Vityaz season preview: a new home and new imports

KHL.ru continues its traditional pre-season summary of our clubs. Today we’re focussing on Vityaz. After two seasons out of the playoffs, the team is moving to Balashikha and an arena with a rich history of post season hockey.

Last season

Last summer, the management at Vityaz faced a difficult task: somehow, they had to replace undoubted team leader Justin Danforth. Even without Danforth’s departure, there were significant losses, and replacing a forward who averaged more than 20 minutes a game, won 60% of his face-offs and scored at almost a point a game looked like an almost unachievable mission. Moreover, Vityaz has one of the smaller budgets in the league. The club’s new imports were greeted with polite skepticism, particularly Niko Ojamaki. The Finn had only once scored 20 goals a season in his adult career and he had a modest 16 (5+11) points in 48 games in Sweden prior to his move. To everyone’s surprise, though, Ojamaki outperformed Danforth and every other Vityaz player in the KHL era. His 29 goals also established a record mark for Finns in the league and made Ojamaki the leading goalscorer last season.

However, Ojamaki’s efforts, alongside his linemates, were not enough for the team to succeed. Vityaz had perhaps the most unbalanced roster in the league. A prolific first line — Ojamaki (43 points), Miro Aaltonen (42) and Daniel Audette (39) — lacked support from the other forwards. Fourth in scoring was Valtteri Kemilainen (26), then Fyodor Malykhin (16). In the end, Vityaz finished 10th in the west and missed the playoffs.

Roster

Departures

Goalie: Ilya Ezhov (Salavat Yulaev)

Defense: Mikhail Yepishin (Ugra, VHL), Evgeny Lisovets (Admiral), Kirill Lyamin.

Forwards: Miro Aaltonen (Kloten, SUI), Artyom Ivanyuzhenkov (Sochi), Fyodor Malykhin (Avangard), German Nesterov (Rubin, VHL), Niko Ojamaki (Tappara, FIN).

Arrivals

Goalie: Dmitry Shikin (Biel, SUI)

Defense: Alexei Volgin (Amur), Nikita Lisov (SKA), Vitaly Menshikov (Jokerit), Jeremy Roy (Zvolen, SVK), Kirill Steklov (London, OHL)

Forwards: Alexander Avtsin (Spartak), Ilya Arkalov (Vasteras, SWE2), Danial Butsayev (Rubin, VHL, try-out), Tyler Graovac (Dinamo Minsk), Ivan Yezhov (Ugra, VHL), Vladislav Kara (Ugra, VHL, via Severstal), Zack Mitchell (Rapperswil-Jona, SUI)

This summer, Vityaz faced the same challenge as last year — bring in a new band of imports. On offense, two forwards with KHL experience arrive: Tyler Graovac and Zack Mitchell. Canadian Jeremy Roy, who played in Slovakia last season, boosts the defense. The most productive Russian from last season, Fyodor Malykhin, also left the club, as did first-choice goalie Ilya Ezhov.

Coaching

Yury Babenko’s rookie season cannot be regarded as a triumph, although with a far from stellar roster it’s fair to say he did OK. His team displayed a coherent philosophy but lacked sufficient depth to make that style effective. Now, Vityaz turns to an experienced head coach in Vyacheslav Butsayev. He started his coaching career with CSKA before moving on to work with other clubs in a similar financial situation to Vityaz — Sochi (2014-2017) and Neftkehimik (2018-2021). In total, Butsayev has won 167 of his 365 games in the KHL.

Goalies

Igor Saprykin and Dmitry Shikin will battle to fill the vacancy left by Ezhov. Shikin started last season at Avtomobilist and finished in Switzerland. He seems to be the favored netminder at present. Cover comes from 21-year-old Maxim Kloberdanets and 24-year-old Maxim Dorozhko, who blanked Spartak in a recent warm-up game.

Defense

The D-core sees more gains than losses. In all probability, Jeremy Roy will take a leading role. He is in the prime of his career, and was a second-round draft pick seven years ago. New signings Alexei Volgin and Vitaly Menshikov should also play a part.

Offense

Mitchell and Graovac are more than adequate forwards, but it is hard to see them as a complete replacement for Ojamaki, Aaltonen and Audette. On the other hand, a year ago nobody expected much from Ojamaki or Audette. In addition, Vityaz has added some talented Russians, most prominently Vladimir Galuzin and Alexander Avtsin. Two rising stars can look for further progress — Alexander Yaremchuk and Stepan Starkov both bring an extra year’s experience.

Youngsters

Yaremchuk is Vityaz’ biggest asset among the U23 players. Last season he struggled with injuries but in the recent 3×3 tournament he proved that he back to his best. However, on Aug. 22 he celebrates his 23rd birthday and leaves this age category. Ivan Zinchenko and Igor Rydchenko have already shown their worth, while 18-year-old Ivan Detkov is developing strongly with Russkiye Vityazi. He was second in goals and third in points during his rookie JHL campaign with 38 (19+19) points. Ahead of him, Nikolai Smirnov and Stepan Urulin already have a little KHL experience.

Expectations

Vityaz is strong enough to compete for a top eight finish, and in favorable circumstances could even push for the top six. An intangible factor might also help. The team’s move to Balashikha evokes memories of MVD’s Cinderella run to the Gagarin Cup final, while Avangard won the cup here.