The press conference that CSKA recently held made the outlines of the new team a little more clear. Club President Igor Esmantovich made several statements, confirming and denying the rumors. Sport24 has collected everything that is known about global changes in the red-blue camp.
Vorobyov has a three-year contract, but the absence of the final will not be forgiven
Ilya Vorobyov has been the head coach of CSKA for several weeks now. However, until recently we did not know either the length of his contract or his assistants. The army team still keeps the name of the head coach’s assistants a secret. Unless the name of Yuri Babenko was leaked to the press. Although Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s ex-assistant played in attack, at CSKA he will most likely work with the defenders. And the Muscovites announced the term of Vorobyov’s contract – three years. True, knowing the exactingness of the CSKA Supervisory Board, the lack of a cup or failure to reach the final may not be forgiven for Ilya Petrovich.
The departure of all assistants is the end of the era of Kvartalnov-Nikitin-Fedorov
According to Esmantovich, CSKA has five potential coaches who could join Vorobyov’s staff. Including Babenko. And what is already absolutely known is that none of Sergei Fedorov’s assistants will remain at the club. Naumov, Kravchuk and Yakubov are leaving CSKA. The latter worked at the army headquarters longer than others. The massive parting with assistants means the end of an entire era, which dates back to 2014, when Dmitry Kvartalnov came to the club. Among others, he was helped by Igor Nikitin, who later became the head coach, and Nikitin and Fedorov, in turn, were connected by Yakubov and for some time Koreshkov. Now this chain of continuity is broken. A new story is being written.
The coach of the Gagarin Cup sensation goalkeeper will join Vorobyov’s headquarters
In addition to Babenko, Klemen Mohoric may join the CSKA coaching staff. The leaders of CSKA did not talk about this, but insiders helped to obtain this information. The Slovenian will take the position of goalkeeper coach, which was left by Sergei Naumov. Mohoric is the newly minted Gagarin Cup winner, making 21-year-old Ilya Nabokov the MVP of the playoffs. Klemen is well known to Vorobyov, with whom they managed to work in Magnitogorsk. This strong specialist managed to catch hold of the last years of Vasily Koshechkin’s career.
Samonov and Reideborn will not be in CSKA
Who will Mohoric train is still a question. Young Gamzin remains at the club; promising Skotnikov recently signed a new contract. But they will compete for the place of the second number of CSKA. While on the agenda for the “army team” is the search for the main goalkeeper. Igor Esmantovich denied rumors that Muscovites are laying claim to Salavat Yulaev goalkeeper Alexander Samonov. There was talk about this at the height of last season. The CSKA president confirmed the fact of communication with the team’s former goalkeeper Adam Reideborn, but the Swede intends to work out his contract in Switzerland. On the sidelines there is talk about the possible signing of Colorado goalkeeper Ivan Prosvetov, whom CSKA has been courting for several years.
Slepyshev, Svetlakov, Plotnikov, Grigorenko and Dietz will leave
Large-scale changes await CSKA not only on the coaching staff, but also in the squad. A number of Gagarin Cup winners and recognized leaders will leave the Moscow club. The most noticeable loss seems to be the second scorer of last season, Mikhail Grigorenko, who, according to unofficial information, will continue his career at SKA. Together with him, Sergei Plotnikov, whose contract is also expiring, may move to St. Petersburg. They will not renew the relationship with Andrei Svetlakov, a graduate of CSKA who is entering the free agent market. There is already a queue of clubs from the Eastern Conference lined up for him. And the most interesting thing is the situation with Darren Dietz and Anton Slepyshev. Esmantovich has already announced his separation from these players, but the club has yet to terminate their contracts or adjust them by other methods, such as a list of refusals.
CSKA will return players from North America
“We have this in the genetic code of CSKA. The guys both leave and return. They brought back the guys who became Olympic champions. We returned Slepyshev, Mamin, Grigorenko, Nesterov. Of course, our priority is, within the framework of today’s regulations, to try to find a common language with our guys in North America and convince them to return to our beloved country. We are working, everything is very difficult. The leaders are in farm clubs for sure, but there are also those on unilateral contracts. We are working, I hope that we will be able to work in this direction. We cannot name names right now. All the guys have obligations overseas, everyone receives a salary, we need to treat this with respect.”,” Esmantovich said about plans to return players from the AHL and NHL to Russia.
But who exactly CSKA wants to bring back is not yet very clear. There are a lot of names, but informed sources cross off Nikita Zaitsev from this list, who at one time left overseas precisely from the Moscow club. In addition to Prosvetov, striker Denis Guryanov is close to moving to CSKA, the rights to which the CSKA team bought from Lada several years ago. In addition, there is a possibility that Egor Afanasyev, Mikhail Abramov, Ruslan Iskhakov and other players stuck between the NHL and farm clubs will come to Moscow. It’s good for CSKA that they have the rights to many hockey players playing in North America.
