"I trained almost seven days a week in the offseason"

The new KHL season. CSKA Moscow started the regular season with a 4-2 victory in the derby over Dynamo Moscow. It was the first official match since Igor Nikitin's return to the post of head coach. He already led the Red and blue in 2017-2021, and before that he assisted Dmitry Kvartalnov in the team for three seasons. Under his leadership, CSKA won the Gagarin Cup in 2019 for the first time in its history and reached the playoff finals in three seasons - it failed only in 2020, when the tournament was not played due to covid.

In 2021, the coach was fired two months after losing to Avangard in the decisive series. Since then, CSKA has won the Gagarin Cup twice under the leadership of Sergei Fedorov, but then he and Ilya Vorobyov were eliminated from the playoffs twice in the first round. But over the past four years, Nikitin has led Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to its first ever victory in the Gagarin Cup. In an interview with Izvestia, one of the leaders of the army team last season, striker Vitaly Abramov, who won two Gagarin Cups under Fedorov, shared his opinion about the updates at CSKA. He explained how the Red and blue started the season well, what they need to improve on and how he plays in the same team with two foreign newcomers.

— How do you like the quality of CSKA's game at the start of the season?

— We won a good victory. And we played generally good hockey, although there is still a lot to work on. For example, we had a lot of deletions in the match against Dynamo, and this needs to be fixed.

— At the end of August, your team showed good hockey at the Moscow Mayor's Cup, winning this tournament, which many did not expect given the changes in the squad and coaching staff. Can we say that you have already got used to the demands that Nikitin makes?

— We went through a good training camp, we worked out all the tactical things, we looked at what needed to be fixed and where. And we fixed it for the Mayor's Cup and the opening match of the season against Dynamo. But there is never a limit to perfection. And I think there's still a lot of work that needs to be done to play even better.

— As a person who did not cross paths with Igor Nikitin during his first visit to CSKA, what new things have you seen in the work now?

— Of course, there are changes. First of all, the tactical plan. It's even difficult to say anything specific here, because a lot of time is devoted to this, the coaches explain their requirements to us in great detail, every little thing.

— You came to CSKA under Sergei Fedorov, who, as many believe, continued to develop the ideas laid down by Nikitin. Do you feel any similarities in Igor Valeryevich's work with the way you won the Gagarin Cup under Sergey Viktorovich?

— There are some similarities, but we still need to take into account that our squad has changed a lot over the past year and a half. So, it's probably not worth comparing here.

— You missed the end of the last regular season due to injury, and you couldn't play at all in the playoff series against Dinamo Minsk. Are you not worried about the consequences of that injury now?

— Of course, it's always unpleasant to get injured and be out for such a long time. It's a shame that I couldn't help CSKA in the crucial part of the season. But during the offseason, I was very actively preparing for new training camps, I was doing rehabilitation — I trained almost seven days a week. And this summer I was fully ready for the preseason. But now I feel good.

— How did you play against Dynamo with Daniel Sprong and Rhett Gardner?

— I like playing with them. We managed to create chances and score points. But there is still room to grow.

— Is it much different from what happened last season in the top three with Prokhor Poltapov and Maxim Sorkin?

— Yes, we have a completely different way of playing. This is due to the specifics of the link partners, and to the system that Igor Valerievich sets for us. It's different from the hockey we played last season under Ilya Petrovich Vorobyov. So there's no need to compare at all.

— Daniel Sprong is considered the best foreign rookie to join the KHL in the offseason. Do you feel his level when you play next to him?

— Absolutely. Even in the pre-season, it was clear that a great master had come to us. It's very noticeable. Therefore, I am sure that Sprong will help us a lot. It's very pleasant to play with him, but you still need to hone many details to play much better. In any case, we understand each other better every day, and our gaming connections are improving.