KHL press office
exclusive for khl.ru
HC Sochi season review: three coaches, a record-low, and Matvei Michkov
KHL.ru starts its review of the 2022-2023 season with a look at HC Sochi’s campaign. The team the brakes on the process of leveling the playing field among the league’s teams, experiencing a streak of 21 consecutive losses. Nevertheless, it is evident that they only slowed down rather than completely dropped out. They performed well in the closing stages of last year’s campaign and are actively working to strengthen their roster during the offseason.
The 2022-2023 season was undeniably unsuccessful for the Sochi franchise. They consecutively set two record-lows for consecutive defeats — not only in the KHL, but also for all Russian championships. From Nov 17 to Jan 21, the Black Sea squad suffered 21 losses, which landed them in the last position in the standings. Just a week after the losing streak was broken, Sochi even lost any theoretical chance of making it to the playoffs, with 16 games remaining in the regular season. It is worth noting to the players’ and coaches’ credit that they didn’t give up and ended the season quite decently, winning three out of the last four contests. They could have won all four, but they lost in overtime (5:6) to the winner of the regular season, SKA.
This record-low will remain in history, and it is unlikely to be repeated by anyone in the near future. However, is 2022-2023 HC Sochi the weakest team in the history of the KHL or Russian championships? Certainly not. In different years, there were much more hopeless outsiders, and sometimes several of them. That’s why no one had previously experienced such a streak of defeats: the outsiders could defeat each other. With the introduction of a strict salary cap and floor in the KHL, the level of teams started to level out. Of course, this process is gradual rather than instantaneous. The favorites remained favorites, but yesterday’s outsiders suddenly came closer to the mid-table teams. However, due to personnel reasons, the Sochi team couldn’t keep up with the others and remained in their own “weight category” alone. Their successful finish in the regular season indicates that they are also making progress; it just took them more time to catch up.
Top players
12 (2+10) points in 62 games
Throughout the season, the Sochi team scored 142 goals and conceded 254. Defenseman Yury Alexandrov spent an average of 18 and a half minutes on the ice per game and managed to earn a positive plus/minus rating of +5. When the veteran was on the ice in even-strength situations, Sochi scored 43 goals and conceded 38, which is a significant achievement.
30 (13+17) points in 55 games
Artur Tyanulin became the top scorer of the team, and that says it all. What’s remarkable is that this was only Artur’s second season in the KHL.
20 (9+11) points in 27 games
Matvei Michkov was loaned to Sochi from SKA shortly before the New Year. If this had happened earlier, it is quite likely that the record-low streak would not have occurred. It’s widely known that Michkov is one of the brightest players of his generation, not only in Russia but worldwide. In Sochi, he received significant ice time and made the most of it. In one of the games, he recorded ten shots on goal, and he ended the season with a spectacular lacrosse goal. In addition to that tally, he contributed with an assist in all the other four goals, ending the night with five points.
Head coach
The season began for Sochi under the leadership of Andrei Nazarov, who coached the team for 20 games. Out of those 20 matches, 17 were lost, leading to Nazarov being replaced by Sergei Svetlov. Svetlov took charge of the team for 32 matches, winning three of them (one in regulation time). At the end of January, Svetlov resigned, and his position was filled by Dmitry Kokorev, who previously coached Kapitan — Sochi’s junior team — in the JHL. Kokorev managed to win five out of 16 games.
Interestingly, both Nazarov and Svetlov, at different times, played for Dynamo Moscow just like Alexei Badyukov, the Director of Hockey Operations for Sochi.
Best game
On Jan 10, Sochi suffered a home defeat against Vityaz, setting a new KHL record for consecutive losses. Two days later, they lost in OT to Torpedo renewing a similar record-low for Russian championships. Another two days passed, and they faced Metallurg, finally ending their losing streak that night. The Sochi team took the lead twice, but each time, Magnitka managed to equalize. However, they couldn’t respond to Sergei Popov’s tally in the closing frame. Throughout the season, Sochi had more remarkable games (under each of the three coaches), but none of them compares to this long-awaited victory for its psychological impact.
Youngsters
Sochi is a good place for young players who are trusted here. Another important aspect is the reduced pressure — while results are expected everywhere, the tournament ambitions of the Black Sea franchise and, for example, SKA are completely different. The fact that Michkov wouldn’t receive as much ice time in SKA is not because he is unworthy, but is more due to the goals and roster of the St. Petersburg franchise. In addition to Michkov, players like Amir Garayev, Dmitry Zavgorodny, Sergey Kosovets, Fyodor Kroshchinsky, Sergei Popov, and Dmitry Utkin have also performed well; further progress is expected from all of them.
Sochi’s JHL affiliate, Kapitan, coached by Kokorev for a significant part of the season, moved up from the Silver to the Gold division. This achievement is also an important milestone in terms of youth development for the Black Sea franchise.
Summer progress
The first priority for Sochi was to determine its head coach for the 2023-2024 campaign, since Kokorev had been serving as the interim coach for the season. Just a week ago, he was officially appointed as the club’s head coach. Meanwhile, Badyukov, the director of hockey operations, made several moves. He acquired promising defenseman Vasily Machulin from Dynamo Moscow (who has already played for Sochi last year on loan), extended contracts with 11 players, including the team’s top scorer Tyanulin, and signed an equal number of newcomers. While Badyukov didn’t make any blockbuster move, the additions of Artyom Alyayev, Jesse Graham, Michal Kristof, Kirill Rasskazov, Borna Rendulic, Artem Sagadeyev, and Ildar Shiksatdarov are all quality acquisitions. The possibility of extending Michkov’s loan is also not ruled out yet.
