Season preview. Neftekhimik: Backing Khoruzhev’s progress and Grishin’s active style

KHL.ru continues its club-by-club preview of the coming season. Neftekhimik hired Igor Grishin as its new head coach and added some significant signings to the core of last year’s team.

Last season

Unlike previous years, Neftekhimik escaped a slow start to the campaign. However, it dropped many points in December and January. The team was often hampered by injuries to key players and a lack of roster depth. Even though Oleg Leontyev’s men produced a strong finish to the season, the Wolves were unable to make the playoffs. Neftekhimik finished ninth in the East, just two points adrift of Admiral.

Recruitment

Arrivals:

Defensemen: Artyom Kudashov (Dynamo Moscow, loan), Dinar Khafizullin (Salavat Yulaev), Artyom Chmykhov (Admiral). Forwards: Vladislav Barulin (Amur), Damir Zhafyaorv (Barys), Danila Kvartalnov (Dynamo SPb, VHL). Matvei Nadvodny (Kristall, VHL), Nikita Popugayev (Rubin, VHL), Maxim Sushko (Sibir), Arsen Khisamutdinov (Lida, BLR, try-out), Raul Yakupov (Ak Bars, return from loan).

Retained:

Goalies: Igor Volkov, Filipp Dolganov, Yaroslav Ozolin. Defensemen: Vladislav Leontyev, Ilya Pastukhov, Luka Profaca, Artyom Serikov, Timur Khairullin, Nikita Khlystov, Yegor Yuzlenko. Forwards: Andrei Belozyorov, Alexander Dergachyov, Jean-Sebastien Dea , Dmitry Zhukenov, Kirill Kapustin, Yegor Korbit, Evgeny Mityakin, Grigory Seleznyov, German Tochilkin, Nikita Khoruzhev, Buat Shaifgullin, Danil Sherstobitov (try-out).

Departures:

Defensemen: Roman Abrosimov, Fyodor Kroshchinsky (Sochi, return from loan), Mario Palatakha (Dynamo Moscow, return from loan), Mikhail Pashnin. Forwards: Riley Barber (Ingolstadt, Germany), Vladimir Bryukvin, Vyacheslav Leshchenko, Kirill Petrov, Kirill Urakov (Amur).

Top 3 signings

Vladislav Barulin

This 29-year-old right-handed forward emphatically proved his worth at Amur. In 2023/2024, when the Tigers made the playoffs, he had 31 (17+14) points in the regular season and a further 3 (1+2) in the playoffs (despite spending part of the campaign in the VHL!). Last term, Barulin scored another 33 (13+20) points. Interestingly, at Amur Barulin played not down the wing, but in the center. 

Dinar Khafizullin

In the form of two-time Gagarin Cup winner Dinar Khafizullin, Neftekhimik has acquired a valuable addition to its D-core. Khafizullin is a two-way defenseman, able to pick up points while remaining solid in his half of the rink. Last season Dinar was a leader among Salavat Yulaev’s defensemen with more than 18 minutes’ game time and 31 (2+29) points.

Damir Zhafyarov

This forward has a point to prove after a below-par campaign at Barys. In Kazakhstan he played 27 games but mustered just 5 (1+4) points. That should motivate him to get back to his true level this season. And there can be no doubt of his capabilities. In the KHL he has 337 (134+203) points from 669 games, scoring 40+ in a season on three occasions. His best year was with Torpedo in 2021/2022, when he scored 62 points. 

Coaching

Oleg Leontyev led the team for four seasons, bringing entertaining hockey and two playoff appearances, as well as two ninth-placed near misses. At the end of the 2024/2025 season, Leontyev was released.

His replacement is Igor Grishin. In the KHL, he coached Spartak during the 2022/2023 season, when the Red-and-Whites were involved in many high-scoring games. Grishin has enjoyed success in the JHL and VHL, winning the Petrov Cup with Khimik in 2023. He also has bronze medals from the JHL (2021) and VHL (2025).

Goaltending

Neftekhimik’s goaltending stable demands respect. Filipp Dolganov has excelled as the first-choice netminder for the past two season — 95 games, 35 wins, 91.5% saves, 2.64 GAA and six shut-outs. For back-up, there’s Igor Bobkov, who arrived at the club during the previous season and is closing on 400 KHL games, plus the fast-developing Yaroslav Ozolin. Lately the 25-year-old has seen progressively more action and looks a plausible rival to Bobkov this term. 

Defense

There have been departures among the defense, but that shouldn’t prove a problem for Neftekhimik. Fyodor Kroshchinsky and Mario Patalakha returned to their clubs after loans, while Roman Abrosimov and Mikhail Pashnin left. Of those, only Pashnin was among the top six for average game time, but even he played relatively few games. The defensive core remains in place, including scoring leader Artyom Serikov, leader in blocked shots Vladislav Leontyev, and leader in hits Ilya Pastukhov. Canadian Luka Profaca is also staying at the club. Additions include the experienced Khafizullin, Artyom Chmykhov, who looked promising at Admiral, and Artyom Kudashov on loan from Dynamo Moscow. 

Forwards

It’s a similar story up front: there have been departures, but nobody irreplaceable. Vyacheslav Leshchenko’s second spell at the club was less productive than his first, Riley Barber didn’t do badly, but never established himself as a leader, and while the experience of Vladimir Bryukvin and Kirill Petrov might make them useful figures in the locker room, they didn’t deliver many points on the ice. 

Last season’s top scorers — Andrei Belozyorov (43 points), Nikita Khoruzhev (34), and Evgeny Mityakin (33) — are still in place. Next on the list, Jean-Sebastien Dea (31), signed an extension in the summer. 

Among the new faces, apart from Barulin and Zhafyaorv, Danila Kvartalnov stands out. He won a Gagarin Cup at Metallurg and comes to Neftekhimik alongside the coach who worked with him last season. Kvartalnov was in the VHL with Dynamo St. Petersburg under Igor Grishin, and scored 27 (11+16) points. 

Prospects

The brightest start among Neftekhimik’s youngsters is Nikita Khoruzhev. The forward, who turned 22 this month, had a breakout season in 2024/2025. In 67 games he scored 34 (15+19) points. He was named rookie of the week three times, and twice took the rookie of the month prize before finishing the season as a contender for the rookie of the year award. Now there are even greater expectations around him: no longer a promising youngster, but a leader on his team, capable of carrying his colleagues over the course of the campaign.  

It will be interesting to see how Raul Yakupov fares on his return to Nizhnekamsk. Last season he had two loan spells and ended up representing seven (!?) teams in total: Neftekhimik and Admiral in the KHL, Izhstal and Bars in the VHL, plus Taifun, Reaktor and Irbis in the JHL. 

Zhoe-Kristof Muissu and Kondrat Reshetnikov can expect further opportunities this season after both got calls to the first team last term. Igor Grishin also said that are on his list of potential KHL prospects.

What to expect

Igor Grishin is a devotee of aggressive, attacking hockey. And Neftekhimik should be prepared for this already, since Oleg Leontyev previously favored that style of play. It might take a little time to adapt, but Neftekhimik seems more than capable of battling for a top-8 spot once again.