Amur season review: good use of loans and the league’s top rookie
KHL.ru continues its review of the 2022-2023 season with a look at Amur’s campaign. The Tigers outperformed their expectations but failed to reach the playoffs for the fifth time in a row.
Throughout the history of the KHL, Amur has only made it to the playoffs twice, with the last time being in 2018. Prior to the start of the 2022-2023 season, most predictions anticipated that the team from the Far East, along with three other teams — Admiral, Barys, and Neftekhimik — would compete for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. In essence, it turned out to be almost true; however, Traktor joined in, and the battle also unfolded for the seventh position. In this fight, Amur dropped out, finishing second to last, after losing 0:2 in Vladivostok in the penultimate regular season contest.
It could have all worked out better if it weren’t for the unsuccessful start of the season. In September and October, the Tigers lost eight matches each. From November onwards, the situation normalized, and Amur consistently gathered points, even despite the departure of a key player, Michal Jordan. As a result, they fell just three points short of the playoff zone, and those points were lost somewhere in those first couple of months.
Top players
42 (17+25) points in 67 games
By the age of 26, Ivan Nikolishin was not very well-known at the KHL level. He had one full season and three half-seasons in his career. In September, when Michal Jordan got injured, the C letter was temporarily entrusted to Ivan, and from November, when Jordan left for Switzerland, the captaincy firmly belonged to Nikolishin. And rightfully so: he became the team’s leading goal scorer, assist provider, and, consequently, top producer, nearly doubling his personal record.
93.7% saves percentage, 2.03 GAA, 16 wins in 39 games
Out of the eight years spent in Khabarovsk, Evgeny Alikin has been successfully competing with various foreign goaltenders over the past five years and consistently making it to the highlight reels with his spectacular saves. In the previous season, he set a personal record for wins and matched his achievements in save percentage and goals against average.
20 (7+13) points in 53 games
Cameron Lee didn’t become a direct replacement for Jordan, who was a key pillar of Amur’s defensive line. In particular, he didn’t see much ice in penalty killing situations. However, he showcased his skills as an offensive defenseman and performed well in that role. Despite his offensive focus, he played reliably enough, earning a positive differential (+1).
Sergei Dubakin, Yaroslav Likhachyov, Nikita Grebyonkin
14+15 in 57 games, 15+12 in 59, and 9+17 in 45
Amur was particularly successful in utilizing the newly introduced loan system, attracting talented forwards who either had limited playing time or struggled to find a place in their respective home teams. In Khabarovsk, both the opportunity and the playing time were available, and the young players made excellent use of them. Sergei Dubakin, Yaroslav Likhachyov, and Nikita Grebyonkin joined Nikolishin on the list of Amur’s top scorers. In addition, Dubakin also achieved the best differential (+11), five points ahead of the second-place player. Furthermore, Grebyonkin was recognized as the season’s top rookie.
Head coach
Vadim Yepanchintsev led Spartak from August 2017 to October 2018, and then spent three years with Yugra, with whom he won the VHL championship in 2021 and was awarded best coach honors. His work with Amur should be considered, at least, satisfactory: despite not making the playoffs, the team performed better than expected, and the main credit should go to the head coach. However, the Tigers decided to part ways with Yepanchintsev, which, on one hand, is somewhat surprising. On the other hand, it reflects the high ambitions (which will be discussed further below): a satisfactory result for the team’s boards is not sufficient; they are aiming for more.
Best game
In the second half of January, Sibir took the lead in the East, while Amur found themselves second-to-last in the conference’s standings. So, being on a 3:0 game after eight minutes in Novosibirsk seemed so fast. And 4:1 score early in the second period, probably didn’t bring much surprise. However, at the beginning of the closing frame, the scoreboard showed 4:4, and the game ended with a home defeat for the leader with a 4:6 score, and there were no empty-net goals — the Tigers sealed the deal with more than eleven minutes to go.
Youngsters
In terms of average age (27 years and 18 days), Amur ranked 14th, and they only utilized nine players born in 2000 or later, with four of them appearing in less than 20 games. However, this is one of those cases where quality is much more important than quantity. Not every team can boast three significant under-23 players. As mentioned earlier, the trio of Grebyonkin, Dubakin, and Likhachyov proved to be highly successful acquisitions. Firstly, they gained valuable playing time at the KHL level, which undoubtedly contributes to their progress. Secondly, their progress is beneficial to their respective teams: Metallurg, Sibir, and Lokomotiv. Thirdly, Amur also benefited from their contributions, as they came close to making the playoffs thanks in large part to these forwards. And fourthly, there is the overall positive experience for Amur, which is expected to lead to more active use of loan agreements in the future. This, in turn, will contribute to the quantitative and qualitative progress of the youth development.
Summer progress
As mentioned before, there is no reason to be ashamed of Yepanchintsev’s performance over the season; however, he did not retain his position. Clearly, this is a result of the team’s ambitions. However, it is also evident that on paper, the Amur roster didn’t match those expectations. The team’s lineup, based solely on player names, was not expected to contend for a playoff spot. Recent examples like Vityaz and especially neighboring Admiral demonstrate that predictions based solely on player names are not the most accurate. Therefore, Yepanchintsev was replaced by a familiar face: Andrei Martemyanov, who led Amur to the playoffs five years ago. However, they also took into account player names again. The team was active in the free-agent market and made several acquisitions. The Tigers offered contracts to notable players such as Igor Bobkov, Alex Broadhurst, Alexander Bryntsev, Alexei Volgin, Evgeny Grachyov, Anatoly Nikontsev, and Alexander Shchemerov. They also acquired Yegor Korshkov from Lokomotiv and Pyotr Khokhryakov from Traktor.
