Oleg Znarok: Team Russia’s top coach
After 1992, Oleg Znarok dropped off the radar of Russian hockey fans for a time. He played abroad, he coached exclusively in Latvia. Older fans, naturally, remembered a moustachioed forward at Dinamo Riga who was second in scoring in the Soviet Championship of 1991.
However, for more than 15 years, he came to mind maybe once a year during the World Championship, assuming Latvia was in the top division. Which wasn’t always the case. As a player, Oleg Znarok appeared among the elite only in 1997, 1998 and 1999. He returned as Latvia’s head coach in 2007. A year later, he took over at MVD and returned to Russian hockey.
Founded in Tver, and later based in Podolsk, then Balashikha, MVD won just one game in three Superleague playoff campaigns. After Andrei Khomutov left the club, Znarok became head coach in April 2008, just as the KHL was formed. He was appointed by MVD’s GM, Andrei Safronov, who could not really explain the logic behind his choice.
April 2, 2008 Appointed head coach of MVD
April 11, 2010 Took MVD to Gagarin Cup final
May 25, 2010 Appointed head coach of Dynamo
May 26, 2010 KHL coach of the year for the first time
April 25, 2012 Won Dynamo’s first Gagarin Cup
“Back then I didn’t really know about his qualities,” Safronov told Sovietsky Sport. “People talk about faith. And intuition. These guided me. Znarok was strongly recommended by two-time Olympic champion Igor Stelnov, God rest his soul. He was a close friend of Oleg. I trusted Igor Anatolevich, who was working with our club.”
Znarok’s first season at MVD wasn’t a big success. The team was always inconsistent. Over the previous three years, things got better in each regular season, finishing 15th, then 13th, then 10th. But in 2009, MVD placed 18th and missed the playoffs. Most people expected Znarok to be replaced.
A time of sensations
Kirovs Lipmans, president of the Latvian Hockey Federation, said that after the 2007 World Championship he was encouraged to replace Znarok as head coach of the national team. “But I defended Oleg, I kept him on, and I’ve no complaints about that,” he said.
In 2009, Znarok was disappointed by MVD’s performance in the KHL. But he was also delighted with Latvia’s successful show at the World Championship in Switzerland, where the Baltic state reached the quarterfinals, matching its best ever result. Latvia would not improve on this until May 2023, when it won bronze in Tampere. The 2009 Worlds proved to be Znarok’s launch pad.
There were no surprises in the Russian Hockey Championship. The medals always went to the usual suspects, the big budget teams with star-studded rosters. At MVD, Znarok was the first coach to produce an underdog that could bite.
The Cops’ roster didn’t change much over the summer. Therefore, nobody expected anything much in the new campaign. But during the regular season most were astonished to see Znarok’s team take second place in the West. There was still an assumption that the playoffs would restore the natural order. Even after MVD swept CSKA in the first round, nobody expected Znarok to go much further. But in the quarter final, MVD dropped just one game against Dinamo Riga.
Next came Lokomotiv, favorites to win the series despite finishing just fifth in the regular season. The Railwaymen had a skilful, experienced team and were up 3-2 after five games. At game six in Yaroslavl, Loko was expected to book its ticket to a second successive final. But MVD bounced back to win two games and advance.
And Znarok’s outsiders still weren’t done. Ak Bars won the opening two games of the final in Balashikha, seemingly putting the contest to bed. But the story was not over. MVD rallied to win the next three and was one game away from lifting the Gagarin Cup. It didn’t happen. Ak Bars managed to turn the series around, despite injuries to Alexei Morozov and Danis Zaripov. But that couldn’t diminish MVD’s achievement.
It proved to be the club’s final act. Shortly after the final, news broke that the club was folding, along with Dynamo Moscow. A new team would emerge under the Dynamo name. That new team was built around Znarok’s MVD – players, management, staff and coaches all moved to the capital. And so, Znarok became head coach of Dynamo.
Despite MVD’s success, many thought it was a one-off. Few expected a repeat. Dynamo’s first season seemed to support the skeptics: Dynamo lost out to Dinamo Riga in the first round of the playoffs. Nobody imagined that, with broadly the same roster, the Blue-and-Whites would win the next two championships.
The 2012 final between Avangard and Dynamo went down in history as the first time a team recovered from 1-3 to win the series. A year later, Dynamo defeated Traktor 4-2.
Job done
In 2014, Dynamo’s playoffs ended in the first round. Its last two games against Lokomotiv ended with an aggregate 1-11 scoreline. Shortly after, Znarok was unveiled as head coach of Team Russia, remaining with the club as a consultant.
The early end to the club season undoubtedly helped Znarok win World Championship gold. He was able to assemble an almost complete roster a month before the tournament. Washington did not make the NHL playoffs, so Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov could join the national team early. Columbus fell in the first round, freeing up Sergei Bobrovsky. Moreover, just weeks after the Sochi Olympics, the other top teams brought experimental rosters. Everything was in Znarok’s favor, and he played a strong hand perfectly, winning 10 out of 10 games.
April 17, 2013 Won second Gagarin Cup with Dynamo
March 26, 2014 Appointed head coach of Team Russia
May 25, 2014 Won World Championship
June 1, 2016 Appointed head coach of SKA
April 16, 2017 First man to coach 3 Gagarin Cup winning teams
Feb. 25, 2018 Led Team Russia to Olympic gold in PyeongChang
The following year in the Czech Republic, the top nations had stronger rosters. The tournament was harder for Russia, with two losses in the group stage. In the QF, Sweden rallied from 0-3 to tie the game before losing 3-5. Then Bobrovsky’s outstanding performance in the semi-final defied the USA. In the final, Canada proved far too strong, powering to a 6-1 win. Nonetheless, a silver medal was a successful result. Moreover, after each tournament it was clear that the World Championship was part of the preparation towards a greater goal – Olympic gold in PyeongChang.
Russia picked up medals at the next two Worlds. While the bronze in Germany in 2017 probably matched expectations, there had been higher hopes on home ice in 2016. Overall, though, four medals in four years was clearly a good return.
In the build-up to the Olympics there was one big question – would the NHL’s stars go to Korea? Their eventual absence made Team Russia the clear favorite, not least because star players such as Slava Voynov, Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk all returned to the KHL. No other roster could match the depth of Russia’s. That alone did not guarantee victory, but there was no shock at the Olympics, even though Germany came desperately close in the gold medal game.
For Znarok, it was job done. Statistically, he became the most successful head coach of Team Russia, with five medals from five major tournaments – two gold, one silver, two bronze.
A Third Gagarin Cup and SKA’s First Championship
In 2016, Oleg Znarok became SKA’s head coach. This was good for the national team, since many potential international players were based in Petersburg. It was also good for SKA, looking for a strong replacement for Cup-winning head coach Vyacheslav Bykov.
Znarok got results right away. He led SKA to the Russian Championship for the first time, and won its second Gagarin Cup. It was the coach’s third cup win, matched only by Zinetula Bilyaletdinov. However, the following season, SKA lost to CSKA in the Conference final. Znarok left SKA, and the national team. The Russian Hockey Federation commented that the coach was tired after enduring a heavy psychological load. Znarok’s assistant, Ilya Vorobyov, took over national team duties.
After a one-year sabbatical, Znarok returned in 2019 as head coach of Spartak. However, he was unable to take another middling roster to any great height. In two seasons, the Red-and-Whites won just one playoff game. After a further year’s rest, the coach took charge of Ak Bars amid great expectations. Despite an impressive roster, the team never lived up to those hopes. At the start of December 2022, Znarok left the team. Currently, the coach is in a third pause – but it’s entirely possible we’ll see him once more in the KHL.
Dossier
Oleg Valerevich Znarok
Born Jan. 2, 1963, Ust-Katav (Chelyabinsk Region)
Playing career: Traktor (1979-1982); Dinamo Riga (1983-1992); Maine (AHL, 1992), Landsberg (GER, 1992-1995); Freiburg (GER, 1995-2000); Heilbronner (GER, 2000-2002)
Playing honors: European U18 Champion (1981), USSR Championship silver (1988)
Coaching career: Team Latvia (2006-2011); MVD (2008-2010); Dynamo Moscow (2010-2014), Team Russia (2014-2018); SKA (2016-2018); Spartak (2019-2021); Ak Bars (2022).
Coaching honors: Olympic Champion (2018); World Championship gold (2014), silver (2015), bronze (2016, 2017); Gagarin Cup winner and Russian champion (2012, 2013, 2017); Gagarin Cup finalist and Russian championship runner-up (2010); KHL coach of the year (2010, 2012, 2013, 2017).
