Looking for improvements. Dinamo Minsk season preview
Last season was the worst ever for Dinamo Minsk in the KHL. But the club has kept faith with head coach Craig Woodcroft and is working on a long-term plan to boost the team’s fortunes.
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Last season
Things didn’t start out too badly for Dinamo — at least, not compared with how the team ended the season. Despite losing its opening three games, the Belarusians recovered quickly. A three-game winning streak, including a 5-0 thrashing of Jokerit, suggested that Dinamo could compete, and by the end of September the team was in a playoff spot.
Then it all went wrong. A month-long skid brought 11 straight losses. A brief revival in November was a false dawn, with a 12-game losing streak following. By New Year it was already clear that the team wasn’t going to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017, the departure of leading scorer Teemu Pulkkinen to Dynamo Moscow merely underlying the point. The remaining motivation for the season was to finish ahead of Dinamo Riga and escape the bottom rung of the league table, but that also proved beyond Craig Woodcroft’s team. With more than 200 goals allowed — the worst in the league — it was a miserable campaign in Minsk.
Head coach
Despite the team’s obvious problems, Craig Woodcroft remains behind the bench. A year ago he was handed an unenviable task — improve results on a reduced budget. That was the background as the Canadian went from masterminding Dinamo’s best ever KHL season in 2016-2017 to presiding over its worst last term.
Despite the adversity his team faced, Woodcroft acquitted himself with dignity. That, plus the management’s belief in a long-term strategy to reverse a decline in Belarusian hockey in recent years, earned him another season this time around. With a new-look roster, he will expect to see progress in 2020-2021.
Key departures
As often happens with teams far from the playoffs, the overhaul of roster started early. Teemu Pulkkinen, as mentioned, left for Moscow. Goalie Jhonas Enroth also left in the latter stages of last season. Over the summer, three more imports moved on: defenseman Stefan Elliot went to Frolunda, while Marc-Andre Gragnani and Joe Morrow also departed.
Several big-name Belarusian players also left the club. On defense, Kirill Gotovets joined Avangard and Oleg Yevenko went to Traktor. Up front, the Kostitsyn brothers — symbols of Belarusian hockey in recent years — are no more. Andrei joined Neftekhimik while Sergei, unable to play at all last season due to injuries, seems set to retire.
Key arrivals
The plan is clear: bring promising Belarusian players back from the North American minor leagues. The list of summer signings includes three names from the OHL — D-men Vladislav Kolyachonok and Ilya Solovyov, plus forward Ivan Lodnya — as well as Stepan Falkovsky (ECHL), Vladimir Alistratov (WHL) and AHLers Maxim Sushko and Yegor Sharangovich. Of those, the latter is the only one with KHL experience and the former Binghampton Senators forward has a reputation as one of Belarus’ brightest prospects.
Adding experience to that mix, we have Rob Klinkhammer, a Gagarin Cup winner in 2018 with Ak Bars, Brandon Kozun, an experienced forward in the KHL, and Swedish defenseman Adam Almquist, previously with Admiral. Goalie Dominik Furch, another familiar name in this league, is back after playing in Sweden and defenseman Ilya Shinkevich returns to Belarus after a spell with Vityaz.
Star player
Amid the whirl of transfer activity, Minsk retains the services of three leading forwards: Francis Pare, Shane Prince and Ryan Spooner. Much will be expected of them, especially the latter. Spooner, 28, joined the team in October of last year and went on to score 37 (10+27) points in 43 appearances on a struggling team.
He came to Belarus with plenty of top-level experience, approaching the 50-point mark in his best seasons with Boston Bruins. In Minsk he claimed more GWGs than anyone else, led the team in assists and recorded an 82% score for passing accuracy. With more performances like that, Dinamo can start to look at moving up the table.
Expectations
It feels like the management in Minsk is learning from past problems. In previous years, the club has been quick to hit the panic button and attempt to rebuild from scratch. Here, though, there is evidence of a long-term plan, with Woodcroft backed to develop his roster. The recruitment of a clutch of Belarusian prospects points to a desire to build a new, local backbone to the team — with the spin-off of boosting the national team before it hosts the World Championship in May.
Of course, there are significant losses: Andrei Kostitsyn and Marc-Andre Gragnani both offered a huge amount and will be tough to replace. But the additions of Almqvist and Klinkhammer can compensate for those departures. It might take some time, but Dinamo could prove to be one of the surprises of the coming season.
