Review of the season: Sibir. New arena, lost points, and coaching changes
KHL.ru continues reviewing the 2023-2024 season for the league’s clubs. Today, it’s Sibir’s turn. The Novosibirsk side moved to a new home and lost points for a mistake with the number of import players dressed in four games, but fought for a spot in the elimination stage until the very end.
In the 2023 summer, changes took place in Sibir – the team proclaimed a change of philosophy to a more offensive play, with David Nemirovsky becoming the new head coach of the team. The new coach, however, failed to realize his vision in full at the head of the Novosibirsk club: in early December, Nemirovsky left the team, and his place as “acting” was taken by Sergei Krivokrasov. Nemirovsky was not forgiven for four straight defeats, although at the time of his resignation, Siberia was still in the top eight in the East. The club management’s missteps were not without faults as well, as the team dressed four import players in four league games. The league gave Novosibirsk technical defeats in those games, and de facto the club lost four points for two wins (Sibir lost two more games while dressing four imports). Despite all the difficulties, under Krivokrasov the team fought to the last for a playoff spot. Sibir finally lost its chances for the elimination stage on Feb 18.
It’s worth mentioning the team’s new home - it became the Sibir Arena, which seats more than 10 thousand spectators. Novosibirsk played its first home game at the new arena on Sep 7, 2023, celebrating with a SO win over Barys (1:0 SO). This match set a new attendance record for Sibir’s home games – 10,418 were those in attendance.
Best players
60 games, 46 (14+32) points
Last season was the second year in Novosibirsk for the Canadian forward. Judging by performance, Beck spent it worse than the first (0.75 and 0.82 points per game on average), but still became the team’s top scorer. Taylor is a key player for Novosibirsk on offense and on the power play, he can both make a subtle pass and solve a scoring chance on his own. He has an existing contract with the club for another year, so in the new season, Novosibirsk fans will be again admiring his game.
66 games, 39 (27+12) points
The 2023-2024 season was Andreoff’s first in the KHL, and he showcased himself very well, netting 27 goals, gaining the title of the team’s top sniper, and finishing in seventh place in the goal scorers list in the entire league. Andy showed from the first games that he can fight for the puck and be a threat on the opposition’s slot, and he also has good technical skills. The club extended his contract at the end of February, and given Andreoff’s numbers, it seemed like a logical decision.
68 games, 19 (13+6) points
Mikheyev’s relatively modest stats on goals and assists shouldn’t disguise anyone, as the forward showed serious progress in the 2023-2024 season. First, he played in all 68 regular season games: only three players in the team reached this feat. Secondly, his 13 goals are third on the team behind Beck and Andreoff, even though Mikheev has played mostly in the bottom lines his entire career and doesn’t play on the power play units. By comparison, he scored 18 goals in his last five seasons before moving to Sibir, playing for three different clubs. Third, he scored three of his 13 goals last season on the penalty kill, the second-most in the entire league.
Coaching
David Nemirovsky has been with the club for just over three months since the start of the season – under his guide, the team played 40 games, accumulating 25 defeats (including two technical defeats). Sergei Krivokrasov, who replaced Nemirovsky, was able to shake up the team, but the coaching change had no effect over the long haul – Sibir finished the regular season in tenth place in the East. After the end of the 2023-2024 season the passions for a new head coach of Siberia were boiling over: at first the club publicly announced agreements with Anvar Gatiyatulin, but then he signed with Ak Bars, and Vadim Yepanchintsev landed in Novosibirsk. An interesting candidate – Yepanchintsev’s last KHL club was Amur in the 2022-2023 season, with several young players shining in the Khabarovsk team.
Best game
The first ever Sibir-Arena derby against Avangard was a memorable one. The Hawks opened the scoring in the second minute of the game, but then the hosts took the lead thanks to a double from Andreoff and a tally from Nikita Yefremov. The visitors equalized at the very end, but just half a minute later, they conceded a goal from Fyodor Gordeyev – his goal became the winning one in the match.
Youngsters
In the 2023-2024 campaign, several young players consistently played for Sibir. On the blue line, there were Artyom Zhukov and Nikita Yefremov: both received significant ice time (11:56 and 16:48 per game on average, respectively), and Yefremov, at just 22 years old, played 67 out of 68 games.
There are also promising talents in the offensive lines – brothers Ivan and Yegor Klimovich, and Vladimir Mikhalyov. Ivan Klimovich, like Yefremov, played 67 games (this was his second season with the senior team), while Yegor and Vladimir were called up for the first time. Interestingly, Vladimir not only scored in his very first KHL match, but also made an appearance at the KHL All-Star Game.
Summer work
It’s worth mentioning the significant changes in the structure of the club: Lev Krutokhvostov became the general director, Viktor Merkulov was hired as the team’s new general manager, and Andrey Glazkov is now Sibir’s executive director.
Regarding the side’s work in the transfer market, two strong signings are the return of Valentin Pyanov and Yegor Martynov to Novosibirsk. Additionally, the team brought back Dmitry Ovchinnikov from overseas and signed a new contract with Gordeyev, who will no longer be considered an import player in the new season.
