2020-2021 Traktor review: Gatiyatulin's return and fifth place in the East
KHL.ru continues reviewing the 2020-2021 campaign for each of the league’s 23 teams. Anvar Gatiyatulin returned behind the Traktor’s bench, and managed to bring the team back to the Eastern Conference’s top five.
The main question mark for Traktor before the 2020-2021 campaign was whether Gatiyatulin was able to repeat his success after he worked a few seasons in St. Petersburg. Under his guide, Traktor made it to the Eastern Conference finals in 2017-2018. Moreover, Chelyabinsk was very active in the offseason, signing the Czech netminder Roman Will, the Swedish D-man Lawrence Pilut, his large-framed colleague Oleg Yevenko, and forwards Pontus Aberg, Alexei Byvaltsev, and Sergei Kalinin.
Traktor ended the regular season as the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed, which is the best result in the latest three seasons. Moreover, while climbing the ranks, Chelyabinsk defeated SKA, CSKA, Lokomotiv, Jokerit, and Dynamo Moscow. Moreover, the franchise performed even better against the other East teams, with three wins over Metallurg, two victories against Ak Bars and Avtomobilist, and one W over Salavat Yulaev. However, Traktor couldn’t obstacle Ufa’s first line in the playoffs, only getting the upper hand in the first encounter.
Best players
64 games, 52 (14+38) points
In 2020-2021, Hyka was as effective as expected, and for the third time in four seasons, he broke the 50-point mark. In January, the Czech forward had an eight-game scoring streak (with three goals and ten helpers). In the regular season’s tail, he twice posted a hat-trick of assists, against Neftekhimik and Metallurg, with Traktor winning both games. By the way, the three helpers against Magnitka helped Hyka becoming the all-time KHL regular-season top scorer for Traktor. The Czech forward Hyka started well with the assists in two games, but the other games weren’t lucky for either Hyka and the team in general.
56 games, 36 (14+22) points
The productive defenseman, who holds a Belarusian passport, is currently one of Traktor’s longest tenures, having just completed his fourth season at the club. He was the top-scoring defenseman for Chelyabinsk in the regular season and one of the top five in the league. In February, he was awarded the D-man of the month award after potting a double against Dinamo Minsk (2:3 OT), and netting the game-winner against CSKA (2:1) and Metallurg (4:3 OT) for a total of 11 (7+4) points in nine games. In the playoffs, Bailen scored once, forcing the second game to OT.
61 games, 25 (16+9) points
This season was the best in his career for Osnovin, who seems to have finally found the right place for him. In January, the 27-years-old forward had a three-game scoring streak, including helping Traktor defeating Vityaz (2:1) and Lokomotiv (4:0). In the first playoff game, Osnovin potted a double when Chelyabinsk defeated Salavat Yulaev with a 3:1 score.
Best game
The Ural derbies between Metallurg and Traktor are always exciting games. On Feb 16, Traktor hosted Magnitka and went up by three goals with Denis Bodrov, Lukas Sedlak, and Daniil Ilyin. However, Metallurg tied things up with Andrej Nestrasil, Taylor Beck, and Sergei Plotnikov, who put it in the back of the net with just one second to the horn. However, in OT, a shot by Bailen gifted Traktor a memorable victory.
Head coach
Anvar Gatiyatulin returned to Chelyabinsk, and he once again delivered for Traktor. In 2017-2018, the coach led the Southern Urals franchise to the third place in the East and the Conference finals, this time fifth place and a postseason qualification. Perhaps Traktor was waiting for more, yet Gatiyatulin showed once again his worth. In the next season, following Chelyabinsk will be even more exciting, and this is also due to its head coach.
“This season was a challenging one, but a joint effort by the team, the coaches, and the boards gave its results. I’m glad to have returned to Chelyabinsk. I think that Traktor had a jump forward this season, but stopping now would be a mistake. We’re already getting ready for the upcoming campaign and studying last year’s mistakes,” Gatiyatulin told KHL.ru after the season.
Offseason moves
Traktor is one of the most active teams on the transfer market so far. The Southern Urals franchise signed goalie Emil Garipov, D-man Albert Yarullin, and forwards Vladimir Tkachyov and Teemu Pulkkinen. Moreover, Alexei Potapov and Andrei Stas will also head to Chelyabinsk. Five of the six mentioned players won the Gagarin Cup with Ak Bars or Avangard, and this speaks aloud about the team’s ambitions. The only significant loss for Traktor is young forward Vitaly Kravtsov. After being assigned to Chelyabinsk last year, he returned to the New York Rangers.
