home series become a key one, after which you decide to take drastic measures?
– Now all the teams, plus or minus, are in the same conditions. Torpedo is an interesting team, but they can be beaten. First of all, we are waiting for the improvement of the game design, and the result will come after it.