Season preview. Admiral: Targeted roster upgrades and a shift toward attacking hockey

KHL.ru continues its club-by-club preview of the 2025-2026 season. Admiral brought in some interesting reinforcements and will likely stick to the attacking brand of hockey introduced a year ago.

Last season

Before the start of the previous championship, Admiral’s coaching staff led by Leonids Tambijevs revised the team’s preparation, and the Sailors performed better in the regular season than the year before. The Far Eastern side played a more attacking brand of hockey, repeatedly taking points from top clubs and never dropping out of the Eastern Conference’s top eight over the course of the season. A small mishap occurred at the end, when Admiral let Sibir pass them in the standings and finished eighth, which meant facing conference-leading Traktor in the first round. But against the Chelyabinsk team, Tambijevs men put up an excellent fight, leading the series 2–1 and coming very close to pushing the favorite to the brink of elimination: in game five, with the series tied at two, Admiral led by four goals going into the third period. Alas, it wasn’t to be – Traktor mounted a comeback, took the match, and then closed out the series in game six. Despite this, the 2024-2025 season can clearly be put down as a success for the Sailors.

Recruitment

Arrivals

Goalies: Adam Huska (Lugano, Switzerland), Dmitry Shugayev (Severstal, trade); Defensemen: Pavel Koledov (Avangard, trade), Timofey Urakov (tryout; Neftekhimik); Forwards: Igor Geraskin (Metallurg, trade), Valentin Demchenko (Yunost, Belarus), Semyon Koshelev (Ak Bars, trade), Kyle Olson (Zvolen, Slovakia), Egor A. Popov (Traktor, trade), Dmytro Timashov (Geneve-Servette, Switzerland).

Departures

Goalies: Ilya Konovalov, Andrey Mishurov (Avangard, end of loan), Vsevolod Skotnikov (Severstal, trade); Defensemen: Leonid Metalnikov, Artyom Chmykhov (Neftekhimik); Forwards: Nikita Guslistov, Artyom Nikolayev, Vyacheslav Osnovin (Lada), Kirill Petkov (Amur, trade), Shane Prince, Jack Rodewald (Salavat Yulaev), Nikita Soshnikov (Sibir), Yegor Stepanov (Avangard, rights, trade), Nikita Susuyev (Spartak, end of loan), Alexander Shevchenko. 

Top 3 signings

Igor Geraskin

A forward traded away by Metallurg as the club reshaped its roster and cap space to make room for Vladimir Tkachyov, Geraskin is more than capable of becoming one of Admiral’s leaders. In his best KHL season, he posted 48 (14+34) points with Severstal, and later lifted the Gagarin Cup as a member of Metallurg. Now comes the Far Eastern chapter of his career: if Igor manages to earn Tambijevs’ trust, he has every chance to make this stage a successful one.

Pavel Koledov

A big-bodied defenseman with a physical style of play, Koledov should add muscle to the Admiral’s blue line. Just last offseason, several top clubs were battling for his services, and he chose Avangard, from which he has now been traded to Vladivostok. With Admiral, he is almost certain to log heavy minutes and be a reliable top-4 blueliner.

Semyon Koshelev

A forward equally effective at both ends of the ice, Koshelev was acquired by Ak Bars during Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s tenure, and the legendary Kazan coach held his skill set in high regard. With such a background and abilities, Semyon should find it easier to adapt to Admiral’s system, as Tambijevs is known to value defensive order and a high level of discipline.

Coaching

The upcoming season will be Leonids Tambijevs’ fifth as Admiral’s head coach, and in two of those he has led the team to the playoffs. In the first case, the Sailors, entering as the Eastern Conference’s seventh seed, knocked out the second seed, Salavat Yulaev, in the opening round. Back then, the Far Eastern side played patient hockey, waiting for opponents’ mistakes and punishing them, working hard in defense and blocking plenty of shots. But later, when that style stopped producing results, Tambijevs and his coaching staff drew conclusions, rebuilt the team’s system, and rethought their preseason preparation. As a result, Admiral’s second playoff run under Tambijevs came while playing a more exciting brand of hockey, and the series against Traktor became one of the best of last year’s Gagarin Cup campaign.

Goalies

In the offseason Admiral completely rebuilt its goaltending corps — Andrey Mishurov’s loan expired and he returned to Avangard, while Ilya Konovalov also left the club. Their replacements are Adam Huska, who already has KHL experience, and Dmitry Shugayev, who didn’t appear in a single game for Severstal last season. The two of them will compete for the starting job, while the third goaltender is likely to be Arseny Tsyba, who has already been involved in Admiral’s preseason matches. 

Defense

Here it’s worth noting that the Sailors managed to keep Libor Sulak and Mario Grman, the team’s defensive leaders last season. In addition, Koledov has joined, while the only losses on the blue line were Artyom Chmykhov, who moved to Neftekhimik, and Leonid Metallnikov. That said, Chmykhov played only 21 games in the 2024-2025 season, so it’s hard to call him a key defenseman. Right now Tambijevs has a solid defensive unit familiar with his requirements, plus a quality reinforcement in Koledov.

Forwards

There was no major overhaul in the forward lines either — Daniil Gutik, Dmitry Zavgorodny, Arkady Shestakov, and Yegor Petukhov, who all performed very well last season, remain with Admiral. A significant loss up front is Nikita Soshnikov, who wore the “C” during the playoffs and led the team by example. However, in terms of creativity in the attack, Geraskin can replace him without a drop in quality. Koshelev, Valentin Demchenko, and Yegor Popov will help Admiral at both ends of the ice, while much will depend on how well the new imports, Dmytro Timashov and Kyle Olson, adapt.

Prospects

Tambijevs is also known for gradually integrating young players into the lineup — for example, that’s how Gutik began to blossom under his watch. In preseason, the youngsters are getting their chances: goalie Tsyba started the game against Molot, while Demchenko and Ivan Fomin appeared in other matches. It’s possible that in the upcoming preseason games or during the season, fans will see some more young players making their debuts. 

What to expect

With Lada moving to the Western Conference, Admiral now has one fewer direct rival for a playoff spot, but that doesn’t make the task any easier — Eastern opponents have strengthened as well and are also ready to battle for a top-eight finish. In terms of roster cohesion and the presence of a head coach who has built a clear system, Admiral looks, at least on paper, stronger than some of its competitors. This gives the team a solid chance of securing a playoff berth ahead of time, without having to wait for the final games of the regular season.