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Bragin can coach first(main) national team Russia?

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I was impressed by the way Team Russia played today. Maybe giving Bragin the reins might not be such a bad idea.
 
Many would like for this to happen. But I think the main reason for Bragins success, as well as the problem for that job is that he's coaching juniors.
The coaching style differs a lot, in junior hockey the coach has a lot to say and if you don´t listen to Bragin then your entire career might be lost because of your attitude and not being selected into the team etc. In the national team it's the other way around, if the coach tells an NHL-player that comes to the World Champs every year that he did a bad game and will sit the next game following will happen: either that player will never come back to play for the national team anymore or that player gets the entire team on his side and nobody listens to the coach.
We all want that Tikhonov style of control over the players so that they will obey, but it's just not possible when the coach doesn´t have real power in terms of salary or anything over the players.
I just don´t think Bragin could get any authority over the guys such as Ovie, Malkin etc. Maybe we need to wait for these superstars to retire because after that Bragin could at least coach a team full of players that he has coached earlier in their careers under the U20 and that's a way he could build his relation to the team.
 
What does Bragin do after the World Juniors, is he an assistant elsewhere or development coach or something?

The guy's a mastermind at this level, even yesterday, the last 2 periods his adjustments really put Russia in control.
 
Robban7 said:
Many would like for this to happen. But I think the main reason for Bragins success, as well as the problem for that job is that he's coaching juniors.
The coaching style differs a lot, in junior hockey the coach has a lot to say and if you don´t listen to Bragin then your entire career might be lost because of your attitude and not being selected into the team etc. In the national team it's the other way around, if the coach tells an NHL-player that comes to the World Champs every year that he did a bad game and will sit the next game following will happen: either that player will never come back to play for the national team anymore or that player gets the entire team on his side and nobody listens to the coach.
We all want that Tikhonov style of control over the players so that they will obey, but it's just not possible when the coach doesn´t have real power in terms of salary or anything over the players.
I just don´t think Bragin could get any authority over the guys such as Ovie, Malkin etc. Maybe we need to wait for these superstars to retire because after that Bragin could at least coach a team full of players that he has coached earlier in their careers under the U20 and that's a way he could build his relation to the team.
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Excellent points! Among Russian players from the NHL, that patriotic feeling that you see exhibited by Canadians, for example, is totally missing. They are not turbo-charged fanatics, like the Canadians are. The one exception is Ovechkin, although, for some reason, the NT never seems to see any tangible benefit from his presence. Malkin shows up for the NT fairly often, but he is unwilling to set his ego aside for the good of the team. Even for Ovechkin, you don't know what his motives are for being available. He might just be building his nest for when his career is over. But if a coach started to lean on him a bit, like Bragin does with the juniors, he might easily opt to spend May at a fabulous beach resort somewhere spending his many millions!

For Canadian pros, the rewards for being a great national team player are major, financial, the stuff of legends - almost a fetishization of the great hockey hero concept! Its all about the glorification of Canada, and by osmosis, the Canadian people, and the rewards from that never stop flowing throughout their lives. In Russia there is no such comparable concept. There is little fame or glory that they can cash in later in life (unless you are Fetisov or Tretiak). It seems like its almost an annoyance that they have to put up with to show that they haven't abandoned the country for NA riches. Its a totally different perspective, but I agree with your premise that Bragin would face a totally different, and more hopeless, situation if he took over the NT.
 
As for Bragin, I think Robban7 made a terrific point. The Russian NT coaches just don't have the hammer that they once did and that junior coaches still do. There is no sending NHL players to Siberia any more. If a coach doesn't play nice with Ovie or Malkin, he may be the one out of a job, not the player. Times have changed. :laugh:
 
And he has done it again, what is his/russias medal streak now? Too bad his final streak broke yesterday :)
 
Bragin oozes charisma imo, they wanna do well for him. Especially the kids. I don't know how the older Russians will respond but surely would be better than their other options.
 
Statsy said:
As for Bragin, I think Robban7 made a terrific point. The Russian NT coaches just don't have the hammer that they once did and that junior coaches still do. There is no sending NHL players to Siberia any more. If a coach doesn't play nice with Ovie or Malkin, he may be the one out of a job, not the player. Times have changed. :laugh:
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Yeah! I think they know this themselves, you know the legendary defenseman Fetisov? He's a high politician these days and he spoke about the problem like 1, maybe 2 years ago about not letting russian players leave before they are 28 years old. It is interesting since he was the one who fought the hardest in his days for leaving to NHL, but now when he is old and wise it seems as if he agreed with the old system after all. hehe :sarcasm:
 
Robban7 said:
Yeah! I think they know this themselves, you know the legendary defenseman Fetisov? He's a high politician these days and he spoke about the problem like 1, maybe 2 years ago about not letting russian players leave before they are 28 years old. It is interesting since he was the one who fought the hardest in his days for leaving to NHL, but now when he is old and wise it seems as if he agreed with the old system after all. hehe :sarcasm:
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The old system did not allow players to leave for the NHL at any time. There is room for some nuance here.
 
Robban7 said:
I just don´t think Bragin could get any authority over the guys such as Ovie, Malkin etc. Maybe we need to wait for these superstars to retire because after that Bragin could at least coach a team full of players that he has coached earlier in their careers under the U20 and that's a way he could build his relation to the team.
Click to expand...

I think Ovie and Malkin can screw off. They are old news.

Time to play younger players, many of whom played for Bragin before and love him. Tarasenko, Panarin, Kuznetsov. Many of them are already stars.

If they know him and respect him it can work. I know Ovechkin has heart, but his game is becoming too one-dimensional. Malkin often does not give his all.

I think the Russian NT can win without them.
 
Fantomas said:
I think Ovie and Malkin can screw off. They are old news.

Time to play younger players, many of whom played for Bragin before and love him. Tarasenko, Panarin, Kuznetsov. Many of them are already stars.

If they know him and respect him it can work. I know Ovechkin has heart, but his game is becoming too one-dimensional. Malkin often does not give his all.

I think the Russian NT can win without them.
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They get another shot, they earned it.
 
Robban7 said:
Yeah! I think they know this themselves, you know the legendary defenseman Fetisov? He's a high politician these days and he spoke about the problem like 1, maybe 2 years ago about not letting russian players leave before they are 28 years old. It is interesting since he was the one who fought the hardest in his days for leaving to NHL, but now when he is old and wise it seems as if he agreed with the old system after all. hehe :sarcasm:
Click to expand...

Two things about Fetisov: (1) he was and is a Russian patriot, and remained a Russian patriot during the entire time he was in NA, and (2) he is a KHL investor, and he is obviously concerned about spending a lot of money to develop high quality hockey players, only to have them leave and go somewhere where someone else reaps all the profits for their efforts. The Capitals and NHL have reaped over a billion dollars from Ovechkin's popularity - couldn't Russian hockey investors use some of that money? I don't see any irony in his attitude about guys leaving. Its the difference between total restriction and TOTAL LACK of restrictions to protect Russian investments.
 
Rogue Leader said:
Hmm, interesting! He seems to have a lot of power!
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He will be nursing his kids form juniors into the NT which is great. The first test well be in a week at the swedish Euro Hockey Tour stage. And there will be a boatload of his graduates and actual current understudies from the U20 squad on the team. Sure, it's not an important tournament and the only reason they invite teeanagers is that the KHL is gearing up for the playoffs and no team would be happy to lose a star to a fairly unimportant tournament injury, but they should give it a look and maybe create some habits and use the young players more on the NT.

Caser said:
Swedish Hockey Games roster:

GK
Timur Bilyalov
Igor Bobkov
Alexander Samonov		D
Grigoriy Dronov
Danila Galenyuk
Bogdan Kiselevich
Nikita Lyamkin
Andrei Mironov
Rushan Rafikov
Alexander Romanov
Artyom Sergeyev		FW
Grigoriy Denisenko
Artyom Galimov
Anatoliy Golyshev
Artur Kayumov
Pavel Kudryavtsev
Maxim Mamin
Kirill Marchenko
Ivan Morozov
Vasiliy Podkolzin
Alexander Sharov
Andrei Svetlakov
Sergei Tolchinskiy
Dmitriy Voronkov
Denis Zernov
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Click to expand...
 
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His time with CSKA was rather forgettable but I would definitely take him over Kudashov as a HC. Him and Gatiyatulin have also worked together on the U20 staff in 14/15.
 
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