Rus: Mikhalevs Gold Rush
Sergei Mikhalev has officially been introduced by the Russian Hockey
Federation as the head coach of Russia's Under-20 national team.
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The coaching position opened up when last year's coach Valeri Bragin
stepped down after accepting a lucrative head coaching position with
Moscow's Spartak. Mikhalev's assistant behind the bench will be former
CSKA Moscow coach Vladimir Popov.
Mikhalev is one of the finer coaches in Russia, leading former club
Severstal deep into Superleague playoffs on more than one occasion.
Ironically he is known for placing more emphasis on experience than
youth, making his appointment a bit of a surprise.
SEVER-STALLED
Little went right for Mikhalev and Severstal last season, as his
reliance on older players backfired when the core was ravaged by
injuries. The biggest loss was starting netminder Dusan Salficky, one
of the best netminders in Russia over the past two seasons and on pace
for a career year at the time. Replacement Max Mikhailovsky flopped and
the once-powerful club went into free-fall, finishing the season 11
points out of the eighth and final playoff spot. Mikhalev was promptly
let go.
Shortly after, the offer to coach the junior squad came in.
"I got the offer in the middle of the summer," said Mikhalev. "I didn't
think twice about it and accepted as I was unemployed at the time. I
already had the chance to attend several preseason tournaments and
evaluate many of the candidates."
Mikhalev has been hard at work in the past two months assessing the play
of many youngsters at pre-season Superleague tournaments in St.
Petersburg, Togliatti and Ufa. The closest tournament on his itinerary
is the Spartak Cup which will feature two Moscow clubs, Spartak and CSKA
fielding their top young talent including '86 and '87-born forwards Ilya Zubov (Ottawa Senators), Sergei Shirokov (undrafted), Nikolai Lemtyugov (St. Louis Blues), Denis Parshin (Colorado Avalanche); defensemen Kirill Lyamin (Ottawa Senators), Alexander Mikhailishin (New Jersey Devils),
Valeri Klimov (New Jersey Devils), and Anton Belov (undrafted).
Super League stars Evgeny Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Enver Lisin (Phoenix Coyotes) remain with their respective Russian clubs, but are
expected to suit up at the U-20s in November during a regular season
break.
The club will miss dynamic scorers Roman Voloshenko (Minnesota Wild) and
Alexander Radulov (Nashville Predators) - both prevented from playing
with the team due to commitments in North America. It is possible that
they will be released to join the team for the big event in winter where
they would be expected to join centre Mikhail Yunkov to form the
hi-octane line so dangerous in competitions over the past two years.
Yunkov has remained in Russia after leaving the cash-strapped High
League club Krylia Sovetov in favour of the wealthy AK Bars Kazan.
ALL EYES ON MALKIN
By deciding to stay in Russia, Evgeny Malkin has cemented a spot for
himself on the U-20 team, which he hopes to lead to gold. He is one of
10 players eligible to return from last year's silver medal-winning
team.
Malkin trailed only Alexander Ovechkin amongst team scorers at last
year's tournament with 10 points (three goals). Ovechkin's graduation
is not expected to have a negative impact on Malkin's productivity as
they played on separate lines, though the likes of Shirokov and Radulov
will be heavily counted on to provide top-notch supporting production.
The forward class will be deep in skill and acceptable with grit.
Malkin's linemates will be determined in the coming months - likely
candidates are Lisin, Shirokov and Parshin. With Radulov, Voloshenko
and Yunkov likely forming the second forward unit, other spots will be
fought for by the likes of Sergei Ogorodnikov (New York Islanders),
Anton Krysanov (Phoenix Coyotes) and Nikolai Lemtyugov (St. Louis
Blues).
The blueline will have two returnees in Belov and Alexei Emelin (Montreal Canadiens). They will be joined by 2005 draftees Vyacheslav Buravchikov (Buffalo) and Vitaly Anikeenko (Ottawa). Another Ottawa
draftee Kirill Lyamin will have a chance to make the team after failing
to impress last year, while Columbus property Andrei Plekhanov is also
in the mix. Roman Tesliuk (Edmonton Oilers) returns for another year in
Kamloops of the WHL, which will likely hurt his chances once again.
Anton Khudobin (Minnesota Wild) will return to tend goal. The backup
spot is up for grabs.
LIST OF RETURNEES
Anton Belov, D, undrafted
Alexei Emelin, D, Montreal Canadiens
Anton Khudobin, G, Minnesota Wild
Enver Lisin, RW, Phoenix Coyotes
Evgeni Malkin, C, Pittsburgh Penguins
Denis Parshin, RW, Colorado Avalanche
Alexander Radulov, RW, Nashville Predators
Sergei Shirokov, LW, undrafted
Roman Voloshenko, LW, Minnesota Wild
Mikhail Yunkov, C, Washington Capitals