Review of the season: CSKA. Championship hangover and first-round exit
After winning back-to-back titles, CSKA found things tougher in 2023-2024 as KHL.ru’s latest review discovers. The Muscovites finished outside the top four in the West and fell in the first round of the playoffs. Both represented the club’s worst results for a decade.
CSKA lost the Opening Cup curtain-raiser 2-5 at home to Ak Bars and throughout the fall, Sergei Fedorov’s team tended to alternate wins and losses. Along the way, there were some unwelcome surprises against modest opposition: defeats to Kunlun Red Star (2-3 OT), Lada (1-3), Severstal (1-2) and Admiral (2-3 OT). There were sudden, short bursts of winning form, notably a three-game streak as September moved into October when the team blasted 20 goals.
Supporters were already used to the fact that CSKA came back from the close season later than its rivals and therefore was slower to pick up form. But they also expected their team to steadily gain momentum and power into a leading position ahead of the playoffs. This year, that didn’t happen. Defeat in the final game of the regular season against Dynamo Moscow left CSKA in seventh place and facing a tricky first-round match-up with Lokomotiv.
The opening game of that series went well, but then Lokomotiv responded with four straight victories to break CSKA’s grips on the Gagarin Cup. Another damning statistic from the season was the Muscovites’ inability to get a single win in six games against SKA (2-3, 1-2, 2-6, 0-2, 1-5, 1-2).
Best players
64 games, 52 (21+31) points
Despite his team’s problems, Grigorenko had a pretty good season. He cleared 50 points for the third time in his KHL career, led CSKA with 21 goals and potted six game-winners (again, leading the team). And all that, despite being just fifth for game time among the forwards (17:19). In addition, Grigorenko won 52% of his face-offs, second only to Andrei Svetlakov, and by only 0.1%.
62 games, 52 (15+37) points
Okulov was also very good. He lead the team in assists with 37 and cleared 40 points for the third time in regular season. Three helpers in five playoff games wasn’t a bad return either. Like Grigorenko, he could hardly be held responsible for the team’s disappointing results and together they averaged more than three minutes a game on the power play.
64 games, 40 (13+27) points
Nesterov was third in scoring for his team, despite playing defense. Quite the achievement. Indeed, Nikita finished the regular season among the top five defensemen for points and top three for goals. As well as impressive productivity, he also played a big role in protecting CSKA’s net. He was irreplaceable on this year’s team, as demonstrated by 23:37 of ice time each night.
Coaching
Sergei Fedorov swiftly established himself as a coaching success in the KHL. After all, in his first two seasons he did not lose a single playoff series and collected two Gagarin Cups in a row. Those triumphs came despite having no previous experience as a head coach. However, in 2023-2024, the winning streak came to an end. Fedorov and his staff could not generate the necessary motivation from their players and that was an obvious factor behind the disappointing results. At any other club, back-to-back championships would make a head coach almost bulletproof, but at CSKA expectations are higher than average. A first-round exit was too much to take, and the board decided that Fedorov’s work was unsatisfactory.
In the coming season, Ilya Vorobyov will take charge. He has a solid background, winning two Gagarin Cups at Metallurg, first as assistant to Mike Keenan, then after replacing the Canadian. He’s also worked at other big clubs, and on the national team. Next season will show how well a respected coach and a club with a proud tradition of success can work together.
Best game
In regular season, CSKA had several impressive, high-scoring wins: 7-1 vs Sochi, 9-1 vs Vityaz, 7-0 vs KRS and 7-2 vs Torpedo. But the stand-out was surely the first game of the playoffs in Yaroslavl, in terms of the result and the spectacle. After such a win, CSKA fans had every reason to believe that their heroes would again engage God mode and power past their opponents on the way to another cup. In the series opener, Grigorenko quickly opened the scoring and his team-mates steadily built on that lead to secure a four-goal win. Goalie Ivan Fedotov played a starring role, stopping 38 shots for a shut-out.
Youngsters
In 2023-2024, CSKA used 13 players aged 23 or under. Several of them were already established in the first time, such as Nikolai Makarov, Prokhor Poltapov and Takhir Mingachyov: all three, despite their young age (Makarov and Poltapov are 21, Mingachyov 22) found their place in the first team even before this season.
In addition, several players staked their claims for the first time in 2023/24. Stand-outs include goalie Dmitry Gamzin, defensemen Artyom Barabosh, Matvei Shurabin and Yegor Bryutov, plus forwards Kirill Dolzhenkov, Yegor Solovyov, Ivan Yanchenko and Vasily Dronyk.
Summer work
After a disappointing season, CSKA embarked on a complete rebuild. Leading players like Grigorenko, Sergei Plotnikov, Darren Dietz, Andrei Svetlakov and Anton Slepyshev left the club along with the head coach. The first two went to SKA, Dietz to Avangard, Svetlakov to Traktor and Slepyshev to Dynamo. In addition, goalie Fedotov went to the NHL.
As for arrivals, only Ivan Drozdov from Salavat Yulaev looks like a replacement of similar caliber. In addition, CSKA has signed Yaroslav Yapparov from Traktor, Nikita Rozhkov from Severstal and Alexander Dryagilev from Ugra.
