"I'll rate my first season in the NHL at six out of ten"

Over the past two seasons, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl has won the Gagarin Cup twice, retaining the backbone of the championship squad. One of the few losses were the club's alumni, defender Dmitry Simashev and striker Anton Booth, who signed rookie contracts with Utah Mammoth last summer and left for North America. In his debut season, Simashev played 28 games in the NHL and scored one point (0+1), and also played 40 games in the AHL, where he scored 35 (8+27) points.

In an interview with Izvestia, the 21-year-old hockey player summed up the results of his first year overseas, talked about adapting to North American hockey and explained why the Lokomotiv system remains one of the strongest in Russia.: In addition to the victory of the main team in the KHL, the Loko youth team won the Kharlamov Cup this spring.

"Yaroslavl has a first-class system"

— On May 24, you attended the sixth match of the Kharlamov Cup final in Moscow, where a victory over Spartak Moscow ensured the Yaroslavl Loko a triumph in the entire series and the main trophy of the MHL. Did you plan a special flight from overseas to support your former team?

— No, I arrived from overseas after the season right on May 9th. Then he left Russia, flew to rest, but returned the day before the Loko-Spartak match. And, of course, I did not miss the opportunity to personally support the guys from the stands. I was also in Yaroslavl for the first match of the Gagarin Cup final between Lokomotiv and Ak Bars, but then, as I said, I flew on vacation, so I did not attend the decisive games.

— For the first time in the history of Russian hockey, clubs of the same system won both the Gagarin Cup and the Kharlamov Cup in one year — what is the secret of success?

— It's all been going on since childhood. A lot of things in Yaroslavl are embedded in us since school. In addition, many of the guys who reached the top team of Lokomotiv, the KHL, have known each other since they were nine or ten years old. The club has long established a system where there are excellent conditions for classes and great coaches across the entire vertical from the KHL team to the school. It all works to develop us from all sides.

Therefore, in Yaroslavl, they grow not only hockey players, but also people, that is, personalities. I think all this, combined with the efforts of the coaches and managers, adds up to the result that we are seeing now. Many guys from this system end up playing not only in the MHL and KHL, but even in the NHL. It has been confirmed more than once that Yaroslavl has a first-class system.

— How many people from the current Loko youth team can play in the KHL next season?

— It's hard to say, I'm not a coach. But I think that at least five people can safely enter. It is clear that it depends on their role in the team and the figure of the head coach of Lokomotiv, but they can enter the KHL.

— Is this regardless of the fact that almost the entire championship team of Lokomotiv will remain in the KHL again?

— I think all the guys will eventually come in. It just takes a little bit of experience and time.

— During the last KHL season, did you communicate with your former partners at Lokomotiv? Was it understood that the team would not fall apart after Igor Nikitin's departure and was able to repeat last year's success under the leadership of Bob Hartley?

— I talked to half of the team. Therefore, I roughly understood what they were capable of. Based on how I knew the situation from the inside, I believed that the guys were capable of repeating last year's triumph. Bob Hartley did a great job, but thanks more to Igor Valeryevich Nikitin and his staff, especially Dmitry Sergeevich Yushkevich for everything they did for us, for the foundation they laid at Lokomotiv.

— When we watched the matches of Lokomotiv last season, were we able to assess what remained in the game from Nikitin's staff and what Hartley brought?

— I don't think the new headquarters changed much. We just kept what works.

— Many people are still shocked by how Lokomotiv saved the semifinal series with Avangard. Can you explain how they did it?

— The system. The system that is laid down in the school, where the appropriate character is brought up, and how all this develops at the level of the youth team, and then the main one.

"The NHL is higher in everything"

— At the end of last summer, at a pre-season press conference in Yaroslavl, there was a rare public appearance by Yuri Yakovlev, president of Lokomotiv, who, in particular, said the following about your and Booth's departure: "We will not dissuade anyone, because there are those who want to leave. It would be wrong if we put up obstacles, then we would lose trust. There were offers to Simashev and Booth, I think they left early. They should have played in the KHL for another year to feel more confident." How did they react to these words?

— Yakovlev treats us very well, I know that. We talked personally. What you quoted is his opinion. But I think time will tell everything. I am sure that both Dani and I will succeed.

— Are you happy with your first season in the Utah system?

- yes. I can give myself six out of ten. He could have done better, of course. But I also want to improve every year. I'm still a young hockey player, so I believe that I will continue to progress.

— Are your plans for next season fully established in the NHL?

— Yes, to play as much as possible in the main team and help it reach the playoffs.

— This season, Utah was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round by the Vegas Golden Knights. Could she have achieved more?

— Yes, but I think that the team as a whole fought well against a very strong opponent. I lost the series in only six matches. And what Vegas is like, we can see from the current playoffs (Vegas leads in the Stanley Cup finals after the first match with the Carolina Hurricanes. — Ed.). Personally, I believe in Utah and its prospects. We have a promising young team that will compete for the Stanley Cup in two or three years.

— Was the NHL level shocking?

— Yes, this is a much higher level than in the KHL. Our league is also decent. I think she is really the second in the world in terms of level. But the NHL is higher in everything — you can't even describe exactly what it is, everything is at the level of sensations. It's just that you have to be inside to feel it.

— Have you adapted to the household?

— Yes, everything happened very quickly. I like living there, I like Utah. Maybe you're lucky to have a team, a great club, where they treat you very well. Plus, the presence of compatriots helped — the fact that we went with Dania Booth, and the fact that Misha Sergachev has been playing there for years. He really helped us adapt quickly. Plus, when you're focused on hockey, when you're trying to figure out how to play in the NHL and AHL every day, the adjustment is faster in everyday terms.