"Everyone has rolled up their sleeves and is trying to win"

The first three months of the current KHL season were very difficult for the CSKA Moscow hockey players. Back in late November, they were in ninth place in the Western Conference table, outside the playoff zone. This was especially surprising, given that Igor Nikitin, one of the strongest specialists in the league, returned to the post of head coach in the summer. In 2019, he led the Army team to their first ever victory in the Gagarin Cup, and in 2021, he was fired from the club due to defeat in the Gagarin Cup final. He returned to the red-blue ranks from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, with whom he also won the Gagarin Cup, the first in the history of this club, in the spring of 2025.

However, since December, CSKA began to gain momentum and gained a foothold in the playoff zone. And after a recent 4-2 home victory over Dinamo Minsk, he rose to sixth place in the West. The improvement in results coincided with the return to the club of striker Sergei Kalinin, Olympic champion in 2018, world champion in 2014, who together with Nikitin brought the Gagarin Cup 2019 to the army. In the first half of the season, the 34-year-old striker remained unemployed after the dissolution of his previous club, Vityaz near Moscow. In an interview with Izvestia, Kalinin appreciated the current results of CSKA and commented on the upcoming record of his former partner in the Russian national team, Dynamo Minsk striker Vadim Shipachev, who had one point left to become the first hockey player in the history of the KHL to score 1,000 points using the goal+pass system.

— How would you rate the quality of CSKA's performance in the last match?

— It's great that we played this match right. We reacted correctly in the middle of the game when Minsk scored two goals in a short time and led by 2:1. There were key points that helped us turn the tide of the meeting. Somewhere Must be (CSKA striker Kirill Dolzhenkov. — Ed.) We had a good fight, somewhere we stood out in the minority, and somewhere we just realized the moments we created in time. These have become key success factors.

— In the match against Dinamo Minsk, was it important to prevent Vadim Shipachev from scoring the 1,000th point in the KHL in a match with you?

— No, we hadn't thought about that. We're worried about Shipu, but not in this match (smiles).

— As a person who played a lot with Shipachev in the national team, can you explain why he remains in the leading roles in the KHL for so long?

— A cool hockey player, a cool person. I don't think it's surprising that he scored so many points. We're all just happy for him.

— Isn't it a shame that the hype from his record is not the same as from last year's achievement of Alexander Ovechkin, whose pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's record for goals in regular NHL championships was promoted from all sides?

— There is such a moment. I think we need to cover this more. It's still a crazy number for our hockey. It would be great to talk about it a little more, to tell and show it.

— In the three weeks since returning to CSKA, have you felt that you have gained optimal shape?

— Yes, everything is fine. I feel good, I try to help the team. I'm trying to act on the system and on the team.

"Shipachev's 1,000th point will be a huge event for the entire league"

Dynamo Minsk hockey player Andrey Stas — about his teammate's upcoming record and the club's results in the KHL

— When CSKA signed a contract with you in December, did the management explain what they wanted from you? Is it more about creating the necessary atmosphere in the locker room from the standpoint of your experience, or was it about purely gaming requirements?

— I think it's both ways. I have to act properly both in the locker room and on the ice, be an example and fulfill my role to the fullest.

— When you were without a club in the first half of the season and looked at CSKA from the outside, did you have an explanation for the team's difficulties, which caused it to be even outside the playoff zone for a while?

— It happens. The main thing is to get out of this situation correctly and work, which is what the guys are doing: everyone here has rolled up their sleeves and is trying to win every match, not to think far ahead.

— What else does CSKA need to improve in order to reach the level that it was at your first arrival at the club, when, under the same Igor Nikitin, the team was constantly leading in the regular season and at least reached the finals in the playoffs?

— There is no limit to perfection. In every game and in every training session, you need to work out your every moment, act on your own system, your strengths.