Hot Offseason: SKA reforms and Hartley's return

The KHL offseason turns out to be extremely rich in sensations. Roman Rotenberg left SKA and joined the board of directors of Dynamo Moscow, and Igor Larionov replaced him at the army club. Igor Nikitin left champion Lokomotiv and returned to CSKA, and Bob Hartley, who led Avangard to the Gagarin Cup, took his place in Yaroslavl. And what is the cost of moving Kunlun to St. Petersburg and the appearance of Alexander Krylov in its leadership? Read more about the main events of the KHL in the Izvestia article.

Dynamo's new course

Roman Rotenberg returns to club hockey. Without a job in the KHL (the former SKA head coach did not lose his position in the FHR) He stayed for about a month. Officially, his dismissal from the army club took place on June 2. And on July 1, Rotenberg was introduced as a member of the board of directors of Dynamo Moscow. Roman will take over the work of the children's and youth schools, as well as the development of youth hockey.

Judging by recent posts on the Telegram channel, he deliberately prepared himself for such a mission: he worked with children, conducted training sessions at the Red Car Junior school. At Dynamo, Rotenberg is unlikely to be seen on the ice with a stick and in his favorite retro helmet. He will have to take on larger-scale areas in order to build a vertical and train the nearest Dynamo reserve.

Rotenberg the coach and Rotenberg the manager are two different people. With Roman Borisovich on the bench, SKA did not realize its own potential even close, having failed in the playoffs. But from the point of view of infrastructure, vertical work, marketing and PR, the army men were considered the leaders of the KHL. Few clubs are ready to boast about the base that the team received after the opening of the modern "Hockey City". The most comfortable conditions were created for the SKA system teams. Everything from medicine to equipment was considered top—notch at the club. And while other teams were struggling with some areas, in SKA, many issues were solved at the click of a finger.

Nikitin builds a new CSKA

After the appointment of Igor Nikitin as head coach, CSKA began to update the squad — Spencer Martin, who played in the NHL, was to become the main goalkeeper, Jeremy Roy and Vladislav Yeremenko strengthened the defense a little earlier, and Dmitry Buchelnikov strengthened the attack. CSKA did not stop there and made two exchanges, as a result of which they received striker Denis Zernov and the rights to forward Nikolai Kovalenko, who played in the NHL last season.

In their right mind and solid memory, Torpedo would never have agreed to exchange Kovalenko for former Ottawa forward Egor Sokolov one-on-one. Nikolay Kovalenko, who was a star at the KHL level, is listed noticeably higher on the market. Whereas Egor Sokolov is full of questions. After so many years in the AHL, he will still need time to adapt. But the Nizhny Novgorod club had no choice. However, not all clubs in the KHL have the same opportunity to defend their rights.

The exchange of Zernov from Magnitogorsk for Ruslan Iskhakov looks mutually beneficial both for the players involved and for the clubs. Although it is still difficult to be sure that Zernov will return to his previous level at CSKA. The financial aspect is also slightly confusing. Misunderstanding with Razin and the family's desire to live in Moscow is an important factor in choosing a further stage in his career. But Zernov re-signed the contract at CSKA, losing a total of 35 million rubles. He had two more years at Metallurg, 75 million each, and his new job was 50 million and 65 million.

Hartley — in Yaroslavl

After Igor Nikitin left the post of head coach of Lokomotiv, the leadership of Yaroslavl had several candidates for the vacant position. For a while, Swiss national team coach Patrick Fischer was in charge, but in the end, Loko bosses were confused by the 2025 World Cup finalist's lack of KHL experience. And he hasn't coached clubs in the last 10 years, which is a completely different level of intensity.

David Nemirovsky and Sergey Zubov from Yaroslavl were on the shortlist, but there was no doubt that in the end, Lokomotiv would choose a more renowned specialist. They don't spend cosmic money on players in Yaroslavl, betting on their own students and pointwise strengthening the squad, but they never skimped on coaches at the club. So Lokomotiv finally agreed to Bob Hartley's terms, who agreed to return to the KHL for $2 million a year.

Hartley had not worked as a coach for three years — after leaving Avangard, he devoted a lot of time to his family, conducted coaching seminars, where he shared his experience and enjoyed life. But, apparently, the Canadian specialist was inspired by the new challenge. According to Sport-Express, Hartley contacted Igor Nikitin's coaching staff to learn more about Lokomotiv, and the prospect of continuing the work of the KHL's best coach inspired him.

The Yaroslavl team did not change too much over the summer — with the exception of Slovak defender Martin Gernat, the leaders of Lokomotiv remained in the team. This means that Hartley only needs to use Nikitin's so-called baggage wisely. Stylistically, their teams weren't that similar, so it would take time for the players to adapt to the Canadian's demands. But there are fake connections at Loko, so it will be easier for the hockey players.

SKA Beginners

The course towards economy, which SKA has taken this offseason, naturally strongly influences the transfer policy of the army. Former Army boss Roman Rotenberg managed to negotiate the signing of Trevor Murphy, Jeremy Roy, Derek Barak during the playoffs, and was close to an agreement with Maxim Dzhioshvili, Alexander Radulov and Zach Fucale. But a change of leadership at the end of May cancelled all the deals. Igor Larionov came to the post of head coach, who has his own vision of the squad. And we will see the first fruits very soon.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that Igor Larionov Jr., who has been playing for Torpedo for the last three years under his father's guidance, will join the Army. In general, Larionov Jr. is a good forward with a vision of the court and a sufficient level of skill. But it is unlikely that he would have received so much playing time if he did not have such family ties. This affects the attitude towards him in the team, which will involuntarily split into two parts.

SKA is interested in signing defender Marcus Phillips, who spent last season at Torpedo. After Larionov's resignation, there was no doubt in the Nizhny Novgorod club that this Canadian hockey player would not be useful to Torpedo: he did not show anything outstanding. But the new SKA head coach noticed something in the former defender of the Hungarian "Fehervar". The Army team will also try to negotiate with Torpedo to acquire the rights to striker Bobby Lynch, a close friend of Larionov Jr.

Adding two plus two in this situation is quite simple — Larionov is not just lobbying for his son's transfer, but also creating a familiar company for him. At first glance, there is nothing wrong with this — the coach is responsible for the result, and if he is ready to trust these hockey players, then please. But SKA has gone too fast from acquiring Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tony Deangelo to signing a player from the Hungarian championship. The Army has been accustomed to high-status signings, but now SKA is becoming average, and it will take time to realize this.