Kozyrev's move: Severstal became the leader of the Western Conference
Ivan Morozov's confession of cocaine use and his possible return to hockey in November, Severstal's eight-match winning streak and its sensational leadership in the West, Ak Bars' ten wins, SKA outside the playoff zone. Read more about the main events of October in the KHL in the Izvestia article.
Severstal's first place
Severstal has climbed to the first place in the Western Conference. A solid and rather unexpected result. In the offseason, head coach Andrey Kozyrev stated that he realized all the mistakes after the relegation in the first round and would correct them next season.
The team was able to strengthen the depth of the squad by signing experienced hockey players. This is what helped during the difficult period: Cherepovets lost many players due to injuries, but this did not prevent Kozyrev from winning matches.
The team has already won eight matches in a row and is not going to stop. It became noticeable that the Cherepovets team began to act much more confidently and calmly in defense, the team's failure in passing decreased and the adventurism in attack disappeared, which led to sharp counterattacks. Kozyrev and his staff are growing before our eyes, and if the team continues to bend its line, it will be able to compete for a place in the top four in the West at the end of the regular season.
Ak Bars' ten-match winning streak
Kazan had six defeats in the first seven games of the regular season. Following the dismissals of Boris Mironov from Lada and Vadim Epanchintsev from Siberia, Anvar Gatiyatulin was named the next candidate. The specialist found himself in a situation where several matches were given to correct the situation, and news about Kazan's search for a replacement for his post regularly appeared in the media.
There were changes in the coaching staff, but they only affected Gatiyatulin's assistants. Sergei Abramov was added to goalkeeper coach Georgi Gelashvili. Timur Bilyalov is well known to the specialist, and the goalkeeper played his best seasons with him. Later, Alexey Tertyshny, who was responsible for the extra draw, left the coaching staff. At the time of the specialist's dismissal, the majority of Kazan players were third from the end in the league. Konstantin Shafranov, who had previously worked at SKA, was appointed to replace him.
The changes have had a serious effect. Kazan gave out a series of ten victories, and the leaders of the attack began to realize their moments. Currently, Ak Bars occupies the second place in the East, and the gap from Metallurg is only three points. Such results show that club management sometimes needs to be able to show restraint.
Possible return of Ivan Morozov
On Tuesday, October 28, the news was published in Sovetsky Sport that Morozov would allegedly be able to participate in the KHL championship as early as November, but it is worth noting that after some time there was information that there were no results of the case yet, as the proceedings were still underway. A similar situation once happened with Anatoly Golyshev, who himself was in the dark almost until the last moment (on October 23, the leader of Avtomobilist returned to the ice after six months of disqualification). In the evening, an appeal on this topic appeared on the striker's social networks, where the Spartak striker admitted his guilt.:
"I want to appeal to those who follow my career and support me. Traces of cocaine were found in my doping sample taken by RUSADA on August 29, 2025 at the Moscow Mayor's Cup. I honestly admit to violating the anti-doping rules. The use occurred during an out-of-competition period and was not related to sports or competitions. I realize my mistake, fully accept responsibility, and sincerely regret what happened. I apologize to the club's management, the coaching staff, the team and, of course, the fans. This event was a serious lesson for me. I realized that even a single use can lead to addiction and destroy everything that I had worked so hard to create over the years. I am currently undergoing therapy and receiving the necessary specialist help. I want to thank RUSADA for the fact that, thanks to their efforts, I got a chance to start treatment on time and improve. Hockey is my life. I will do everything to come back stronger — with new values and a different attitude towards myself. I hope my example will be a warning, and it will also help those people who have embarked on this very dangerous and slippery path to turn away from it, since the price that will have to be paid for a mistake is life."
The appearance of such a message indicates that the process of the case has been launched and some results can be expected soon. If the striker manages to avoid a long suspension, he will be able to help Spartak very seriously, but for this he will have to go through quite a long rehabilitation path and start playing in the lower ranks.
"I feel sorry for the guy, maybe he stumbled once," Valery Kamensky, adviser to the president of Spartak, a legend of Russian hockey, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — There are no specifics on Ivan's return to the ice yet. Nothing is clear yet. But he has to play, hockey players have a short career. God grant that everything works out and he returns. If such a player doesn't mess around, he will help the team a lot. Spartak needs Morozov, he proved it with his game.
The fall of SKA
The problematic season of SKA continues. In the last 10 matches, Igor Larionov's team has lost eight times and now occupies only ninth place in the Western Conference (below only Lada and Sochi).
Larionov's appointment as SKA's head coach initially seemed like a big gamble. The last season of our hockey legend at Torpedo was a failure, and the team was torn apart by internal conflicts. But the new leadership of the army club needed a big name, and Larionov's authority is still very high.
It was clear that the SKA team would undergo major changes, but the purge was truly large-scale. Moreover, the rejection of a number of experienced players caused confusion — they were not even offered a salary reduction. As a result, in some cases, the Army also paid other clubs extra to take on heavy contracts instead of trading assets for high—quality players. Who would give something for a hockey player if you can get it for free?
As a result, SKA got rid of defenders Ilya Karpukhin, Artem Zemchenko and Dmitry Yudin — with the current selection of defensive players, they definitely would not have been superfluous. Striker Mikhail Grigorenko has already scored five goals in six matches at Traktor, and in two cases he compared the score in the last seconds — how could you just give it up?
Initially, it was planned that Larionov and Igor Zakharkin would be engaged in breeding, but some acquisitions did not impress the club's management at all, and in order to sign strong legionnaires, Nikolai Feoktistov, the former general manager of Kunlun, was invited to SKA. Rocco Grimaldi and Joseph Blandisi, who were brought by him, are not shining yet either, but without them the army's attacking force would be quite small.
In some matches, SKA looked very interesting, but as soon as the army team faced an organized opponent, problems began.
—Any person faces certain difficulties that need to be overcome, to find the strength, those trump cards that are still in his pocket or up his sleeve in order to fix the situation," TASS quoted Larionov as saying. — Therefore, so far the question has not even arisen, because it is always easy to give a damn about everything, quit and leave. But it's not in my nature, you have to fight to the end. That's how the life of a player and a coach works. And in my situation, I prefer to move on because I believe in these guys, the first team, that everything can be fixed.
By the end of the month, SKA will still play against Sibir at home and Lokomotiv away.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
