"Yaroslavl is well done, and Radulov is generally handsome"

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, State Duma deputy, two-time Olympic champion and three-time Stanley Cup winner Vyacheslav Fetisov assessed the prospects for the return of the Russian national team to the World Hockey Championships. In an interview with Izvestia, he also summed up the KHL season, calling it a success, and stated that the league's independence from the Russian Hockey Federation was already yielding results.

— Recently, many representatives of the hockey community, including Igor Larionov, have been talking about the imminent return of the Russian national team to the international arena. Do you share this optimism?

— I don't believe in forecasts at all. Even if they are made by Igor Larionov. If there is a solution, we will discuss it. I understand one thing: if we want to compete in the World Championships and the Olympic Games, then the current position of the relevant international federation is not what we would like to see. So far, I am skeptical about the forecasts that the Russian national team will play there soon.

— Does the fact that in a number of other sports our athletes already perform with a flag and an anthem give reasons for greater optimism?

— It all depends on the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Let's wait for September, when the congress will be held, which will elect a new president of the organization instead of Luc Tardif. Then they'll tell us everything.

— What impression did the KHL season and the Lokomotiv championship leave on you?

— Yaroslavl — well done. The team has proven that systematic work brings results. Radulov is generally handsome! Well, the season will go down in history on the example of Lokomotiv by how you can achieve victory when there are practically no chances. We have seen situations where a team has won a series, losing it 1:3. But in such a way as to be on the verge of relegation 33 seconds before the end of regular time, and win back from 0:2, as Yaroslavl did in the sixth match, then win the meeting in the second overtime (3:2), win back from 1:3 already in the seventh match and win again in the second overtime (4:3), pick up the series from Avangard... This semi-final has gone down in history. So from all points of view, the season is positive.

"I wanted to help Yaroslavl in memory of the team that died in 2011"

Lokomotiv head coach Bob Hartley talks about why he accepted Yuri Yakovlev's offer, winning the Gagarin Cup and retiring.

— How, in your opinion, did it turn out this way?

— I believe that the league's independence from all public organizations is already yielding results today.

— Do you believe that this independence will be preserved after the Russian national team returns to the World Cup?

— How can it not be preserved?

— The RIHF will convince the Ministry of Sports and lawmakers to return control of the KHL to it under the pretext of the interests of the Russian national team, so that the league season ends as before in April, and all players can train in Novogorsk with the national team.

— We haven't won the World Cup like this since 2014. Did it help that the KHL ended the season before the World Cup? (He smiles.) What does that have to do with it? The guys who came from the NHL usually took up positions in the national team of those who were released earlier in the KHL. So why stop the playoffs for the sake of the World Cup, which people need? They're going to the games in droves now, and the arenas are filling up to capacity. And at the same time, there is a new format in which the national team can be formed from those who dropped out of the Gagarin Cup. They will qualify for the World Cup along with those who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup in the first rounds. The national teams of other countries are also formed in this way. So there is no problem here.

— Does this mean that our national team can fight for victory at the World Cup, forming in the same way as Canada, the USA, and Sweden do?

— This is modern hockey. There are no monthly fees, no special training. As far as I understand, everyone who participated in the last Olympics just boarded a plane and flew to Italy. It's just that a coach must understand in advance who he will choose, which hockey to play, and which tactics to use.