Season preview: Torpedo. A new arena and new ambitions

In its traditional season-preview series, KHL.ru looks at how teams are shaping up ahead of the new campaign. For Nizhny Novgorod, reaching the second round has historically been considered a success; now, it should become the norm, or even the minimum acceptable result.

Last season

Torpedo’s last season was a real roller coaster. During the preseason, the Nizhny Novgorod side lost to everyone in sight, managing just one victory—and that only in a shootout—in its final exhibition game. Then the regular season began, and they started beating everyone in sight, remaining undefeated longer than any other team. Once they suffered their first loss, however, they went into another slump. After that, they matched a club record by earning points in ten consecutive games, with nine wins and one SO loss.

Those dramatic swings extended beyond the results themselves. For example, Torpedo went two straight games without scoring before netting six goals in two of the following three games, while also allowing seven in each of those contests. Then they recorded two consecutive shutouts. Even their two losses by the rather un-hockey-like score of 6:7 unfolded in completely different ways: in one, the Volga side squandered a 4:2 lead; in the other, it nearly completed a comeback from a seemingly hopeless 2:6 deficit.

Nobody has yet come up with a formula for measuring how exciting a team’s games are. If such a formula existed, Torpedo would certainly have been among last season’s leaders. The Nizhny Novgorod side was just as capable of losing 0:5 to Neftekhimik as it was of crushing SKA 6:0. And no other team could match them in games where a lead of two or more goals ultimately failed to produce a win: Torpedo lost five times after holding the lead and came back to win six times after trailing.

Their comeback in Game Four of the first-round playoff series against Severstal was particularly spectacular and dramatic. The series itself followed the same roller-coaster pattern: Torpedo won Games One and Three, lost Game Two, and was on the verge of losing Game Four, trailing 1:3 with 101 seconds remaining. That was enough time for two goals, before another in the second OT secured the victory. The following win sent Torpedo to the second round for just the fourth time in KHL history.

On each of the previous three occasions, the Nizhny Novgorod side had failed to advance any further. That was also the case this time, as they lost to Metallurg, the runaway regular-season champions. But they went down fighting and gave the clear favorites a serious scare.

Overall, Torpedo deserves a solid B, perhaps even a B+, for last season.

Recruitment

Torpedo suffered some noticeable, if not devastating, losses during the offseason. However, the Nizhny Novgorod side moved quickly to compensate for them, particularly up front. The blue line could still use another quality addition, but work in that direction is ongoing.

Departures

Goalie: Laurens Zinadin (Avtomobilist, trade). Defensemen: Denis Alexandrov, Sergei Boikov, Mikhail Naumenkov (both Shanghai Dragons), Arseny Varlakov (SKA, trade), Andrei Salnikov (Avtomobilist, trade), Anton Silayev (New Jersey, NHL). Forwards: Danil Avershin, Nikita Artamonov (Avtomobilist, trade), Vasily Atanasov (SKA, trade), Andrei Krutov (Amur, loan), Alexei Kruchinin, Maxim Letunov (Dynamo Moscow), Shane Prince, Nikita Rozhkov (Lada, trade), Dmitry Shevchenko (SKA-VMF, VHL).

Arrivals

Defensemen: Dmitry Breus (Barys, returning from loan), Ronald Brickey (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, AHL), Alexander Dryagilev (Torpedo-Gorky, VHL), Nikita Kamalov (Severstal). Forwards: Michael Vecchione (Barys), Mikhail Vorobyov (SKA), Sergei Golodnyuk (tryout, Norilsk, VHL), Pavel Kraskovsky (Lokomotiv), Matvei Polyakov (SKA, trade), Daniil Seroukh (Sochi), Matvei Utkin (Torpedo-Gorky, VHL).

Top 3 signings

Michael Vecchione can play both on the wing and at center. His KHL career got off to a highly unusual start: he signed with Traktor last summer, but shortly before the season began, the Chelyabinsk club suddenly had an opportunity to acquire Joshua Leivo. Needing to free up an import spot, Traktor quickly sent Vecchione to Barys. For the Astana side, widely considered an almost hopeless outsider, it turned out to be a major stroke of luck. Barys performed only slightly better than expected, but much of that was thanks to Michael, who scored 19 goals and added 27 assists, virtually winning several games on his own.

Nizhny Novgorod traded one of Torpedo’s most recognizable players of recent years, Vasily Atanasov, to SKA in exchange for 22-year-old rising star Matvei Polyakov. Matvei enjoyed a brilliant first full KHL season—disregarding his one purely symbolic appearance in 2023-2024—and was named among the three nominees for Rookie of the Year. He scored 16 goals, sharing the rookie scoring title with Alexander Zharovsky, and collected 29 points, tying Danil Pivchulin for second among rookies. Those are excellent numbers for a debut season, and Polyakov could realistically increase them by 50% or even more in the near future.

Mikhail Vorobyov also arrived in Nizhny Novgorod from SKA, although as a free agent rather than through a trade. In an ideal world, he would be considered an even more significant acquisition than Polyakov or Vecchione. Unfortunately, this isn’t an ideal world, and in Vorobyov’s case, injuries have taken their toll, making each of his last two seasons, and three of his last five, stop-start campaigns.

Coaching

Alexey Isakov is one of the new-wave coaches in the KHL, but he is by no means a newcomer to hockey, and has already enjoyed considerable success. He led Chaika to a bronze medal in the VHL, then guided Torpedo-Gorky to the VHL championship before moving up the organizational ladder to take charge of Torpedo. In his debut KHL season, he led Nizhny Novgorod to the second round. The team already had a recognizable playing style in the first half of the season, and Isakov was able to modify it depending on the situation, sometimes imposing his style on opponents and sometimes adapting to them. It didn't always work, of course, which is understandable: Alexey is still finding his feet in the top league.

It's difficult to explain why, but the sharp swings highlighted at the beginning of this article have done little to diminish the impression made by Isakov's Torpedo. Perhaps they even give the team a certain distinctive character.

Goalies

There is not expected to be any competition for the starting job in Nizhny Novgorod—it belongs entirely to Denis Kostin. Dmitry Shugayev will serve as his backup, with Dmitry Dagestansky likely seeing occasional action as well. Dagestansky has only two KHL appearances to his name, neither particularly successful. However, he is viewed as having greater long-term potential than Shugayev, so it would make more sense for Torpedo to give him regular playing time in the VHL rather than keep him on the KHL bench.

Defense

Torpedo still needs one more defenseman capable of playing in the top two pairs before this unit can be considered strengthened. As things stand, the defense is roughly the same as last season—not better, but not worse either. Bogdan Konyushkov, Robert Nardella, Anton Sizov, and Daniil Zhuravlyov are all still around, while of the departed defensemen, only Mikhail Naumenkov played a relatively important role, averaging just over sixteen and a half minutes per game. The others saw even less ice time; even promising Anton Silayev saw his playing time, and consequently his role, drop to under 13 minutes. Naumenkov's spot should be easily filled by the younger, but already experienced, more aggressive and more productive Nikita Kamalov. The signing of Ronald Brikey looks questionable for now, although he is certainly capable of handling the duties previously assigned to Silayev. The bigger question is whether an international player is really needed for such a limited role.

Offense

Torpedo's revamped offense looks very promising, with only one largely theoretical drawback: a lack of defensive-minded forwards. There is certainly no shortage of creative players, though. The team could put together four exciting lines, with even the fourth capable of causing plenty of problems in the offensive zone. The top combination of Vladimir Tkachyov and last season's breakout player Yegor Vinogradov could become even stronger with Vecchione—if Isakov chooses to use him on the wing—or Polyakov. Vladislav Firstov, who occasionally played alongside them last season, could also replace Atanasov. A healthy Mikhail Vorobyov would significantly raise the level of the second line, while another newcomer, Pavel Kraskovsky, should partially address the shortage of defensive-minded players. If needed, however, he can surely rediscover his offensive skills, which were quite impressive several years ago before Lokomotiv reshaped him into a more defensive role.

The team also has plenty of depth up front, with a number of potential stars coming through the system.

Youngsters

Polyakov's arrival from SKA adds to an already impressive collection of promising forwards. Last season, Isakov began carefully introducing 18-year-olds Gleb Pugachyov and Viktor Fyodorov to the first team, and will presumably give them gradually more ice time. He also has 21-year-olds Timur Mukhanov and Kirill Svishchyov at his disposal, while 17-year-old Sergey Skvortsov is developing with Chaika.

On defense, 22-year-old Alexander Pelevin will get another opportunity—and probably more than one. This will formally be his fourth KHL season, although he has actually played just four games over the previous three. Meanwhile, 19-year-old Maxim Agafonov was acquired from the Salavat Yulaev system for a reason, and not simply as a depth move.

The 21-year-old Dagestansky was already mentioned in the goaltending section, so Torpedo has no shortage of young talent at any position.

Expectations

Hockey in Nizhny Novgorod has been developing rapidly in recent years, and this goes beyond Torpedo itself to encompass the entire organization: its development system, infrastructure, coaching and educational approach, and countless smaller details. From the youth academy to the construction of a new arena, which Torpedo will move into in just a few days, everything points in the same direction. The summer transfers, meanwhile, reflect both growing ambitions and the willingness of established players to come to Nizhny Novgorod. Importantly, this is not a short-term impulse but a clear, long-term strategy.

Torpedo appears serious about moving from the ranks of the middle of the pack into the elite. Such a transformation doesn't happen overnight, though. If the team establishes itself as a regular second-round playoff contender, that would be a perfectly acceptable, if not entirely sufficient, result for Isakov's second season and the club's first in its new arena. Another first-round exit, on the other hand, would probably have to be considered a disappointment. Either way, the Volga side should be targeting at least fifth place in the regular season, and perhaps even fourth.