Season preview. Severstal: Kozyrev’s romantic hockey and hopes of the second round

KHL.ru continues its club-by-club preview of the coming season. At Severstal it’s been a fairly quiet summer, but there are signs that the roster got stronger.

Last season

Cherepovets stayed true to its style, playing attacking hockey with passing combinations and a high press. Over the course of the regular season, that brought results and the team reached the playoffs in sixth place. It’s worth noting that competition in the west was extremely tight last season: just four points separated Severstal in sixth from Dynamo Moscow in second. There was evident progress from last season, with the Cherepovets club winning five games more than the previous campaign (41 against 36).

But, once again, there was no further playoff progress. In post season Severstal ran into Spartak, widely regarded as a team playing a similar carefree style. But this time, the Red-and-Whites were the more pragmatic and effective team, winning the series 4-1. It will be interesting to see how Severstal has progressed, both as a team and in terms of individual players.

Recruitment

Arrivals:

Goalies: Timofei Korolyov (Olympia, VHL), Vsevolod Skotnikov (Admiral). Defensemen: Daniil Bokun (Torpedo), Grigory Vashchenko (Vityaz), Thomas Gregoire (Kloten, SUI), Nikita Kamalov (Metallurg). Forwards: Danil Veryayev (Ugra, VHL), Alexander Zhabreyev (Dynamo SPb, VHL), Kirill Tankov (Avangard, loan), Vladislav Tsitsyura (Vityaz).

Ушли:

Вратарь Шугаев Дмитрий (Адмирал, обмен); защитники Барберио Марк, Дыбленко Ярослав (Амур, обмен), Чуркин Андрей (Сибирь); нападающие Давыдов Даниил (Динамо Мск, из аренды), Котляревский Михаил (Авангард, обмен), Кручинин Алексей (Торпедо).

Top 3 Signings

Nikita Kamalov

A defenseman with experience from top clubs is likely to play a big role at Severstal. It’s reasonable to assume he will be expecting to play in the top two pairs. His attributes include hard hits, strong play on his own slot and the ability to work on the penalty kill. In addition, when necessary he can link up with the offense to score or assist. Severstal’s coaches can look forward to another defenseman with leadership potential.

Vladislav Tsitsyura

A hard-working forward who is equally effective on both sides of the puck. He earns his corn with his penalty killing, a role he fulfilled both at SKA and at Vityaz. Over his last two seasons with the Moscow Region team, Tsitsyura significantly boosted his game time and saw better results. Now 25, he has plenty of KHL experience.

Thomas Gregoire

A defenseman who arrives in Cherepovets from Switzerland, Gregoire had 25 (8+17) points in 51 games last season. That’s not a bad return and it seems that Severstal’s management see Gregoire as a leading defenseman with a power play role.

Coaching

Andrei Kozyrev’s time as Severstal’s head coach in the KHL can surely be regarded as a success. This will be his third season behind the bench, and he has reached the playoffs in the previous two campaign. His teams play attractive hockey and he is good at working with young players. Given Severstal’s resources, if Kozyrev isn’t quite the perfect coach for the team, he’s certainly an extremely close fit. Perfection would involve getting past the first round.

Goalies

This season it seems that Alexander Samoilov and Konstantin Shostak will compete for the starting role. Samoilov got a little more action last season, and he was first choice in the playoffs. In addition, Severstal acquired Vsevolod Skotnikov from Admiral and Timofei Korolyov from the VHL. They will be looking to establish themselves as third goalie.

Defense

There are slightly more options on defense this season after three players left and four joined the club. Aside from Kamalov and Gregoire, Kozyrev signed two players from Vityaz. Both Daniil Bokun and Grigory Vashchenko are well-known to the head coach after working with him at Torpedo.

But Mark Barberio and Andrei Churkin stand out from the list of departing defensemen. Both played a lot last term, with Barberio not missing a single game. They were both big on the penalty kill and made a major defensive contribution. Can the newcomers fully replace them?

Forwards

The big success of the summer was keeping the strike force of Kirill Pilipenko, Danil Aimurzin and Mikhail Ilyin together. Last season they were named “best line” at the KHL’s Closing Ceremony after combining for more goals than any other trio.

Mikhail Kotlyarevsky and Alexei Kruchinin left the club. Both players, of course, were important, but neither was absolutely crucial to the team. And Severstal can replace those losses, drawing on both the club’s reserves and thanks to incoming players.

Prospects

Severstal is one of the youngest teams in the league and the roster always features talented prospects. Moreover, the likes of Aimurzin, Ilya Ivantsov, Vladimir Grudinin and Timur Mukhanov can already be regarded as fully-fledged first teamers and even leaders.

Meanwhile, there are still players to emerge from the ranks for Kozyrev: Ivan Yermakov, Ilya Kvochko, Yegor Smirnov, Emil Pyanov, Vitaly Pesterev and others. Several of them featured last season and before the action kicks off next month they will have every chance to gain the coaches’ favor.

What to expect this season

Severstal will likely live up to expectations, both in terms of style of play and results. In the past few years Cherepovets has secured a playoff spot with something to spare, without relying on the weaknesses of others and gaining the opportunity to boost the final position. Thus, fans can expect to see their team in the first round – but anything more than that is open to question.