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Torpedo season: Larionov’s unconventional moves and Kruchinin’s playmaking skills
KHL.ru continues reviewing the 2022-2023 season for the different league’s teams with a visit to Nizhny Novgorod. Under the guidance of Igor Larionov, Torpedo has become one of the main revelations of the season.
Bright and productive game, new heroes and well-known players in the League who have reached a new level – it was a fantastic ride. In the regular season, Torpedo took the fourth place in the West, becoming the third team in the League for number of goals scored. The Nizhny Novgorod side scored 204 goals, surpassed only by the West titans, CSKA and SKA.
In the elimination stage, Torpedo started with a fantastic series against Dynamo (4-2) and for the first time since 2016, advanced to the second round of the Gagarin Cup playoffs. There, Torpedo faced SKA, and serious problems arose for the team. The final result of 0-4 may seem bad, but it was only in the third game that SKA clearly surpassed their opponent (0:4), in all the other games Torpedo came very close to the St. Petersburg giant (1:2 OT, 4:5, 3:5).
Top players
54 (15+39) points in 65 games
The 32-year-old forward started in Nizhny Novgorod only on a try-out contract, but very soon became one of the key figures in the team. Kruchinin, for the first time in his career, played a full season in the KHL as a center forward, and his game became a true masterclass on how to become an elite playmaker. Kruchinin’s skillful and intelligent play became one of the key components in Torpedo’s gameplay system, earning him an impressive harvest of 39 assists.
61 (24+37) points in 66 games
Nikolai Kovalenko transferred to Torpedo from Ak Bars, where he was essentially a role player. In Nizhny Novgorod, the forward flourished and became a true leader of the team. With a strong regular season and impressive performance in the playoffs, he emerged as the top scorer, second sniper, and the team’s leader in hits (98). Overall, it was an excellent season for Kovalenko in every aspect.
33 (11+22) points in 74 games
21-years-old Maxim Fedotov fit perfectly into Igor Larionov’s strategies. Together with 20-years-old Bogdan Konyushkov, he became the true embodiment of the modern Torpedo, where even defensemen play an exciting style of hockey. In fact, Fedotov became the top shooter for Torpedo last season, with 196 attempts. With such activity, it’s not surprising that Maxim excelled in the offense and became the teams’ top scorer from the blue line.
Head coach
Part of the audience reacted skeptically to the appointment of Igor Larionov as the team’s head coach, despite the detailed concept of the team’s future game outlined by the Professor. Doubting experts and fans argued that Larionov lacked experience at the club level, the team’s roster was still modest, and it was just easy to talk about anything. However, the first games of the season showed that Larionov’s words perfectly aligned with his actions. The Professor elevated Torpedo to a new level, instilling an exciting attacking style of play that brought pleasure to both players and spectators. Moreover, Larionov appeared excellent off the ice, constantly raising interesting topics for discussion – from raspberry comments at press conferences to “appointing” the injured Kruchinin as his assistant on the bench.
“If we look back a year ago when we came to Nizhny Novgorod to observe the team, the players, the staff, and the overall atmosphere in the city, and compare it to what we see today, we can say that the season turned out not to be excellent, but good. After this experimental season, we gained more than we lost,” Larionov said at the season-ending press conference.
Best game
The away match against Dynamo Moscow on Mar 8th turned out to be incredible. The Nizhny Novgorod side made a comeback from a 0:2 deficit, took the lead, but missed out on victory just minutes before the end of regulation time. However, Torpedo managed to snatch the victory in OT. And all of this happened in the playoffs!
Youngsters
In addition to the already mentioned Maxim Fedotov and Bogdan Konyushkov (by the way, 2 goals + 28 assists), who were the most productive Nizhny Novgorod defensemen a whole bunch of young guys played for the side, making Torpedo one of the youngest teams of the season.
The top 3 U23 forwards in terms of the number of games played for Torpedo in the 2022-2023 championship were Yegor Vinogradov (63), Vladislav Firstov (57), and Vasily Atanasov (42). Vinogradov scored 19 points (7+12), Firstov joined the team during the season and added 30 points to the tally (14+16), and despite a serious injury in the middle of the season, Atanasov managed to become the best rookie of the first month of play and produced 14 points (9+5). By the way, he also scored the last goal for Torpedo in the season.
Summer progress
Torpedo had a few acquisitions – young defenseman Arseny Varlakov joined the club’s system from Yugra, Ilya Fedotov returned from loan, and Ivan Vorobyov moved to Nizhny Novgorod from Zauralye. At the same time, the list of departures is not shocking. For example, Denis Vengryzhanovsky signed with Avangard, Kenny Agostino, an American player who didn’t fit into Larionov’s system, left Torpedo without making an impact, and experienced defenseman Georgy Misharin decided to end his career.
However, this shouldn’t come as a surprise as Larionov predicted such developments, saying, “There is no serious need for a surgical operation on the roster. We aren’t planning any blockbuster deal.”
