Da Costa: “Radulov may yell on me, then say what a great player I am”
Avtomobilist’s Frenchman Stephane Da Costa tells KHL.ru about his current season, last year’s turbulences, and his play with one of the top all-time KHL players – Alexander Radulov.
Stephane Da Costa is one of the longest-serving internationals ever to play in the KHL. He has played more than 300 regular-season games and over fifty playoff contests. After signing with CSKA back in 2014, the Frenchman only went to Switzerland for one season, and the 2022-2023 campaign is his eighth in the league. During this time, the Avtomobilist forward has changed five teams, played on a line with Alexander Radulov, reached the Gagarin Cup finals with CSKA, was Ak Bars’ top scorer, and only last season he missed the playoffs.
“It's hard to say how Avtomobilist changed since last year”, he starts the talk. “We need to play a few more games. The beginning isn’t the best time to make diagnoses. But I think that we added some parts that Avtomobilist lacked last season. We systematized our game.” Moreover, Avtomobilist’s head coach Nikolai Zavarukhin is known for his conservative approach. “I don’t think that’s a problem,” the Frenchman says. “Our coach sets the system, but that doesn’t mean he kills creativity. I think I can put my skills into our tactics. Systematic is always better for the team, because it’s the only way all the players can look in the same direction and act cohesively.”
Interestingly enough, Da Costa had his best seasons when playing under Russian coaches, while he and his teams didn’t have much success when coached by Canadian specialists (Bill Peters and Craig MacTavish). “I don't think it’s just about coaches and their nationality,” he says “Take Bob Hartley, for example. Just because he’s Canadian, it didn’t stop him from being successful in the KHL. He made it to the finals with Avangard and took the Gagarin Cup. But if you think about what bothers foreign coaches, it’s the Russian mentality, of course. Not everyone understands it.”
He then goes on explaining. “As a rule, foreign coaches, the Canadians for example, give too much freedom to the players, while in Russia they are used to strict discipline since childhood. Maybe coaches need to be stricter. If you compare different approaches, I can say that in Russia they do everything together. And I’m not just talking about hockey, where it’s customary to prepare for the season as a team, and in North America, individually. This affects different areas of life. In the West, everyone is responsible for himself, but in Russia, collective intelligence means a lot.”
This year, Avto’s captain is Sergei Shirokov. The veteran has almost 700 KHL games under his belt, but he’s a new signing for the Motormen. “I can’t speak for the veterans, but my feeling is that everyone took Sergei’s captaincy positively”, Da Costa admits. “He’s a very experienced and respected player. Shirokov won the Gagarin Cup, took gold at the Olympics. This is a well-deserved man who has won everything in hockey. So, there can’t even be any questions. He was chosen by the team by a general vote.”
Da Costa is famed for his “refuse-to-lose” mentality, and last year must have been a tough one for him. “It was a nightmare”, e says. “We really weren’t doing very well. For me, it was the first season of my career that my team didn’t make the playoffs. That says a lot. I have never felt anything like that.” However, he never thought about leaving the team. “I have never thought about that for a minute. When something doesn’t go well, you can’t just give up and surrender. If we are in this situation together, as a team we need to get out of it. We have to fight for our happiness, not run away from problems.”
This year, the sheer number of foreign players in the league diminished for obvious reasons. However, Da Costa decided to return and honor his contract with Avtomobilist. “I know that some players from Europe who came back from Russia had problems. But that wasn’t my case. I am the master of my own destiny. My life is my decisions. Only I can decide where I can work. If we talk about Poland, where I live with my family, no one put obstacles in my way.”
Da Costa, who is son to a Polish mother, visited several countries in his long career. “I came to America as a 17-year-old boy,” he recalls. “A lot of things were new to me. But I would also point out that for Europeans and, as in my case, for Poles, Russia is closer in lifestyle than America. So, it was hard to surprise me with anything both in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Moreover, I had already seen a lot by then. And I am just the kind of person who takes in everything new calmly. When I come to Thailand, I don't say, ‘Bad, bad, bad, bad,’ but I try to understand how people live there and how things work. I am open to the world.”
Da Costa earlier expressed his surprise when KHL teams were playing on three different ice surfaces. Now, mostly, teams play on an NHL-sized rink. “To be honest, I liked it better before,” he says. “When I played for CSKA, there were European rinks everywhere. You could show your skills and creativity on them. I think that big ice sends us back to classic Russian hockey, which is closely tied to the USSR national team. Where, of course, there are tactics, but the individual qualities, their technique, come to the fore. Now, with the shrinking of the ice surface, the game is getting simpler. The role of the player is becoming smaller, there is less opportunity to prove yourself, but it is important how you look as a team. There are more shots and more plays in the corners. Hockey is changing.”
However, the Frenchman doesn’t think that hockey was less physical back then. “If you watch the games between CSKA and SKA, CSKA and Dynamo, or SKA and Dynamo in those years, there was just as much physical influence on the game. Because all of these were real battles. The size of the rink wasn’t important, everyone played to the last one. Hockey didn’t become more physical. There is just less leeway for creative players.”
Last year, CSKA was coached to the cup by Sergei Fedorov, who signed Da Costa when he was the Red-and-Blues’ GM. “Sergei Fedorov is one of my all-time favorite players. He had a great understanding of the game. Of course, a person with that mindset has all the tools to become a great coach. This kind of bright thinking cannot extend only to concrete actions on the ice.” When he was still a GM, Fedorov would hit the ice himself to help with coaching. “He was on the ice almost every day,” Da Costa confirms. “He gathered the centers and shared his experience with us, gave us advice on how to get on the faceoffs, how to act in different situations. If you look at the centers that were in CSKA at the time, they were all great at faceoffs: Andronov, Stas, and others. It was all thanks to Fedorov, who shared his experience and brought out the little things that make the difference.”
Playing in the NHL for a Canadian club presumably made Da Costa feel a lot of pressure on his side. “However, I didn’t have time to feel all the pressure back then,” he explains. “I was still very young, and there weren’t many expectations on me as they were on the leaders. As for Russia, do you think there is no pressure in CSKA? It’s a club with a great history. I felt the pressure there, too. Especially when you are a foreigner. A foreign player in the KHL can’t play with fluctuations. Being an import here it’s not easy. You always have to keep the highest level, otherwise you’re going to face problems.”
This summer, an old Da Costa’s linemate returned to the KHL – Alex Radulov. “I’m always happy when players of that caliber, like Radulov, come back to the league. He was great when we played together. Alexander is still a fantastic player. It’s a big plus for the KHL that such players come here.”
The forward has clear ideas in terms of his preference whether to play with or against Radulov. “Of course, I would always choose to play alongside him. Any big player you want to see on your side. But Ak Bars as a whole will be a good test for our team. Kazan put together a very capable squad. I’m looking forward to interesting games with them.”
Da Costa also shared his experience on playing with him. “He’s a very emotional person! He is also very demanding. Radulov himself gave a lot to the game and demanded it from his partners. He could say something on the ice, but it made you better. From time to time, he would yell at me, but then at some team dinner, he would say what a great partner I was and how much he enjoyed playing with me. That lifted my spirits right away! Radulov’s main advantage is that he channels his emotions in the right direction.”
Earlier, there were talks of having Da Costa’s KHL team playing in Paris, and even about establishing a KHL franchise in France. “It would help French hockey a lot,” Da Costa says. “At least because of the spectator interest. Kids would see a lot of hockey and go to hockey teams. There was serious talk about creating a French club in the KHL. That would have been a real breakthrough! Local coaches, watching the league, would have seen the direction in which hockey was developing.”
KHL.ru dossier
Born Jul 11, 1989, in Paris, France
Career: 2004-2005 – Viry Chatillon (France), 2005-2006 – Amiens (France), 2006-2007 – Texas Tornado (NAHL), 2007-2009 – Sioux City Musketeers (USHL), 2009-2011 – Merrimack College (NCAA), 2011-2014 – Ottawa Senators (NHL), 2011-2014 – Binghamton Senators (AHL), 2014-2017 – CSKA, 2017-2018 – Geneve-Servette HC (Switzerland), 2018-2019 – Avtomobilist, 2019-2020 – Lokomotiv, 2020-2021 - Ak Bars, 2021-today – Avtomobilist.
Achievements: Top Scorer at the U20 WJC 2nd division (2009), NCAA Rookie of the Year (2010), KHL All-Star Game (2016, 2019, 2020).
