News Notes: Players Heading Here & There

Pavel Datsyuk. (Image Source)

Before we leap into the matter of major player of moves of the last little while, June 15th was the deadline for KHL teams to provide evidence that their wage bills for last season were paid off, with the threat of exclusion from the 2016-17 season hanging over those still in arrears.  Now, no one has been kicked out of the league to this point, but we did get some idea late in the week of what might be going on.  KHL Players’ Union President Andrei Kovalenko commented on Friday that he was particularly concerned about what was going on at HK Sochi and at Dynamo Moscow.  Sochi have had a number of brushes with financial trouble, and Dynamo have already been given an extension until June 30th to get things in order.  On the bright side, Kovalenko had earlier indicated that Amur Khabarovsk and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod have paid off their arrears, and are presumably in the clear for next season.

 

There have also been some worries raised in the past few days about the ongoing viability of Dinamo Riga.  The problem here is not wage debt, but simply lack of sponsorship money, and the Latvian club has been given until the end of the month to provide the necessary financial guarantees for next season.

These are all situations to watch very closely as the days go by, but, in the meantime, let us turn our attention to some of the players who will be wearing new uniforms (or not) next season.  Read on!

Catching up on News Notes: League Intrigue

KHL President Dmitry Chernyshenko. (Image Source)

We head into an important week in terms of Russian hockey at this point, and of course we are also just 20 days or so from the start of KHL training camps for 2016-17.  So it would probably be a good idea at this point to take a quick look at what some of the big stories involving the KHL, VHL, and MHL have been this spring.  Read on…

Weekly Russian Hockey News Notes: May 24th, 2016

Sergei Mozyakin (l.)) receives the KHL MVP award from former Soviet national team captain Boris Mikhailov. (Image from the video here)

Time to get caught up on some of the non-World Championship news of the past seven days or so!  The KHL’s draft was held on Monday, as we have already mentioned here, and on Tuesday the league turned its attention to the pleasant business of handed out the season-ending awards.  There was business of a more serious nature too, however; read on for developments that may change the look of a couple of different Russian leagues, as well as for our usual peek at the off-season player movement scene.

Quick KHL Draft Note

Veniamin Baranov of Dynamo St. Petersburg. (Image Source)

The full run-down on the past week’s Russian hockey news is delayed until tomorrow, but in the meantime here’s a quick bit on one notable annual event that happened today:

With the World Championship now finished, attention switches back to the KHL, and its off-season doings.  The league held its annual entry draft on Monday (possibly the last such event, as there is much talk of finding a different way to get prospects to teams beginning next year).  Admiral Vladivostok held the first overall pick, and used it on defenceman Veniamin Baranov, from Dynamo St. Petersburg ’99 (The Dynamo St. Petersburg club’s Under-17 squad).  Baranov, who turned 17 in January, scored 4-14-18 in 28 games for the Dynamo U17s, so there seems to be some play-making ability there.  He was also one of the “replacement” players on the Russian team at this year’s Under-18 World Championship in the United States, where he recorded one assist in four games.

The rest of the top three at today’s draft: with the second pick, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg selected Alexander Alemastsev, an offensively-gifted forward who scored 28-16-44 in 32 games for Yuzhny Ural Orsk’s Under-17 squad this season.  And at number three, Metallurg Novokuznetsk picked towering 16-year-old defenceman Alexander Alexeyev from the MHL’s Serebryanye Lvy St. Petersburg (he’s 6’3″).  Alexeyev scored two points in 20 games in Russia’s top junior league this past year, but had a line of 7-18-25 in 29 games as a 14- to 15-year-old in the U17 league the previous season.  Like Baranov, Alexeyev also was called up to the Under-18 World Championship team.

Full details of the draft can be seen here!

Russia at the 2016 Worlds

(Image Source)

The 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championship drew to a close on Sunday in Moscow, and congratulations are in order to Team Canada, who defeated the spectacular young Finns 2-0 to earn a second straight gold medal, and to Patrik Laine, the 18-year-old budding Finnish star who was named the tournament MVP.  For Team Russia, too, Sunday was a good day, although tempered by disappointment at not being in the gold medal game.  Bronze was still there for the taking, though, so read on for a look at the third-place game, and at Russia’s tournament in general!

 

It Wasn’t To Be: The World Championship Semifinals

Sadness for Alexander Ovechkin and Alexei Yemelin after the final horn on Saturday. (Image Source)

Team Finland was always going to represent a difficult test for Russian Head Coach Oleg Znarok and his players, heading into Saturday’s semi-final clash at the World Championship.  And in the end, the Finns turned out to be too much of a challenge on this day, putting an end to Russian hopes of a gold medal on home ice.  Read on, as we look back at what happened, and what comes next.

 

Alright in the End: The World Championship Quarterfinals

Thursday was quarter-final day at the 2016 World Championship, and it found Russia facing off against an unheralded German team.  An easy victory, it appeared, especially given the scintillating form that Team Russia has shown in large stretches of the past few games.  But oh, there was to be a nervous, nervous time for the home fans in Moscow… read on.

The Medal Round Awaits at the Worlds

Shipachyov, Panarin, and Dadonov celebrate against Sweden on Tuesday. (Image Source)

We are through to the medal round at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Russia, and the following match-ups await hockey fans on Thursday:

• Czech Republic vs. U.S.A.
• Finland vs. Denmark
• Russia vs. Germany
• Canada vs. Sweden

The winners of those four games will advance to the semi-finals, to be played on Saturday, and the gold and bronze medal games will follow on Sunday.  In the meantime, read on, as we take a look back at a spectacular end to the Group A games for Head Coach Oleg Znarok and his Team Russia players!

Weekly Russian Hockey News Notes: May 16th, 2016

HK Nashi, the hockey team of the Soviet cosmonaut program, in about 1963.  Team founder Yuri Gagarin is sixth from the left in the back row. (Image Source)

Time for another edition of news notes!  We will check in briefly with Monday’s happenings at the World Championship, take note of yet another twist in the tale of the prospective Swedish KHL team, and look at some of the major player moves involving Russians.  And why the picture of the cosmonauts’ hockey team above?  All will be revealed — read on!

The World Championship Continues…

When last we checked in Russia had a 2-1 record at the 2016 IIHF World Championship, and a couple of their performances had been of the distinctly rocky variety.  It was by no means time for panic, but there was certainly some work to be done.  So how have things gone since, as Russia faced Denmark and Switzerland in Group A action?  Read on…