Barys season recap: inconsistency and injuries in the worst moment
KHL.ru keeps on summarizing the results of the 2023-2024 season for the League clubs. Barys changed head coaches twice during the season, started the season unsuccessfully, returned to the race for the playoffs, but ultimately lost all chances to get there almost a month before the start of the elimination stage.
The start of the season was not very successful for Barys – after five consecutive defeats (two of which were later turned into technical victories due to the Gordeev case in matches against Sibir), the Kazakhs found relief in a game against Neftekhimik (8:0). A major issue for Andrei Skabelka’s team was the lack of stability – one or two wins were usually followed by long losing streaks. The first stretch with more than two straight wins came only at the end of December (by then, the team was already being led by Oleg Bolyakin, the third coach since the start of the season) – Barys managed to win four times in a row. This briefly brought the Kazakh club back into the playoff race, but not for long: on Feb 4 and 6, Barys lost to direct competitor Amur for a spot in the top eight, and on the 8th, they even lost any mathematical chances of participating in the Gagarin Cup playoffs. One of the reasons for this negative outcome was the injuries to key players that hit the team during the playoff chase.
On the positive side, the troika of Riley Barber, Joseph LaBate, and Pontus Aberg stood out for Barys: despite the overall team results, this combination worked like clockwork and, as of Oct 12, was second in scoring (15 goals in 17 games). Barber was a revelation at the start of the season, but was then traded to Ak Bars where he struggled significantly. The mid-season signings for the Astana team were also quite successful – both Anthony Camara and Daniil Apalkov, who joined the club on a two-way contract, fit in well.
Best players
37 (17+20) points in 64 games
When moving to Barys, Aberg already had experience playing in the KHL as he spent the 2020-2021 season with Traktor. As part of the Astana team, the Swede became the top scorer and sniper of the 2023-2024 regular season. But Aberg’s results again make us mention the Barber’s trade – before this deal, which happened on Nov 24, Pontus scored 14 goals, and only three over the next three months. Practice has shown that with the right partners, the Swedish forward can be a good sniper. Now the only question is whether he will remain at Barys for the next season, and whether the coaches will be able to assemble good offensive line with him.
10 W in 39 games, 91.5%, GAA 2.74
The return of Eddie Pasquale to Barys gave the idea that Shutov and Nikita Boyarkin would play sporadically, and the main load would fall on the new-old import goalie. As it turned out, the fears were unfounded – Pasquale played clearly below his level, and Shutov took full advantage of the chance given. Andrei played a little more than the Canadian netminder (39 matches versus 36), won 10 victories (Pasquale had only four) and surpassed his more experienced colleague in most stats. In comparison with other goalies in the League, Shutov’s numbers look very good – another thing is that the support from his defense was clearly not enough to achieve the desired result.
33 (8+25) points in 62 games
The Czech d-man moved to Barys before the start of the 2023-2024 season and was seen as strengthening, among other things, the attacking potential of the team, being one of the contenders for a spot in the powerplay units. He succeeded in both – Sklenicka became the team’s best assister (25 helpers) and the best defensive sniper with the man advantage (four goals). 33 points is David’s personal performance record (a year ago in the Swedish championship he had 31). The question regarding the future of this player is still open – Barys made him a qualifying offer of a one-year contract.
25 (15+10) points in 68 games
Perhaps Shestakov and Shutov are the players who have made the most significant progress this season. Firstly, Arkady became one of two Barys’ players who played all 68 regular-season matches (a year ago, Shestakov also missed only one game in 68 contests). Secondly, he seriously improved his performance and sniper skills: previously, the forward never produced more than 16 points during the regular season and never scored more than nine tallies.
Coaching
Barys experienced two coaching resignations during the season. In early October, after an unsuccessful start, Andrei Skabelka left the team – at the time of his departure, the Astana team had won only three out of 15 matches. Galym Mambetaliev became the acting head coach. He worked in this post for a little more than two months, after which the team – also with the prefix “acting.” – headed by Oleg Bolyakin, who worked for the last two seasons as the club’s general manager.
With him, Barys returned to the race for the playoffs, which was never successful for the team. Already in May 2024, the Astana franchise announced the appointment of David Nemirovsky, an ex-Barys player who began the 2023-2024 with Sibir, to the post of head coach.
Best game
Despite the final result, Barys had several strong performances this season – for example, two victories over Neftekhimik (8:0 and 6:5 OT) or five goals scored against Metallurg, the eventual Gagarin Cup champion (5:2). But from the point of view of both the game itself in a particular match, and the impact on further results, it is worth highlighting the home game against Avangard. A 5:0 lead against one of the Eastern Conference leaders is worth a lot, even if the team failed to save Pasquale’s shutout in the end. Plus, this victory was the second in that same four-match December series: after two difficult points in the game with Sochi (3:2 OT), the clash against the Omsk franchise promised to be a real test of strength for Barys. And they passed this test, then backing up the result with victories over Traktor (5:1) and Lokomotiv (5:4 SO).
Young players
It would seem that the situation that Barys found itself in at the beginning of the season should have sharply reduced the playing time for the younger – after an unsuccessful start, there was no time to fatten up just to be in the playoffs. But no – seven under-23 Barys players lined up for at least 20 matches, two – Alikhan Omirbekov and Tamirlan Gaitamirov – played 52 and 51 games, respectively. At the same time, four – Omirbekov, Gaitamirov, Maxim Musorov and Ansar Shaikhmeddenov – posted an average of more than 10 minutes per night. In terms of performance, Omirbekov expressed himself most vividly: in his first full season at the KHL level, he amassed 6 (3+3) points.
Offseason moves
So far, Barys has much more “exit” transitions than “entrance” ones. The club extended contracts with captain Roman Starchenko, for whom the upcoming season will be the 16th as part of the Astana team, with forwards Apalkov and Alikhan Asetov. As for the players who left the team, it is worth mentioning Shestakov, who moved to Admiral; Yegor Shalapov, Dmitry Gurkov, LaBate, Camara, Emil Nurgaliyev and Rudolf Cerveny will definitely not line up for Barys next season.
Considering the number of players who have left, the Barys management will have to work hard in the off-season to replace them and not lose (and, ideally, gain) quality. At a press conference following the results of the 2023-2024 season, the club’s general director Boris Ivanishchev announced changes in the lineup and emphasized that “the team will be created in a new way.”
