2020-2021 Barys review: no attendance and bad third periods
KHL.ru continues reviewing the 2020-2021 campaign for the league’s 23 teams. The Kazakh franchise was forced to play the entire regular season without attendance, allowing the first spectators only in the elimination games.
Last year, Barys had to undergo a complete change in its hockey operations staff; it was no easy feat, considering the kind of results Andrei Skabelka had. To replace the Belarusian coach, who made Barys one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, Yury Mikhailis was appointed as the Kazakh franchise’s bench boss. Mikhailis worked within the Barys organization for the past fifteen years, so his appointment had its logic. The roster changed as well — it’s enough to think that former Barys forward Corban Knight won the Gagarin Cup with Avangard, and Eddie Pasquale was awarded Goalie of the Year honors.
The odd preseason and the regular season played with no attendance — both due to the pandemic — only made the situation worse. Moreover, Barys’ season showed dreadful third periods, with only 14 third periods won out of 60. Only Sochi and Neftekhimik showed worse results. However, Barys managed to qualify to the postseason, where the team faced the same opponent as last year — Metallurg. If last year Barys had a sound win, the series finished with a sound defeat for the Kazakhs this year.
Best players
65 games, 41 (10+31) points
The 36-years-old veteran is one of the league’s top globetrotters. Before signing with Barys after sitting without a team for half a season, Videll played in Khanty-Mansiysk, Cherepovets, Riga, Nizhny Novgorod, Beijing, Chelyabinsk, and Riga again. Videll moved to Nur-Sultan during the 2019-2020 season, but despite his age, he fit in his new team once again, and in 2020-2021 he had a career-high in assists.
65 games, 37 (20+17) points
Mikhailis also had a career-high with 20 goals. On the one hand, playing under your father may be easier, but you’re going to feel more pressure from the other hand for obvious reasons. Nikita has tons of talent — not only he’s an excellent player, but he’s also one of these players that fans always enjoy watching. Moreover, he also earned eighteen powerplays for his team.
59 games, 42 (19+23) points
Dietz is the team’s captain, leader, and, despite his role, top scorer. Generally speaking, he’s also Barys’ most valuable player, but there are a couple of things to consider. First, Dietz had the team’s worst +/- rating (-16). If removing the special teams’ numbers, Dietz’s rating will go down to −29. Moreover, the team’s goals difference in the season was −10. Dietz also accumulated several unneeded penalties in the third period that cost Barys a few games.
Roman Starchenko is another player worth mentioning. Producing 35 (15+20) points in 65 games for Barys, he was awarded Player of the Year honors by Kazakhstani journalists.
Best game
Naturally, the games between Barys and Skabelka’s Lokomotiv were of the utmost importance for the Kazakhs. In the first encounter, the Railwaymen had a sensational, 7:2 victory, with Pasquale stopping 23 shots for Yaroslavl, Atte Ohtamaa opening the score and adding an assist, and Andre Petersson posting a double, including the game-winner. This could only raise the temperatures in sight of the second match. Before the game, however, Barys lost Dietz and three forwards: Pavel Akolzin, Kirill Panyukov, and Dmitry Shevchenko. However, Barys didn’t surrender and had its revenge.
Head coach
After the 2019-2020 season, Barys took three months to find the right candidate for the head coach position. Despite all the rumors, the choice fell on Yury Mikhailis. His most significant advantage was, of course, his knowledge of the players, having worked in the system for 15 years. However, he lacked experience at the KHL level. He also inherited a good core from Skabelka, but also the expectations after such a season. As a result, Mikhailis’ results can be compared to Vladimir Krikunov’s stint in Kazakhstan, and he did better than, for example, Andrei Shayanov, Andrei Khomutov, Andrei Nazarov, or Evgeny Koreshkov.
“Emotions were through the roof, the KHL is really on the next level. We tried working hard, and winning each game. The team missed its fans at home, and the much-needed emotions. The season was a hard one, not only for me but also for the whole staff, the team, and the directors. The pandemic played its role, but we tried reaching the goals set by the boards.”
Offseason moves
Yury Mikhailis’ one-year deal expired, and the situation is unclear so far. It’s not excluded that the coach will return for another season. In the meantime, the team lost several players. Videll returned to Sweden, Jesse Blacker signed with Avtomobilist, Viktor Svedberg moved to CSKA, Alexei Maklyukov and Pavel Akolzin inked a deal with Magnitka, Anton Sagadeyev joined Skabelka in Yaroslavl, and Dmitry Shevchenko will try to help Avangard winning another Gagarin Cup.
However, there is some good news. Joni Ortio inked a new deal with the franchise, and he will be joined between the piping by Nikita Boryakin, one of the IIHF WC’s surprises. The Swedish defensemen Olle Alsing and Erik Martinsson will replace Svedberg and Blacker. On the attack, Barys signed Cody Kunyk, who led the Finnish Liiga with 39 assists in the 2019-2020 season. However, even if Kunyk will play as well as Videll, the losses are so far simply too many for just one man to cover.
