Big coaching deal confirmed, ex-IIHF chief talks Russian hockey

It’s summer, it’s quiet. Except in Kazan.

Bill signs on for another year

Zinetula Bilyaletdinov will continue behind the bench at Ak Bars for another season after agreeing a one-year deal with the Kazan club. Coach Bill, a club legend with three Gagarin Cup wins from five trips to the final, admitted that it wasn’t an easy decision to stay in the role he unexpectedly resumed last season after retiring back in 2019.

“I thought long and hard about whether to extend the contract, but in the end several things persuaded me,” he told the Ak Bars website. “I’ve spent half a season with the team, I got to know them and I want to finish the job. It wasn’t a bad season, but I want more, so that these guys can taste a big triumph. Also, ordinary fans often approached me and urged me to stay with the team — that also played a role.”

With Bilyaletdinov confirmed at Ak Bars, along with assistants Yury Babenko and Alexander Boikov, 22 of the 23 teams playing in next season’s KHL have appointed head coaches. The exception is Kunlun Red Star, where Greg Ireland’s contract expired on April 30. Usually, the Chinese team announces its personnel later in the summer.

Ex-IIHF boss talks KHL

Former IIHF president Rene Fasel gave an exclusive interview to the KHL’s official podcast. In it, he discussed many things, including the emergence of stellar Russian players in the new generation of coaching talent, the unique elements of Soviet and Russian hockey and the importance of the KHL’s support for the game in China. But Fasel also spoke about the vital importance of using the KHL to drive better facilities and opportunities for the players of the future.

“It’s like a big pyramid,” Fasel said. “The KHL is at the top, but it needs a good base. The bigger base you have, the higher you can go. I fight very hard to do that, working together for the game and having a good strategy, especially for the juniors. The juniors are most important today, for tomorrow.”

A personal highlight

Fasel also talked about his favorite moment from the KHL’s history — and singled out SKA’s first Gagarin Cup win under Vyacheslav Bykov in 2015. As well as a long-lasting affection for St. Petersburg, there’s a personal connection between Fasel and Bykov.

“Slava is a very good friend of mine,” he said. “We were in Fribourg together, that’s my hometown team and Slava came there with Andrei Khomutov. Since then, I’ve always had a very good relationship with Slava, so I was very happy when SKA won the cup for the first time with him. Emotionally, that was a good moment.”

You can find the full interview, with Russian subtitles, on YouTube.