SKA/Avtomobilist post game press conference:
Media: Ivan Vydrenkov (young player on SKA) was SKA's most useful defenseman in September. He was +8. Yet by October he only played in 4 games, with the exception of today.
RR: Who are you, his agent?
Media: No, I am not Ivan's agent. I work in the MHL, so I am interested in young hockey players, including those in SKA.
RR: We were preparing Vydrenkov for the shifts against Avtomobilist, to get him ready to show his best game. That's what happened. I agree with you that he is playing great, but the season is long and there are situations when you need to practice more. However these player details shouldnt be disvcussed publicly. We have a long season ahead, our next opponents are tough. There are moments when you need to practice more, hone your skills. We did this with Ivan and it worked today.
Media: Demidov was the best rookie in the KHL in September, played on a line with Kuznetsov, then Evgeni became injured, and was Ivan moved to the fourth line. Why did he stay there after Kuznetsov returned?
RR: Did you watch the game? What line did Demidov play on?
Media: He played with different partners, including Kuznetsov. But Kuznetsov has 23 minutes per game, and Demidov has about 6. Why did the ice time drop so much?
RR: I’ll answer as per Vydrenkov, he needed to train, work on the details, hone his skills. You’re not from Montreal, are you? They write all sorts of articles there at the instigation of pro-NHL American agents. But for a hockey player to play 20 minutes for SKA, he must be one of the best in the world. Our hockey players can play for any team, they have NHL experience. The experience of victories — they are Olympic champions and multiple winners of the Gagarin Cup. To win the Gagarin Cup, you must have championship habits. We are working on this, so that each of our hockey players has championship habits. We are working with Ivan and it is bearing fruit.
Today he played great in the most important part of the match. We trusted him with the most difficult, important parts of the game. And it worked. It means that our training process is yielding results. It will be the same with every hockey player — when we see weak spots, we are obliged to train more. We must always be honest. Objectivity is important for every coach. There are situations when agents in the US and even in Russia pay journalists and they write articles about different players to try an influence coaches to play them. And it’s even worse when agents call clubs where they have their own coach and say: “We need Vanya to play, otherwise you won’t work for the club anymore.” This is a serious problem. It needs to be eliminated. We need objectivity in everything, and then our hockey will develop.
There will be great games like today — it was a fair game, the opponents showed fantastic playoff-level hockey. It’s important that everything is objective, that journalists objectively prepare their articles, so that agents don’t pay for articles. So that there is an objective analysis of the game. There are many factors. You are talking about playing time, about ice time — apparently, you were educated in America. But you need to look objectively at all the qualities of a hockey player. Even if he played one shift and scored the winning goal. I watched the World Junior Championship, one player from the US team sat the entire match, and then came out for one shift and scored the winning goal. So, his head coach prepared him well for one shift. There are such examples in football too - the Norwegian Solskjaer from Manchester United. He was called the Golden sustitute. Do you know what that is?
Media: A golden substitution.
RR: Right. Ferguson gave him two minutes and he always scored the winning goal. So, he prepared him well. We need to look at the big picture.
