"As an athlete, you will never be satisfied"

The Severstal Hockey Club has announced the appointment of Bogdan Kiselevich, its former player, to the post of Deputy Director for development. One of the best defenders of the KHL in the 2010s, Olympic champion in 2018 and two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup with CSKA Moscow (2022) and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (2025) has not played since last spring, and announced his retirement this summer after holding a farewell match in Cherepovets on July 29.

In an interview with Izvestia, Kiselyevich told how he returned to Severstal in a new capacity, summed up his career, and also recalled his trip to the NHL, where he was first with the Florida Panthers and then the Winnipeg Jets in the 2018/2019 season.

— How did the option of working at Severstal arise?

— Nikolay Kanakov, the club's director, and I have been discussing this since about October, and especially since January, when we were preparing for the match together to mark the end of my playing career. And over time, we came to the decision to cooperate in the club. I would also like to note that not only me, but also other guys from Cherepovets are captivated by the organization's attitude towards its students, the intention to raise personal banners under the arches of the arena.

— The match you mentioned in Cherepovets was very bright, the stands were full. Are you satisfied with how everything went in the end?

— It was an interesting experience for me to organize and hold such events. Especially after studying at the Higher School of Economics and the Moscow Institute of Economics, which I actively studied last year, when I completed two annual retraining programs. And for me, organizing the match in Cherepovets was akin to a training practice. A lot of things worked out, some didn't. We have taken all this experience for the future. It is very important that we spent part of our time on the playground with the children who play hockey. I am glad that they and their parents were satisfied.

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— You said that you didn't want to play your farewell match for a long time, that your friends and parents convinced you. In the end, are you glad that you decided?

— Yes, I wanted to end my career quietly and start something new. But gradually people brought me to this. Not that they were even persuaded or persuaded. They were just slowly dripping on my brain. And so slowly but surely they led me to the decision to hold this event. I remember that Kolya Bardin and Andriukha Svetlakov, already knowing that I was finishing, always asked me with a slight joke during each conversation.: "When are you going to play the farewell match?" In the end, I didn't want to call it a farewell, but it's not even the name that matters. The main thing is that in the end we did it, held it. And I'm very glad that I finally decided. There were doubts because I left Severstal a long time ago, and they sold me to CSKA back in 2014. Yes, I am a graduate of Cherepovets hockey, I played in my hometown at the KHL level. But it's one thing if I had played for Severstal for a long time and won the Gagarin Cup with them, then it would obviously have been necessary to hold such a match at the end of my career. As it is, I spent most of my playing years in other clubs, where I was a kind of representative of Cherepovets. But it is very pleasant that even with this in mind, the club approved such a match and helped with its organization, and the fans came to the stadium.

— What emotions did you feel when your family went out on the ice after the match, when your parents and wife made speeches?

— It's hard to describe in words. It's a special emotion when you see a father making a symbolic throw-in, when parents and wife make speeches in front of 5,5 thousand people. Words cannot describe it. I am very grateful to everyone who came to the ice palace that evening, and I am grateful to the audience who filled the arena to capacity. And to all the guys who were able to come to Cherepovets to play in this match. I know they were very pleased with the atmosphere. I hope those who are still playing have been recharged with positive emotions before the season. And for many of them, there was an experience of how to do something similar themselves when they finish.

— On the day of the match, there was a quote from Vadim Shipachev in the locker room.: "You haven't seen my farewell match yet." How did this idea come about?

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— Our team came up with it. I wanted to add some atmosphere to the locker room. I hope the Cherepovets audience will actually see Vadim's similar match, only later. In five years, not earlier.

— When did you decide for yourself that it was time to end your hockey career?

— Last summer, after we won the Gagarin Cup with Lokomotiv. When I started preparing for the new season, I realized that everything was fine. But in general, everything was gradually moving towards this decision.

— But they didn't make any statements about their retirement either.

— I started preparing for the season in the summer and quickly realized that I was already worn out. First of all, in terms of the head, it is worn out inside. I called my agent, asked what employment options were available, and said that I would not be joining any team in August yet. And he said that in September and October there might no longer be a team that would be interested in me. So I decided that I would finish it then. We need to devote more time to our family, which was not always possible when playing hockey at a high level. My parents aren't getting any younger either, and I missed growing up as my career progressed — my spouse kept the house. In recent years, priorities have changed in favor of the family, so I gradually came to the conclusion that I had to stop playing.

— If you sum up your career, are you satisfied with everything?

— I think more than one athlete will not be happy with everything. I am no exception. Of course, it could have been done better, bigger and cooler. I could have done more for each of the teams that trusted me to play for myself. There is a lot of under-fulfillment, but this is from the perspective of what my coaches have told me all my career to always set myself up to the maximum. There was more to be done in CSKA, Avangard, the national team, and the NHL. But if you come down from heaven to earth, then a normal career. If someone had told me when I was a kid, when I started playing hockey, that it would be like this, I would have been only happy. I've given so many years of my life to hockey for a reason. I am grateful to all the people who got in my way — teams, coaches, managers. It could have been better or worse, but as an athlete you will never be satisfied. And since at some point you begin to realize that your body is not capable of playing how you want and how you could before, you should not engage in self-deception and think in the style of "Yes, I could still play." We either have to go out and play at our maximum, or stop looking for ourselves.

— At what point did this self-search begin?

— At the age of 28. I thought about it then and began to realize how emotionally dependent we all are on sports, how much we don't let anyone into our social circle. That our sports world is very narrow and comes down to the fact that there is a task and we are fulfilling it. There are only two months of rest in the summer, and the rest is preparation and the season.

— It turns out that you started thinking in 2018-2019, at the peak of your career, when you had Olympic gold and a trip to the NHL?

— Yes, then I began to wonder what I wanted next and what direction I was interested in. And if you're going to work somewhere, you need practice. And before practicing, I decided to get an education. So far, I'm happy with how things are going.

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Bogdan Kiselyevich said goodbye to his hockey career in his native Cherepovets

— You spent six months in Florida. Did someone from that squad end up on the team that won two Stanley Cups?

- yes. Alexander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad. I remember them and the guys from the team staff.

— Did you feel at least a little bit that this organization could shoot like this in five years, winning two Stanley Cups and reaching the finals three times in a row?

— It wasn't felt at all. The team itself was completely different. Back then, no one could have guessed where Florida would be in a few years. There was a different coaching staff, a different team.

— Another general manager?

— Yes, the then general manager of Florida, Dale Tallon, is a cool specialist. But something didn't work out. I don't know why. Although it seems that Bobrovsky was signed with him, and there were other improvements. But things don't build that fast. And now it's really cool to see what the team has achieved over time.

— As a result, Florida achieved these successes under head coach Paul Morris, with whom you played in Winnipeg. What are your impressions of working with him?

— I am very happy for him and his staff. There is a very strong headquarters there. And they deserved those wins against Florida. They had a lot of unusual things when I was under their leadership at Winnipeg. For example, no one was shouting — they have a very low timbre of voice. The quality of training, its quantity and duration is generally a thrill. The work of a physical training coach is brilliant. I gained a lot of experience during those six months with them. Winnipeg was a top-level organization. At least in hockey terms. As a result, Maurice and his staff ended up in Florida, another new general manager came there — and here you are!