"Failures in the NHL can have a positive impact on the result": Malakhov on the composition of the national team, Malkin's ambitions and chances for the World Cup

The Russian national hockey team is completing preparations for the World Championships in Bratislava, which will start on May 10.

On Wednesday, May 1, the wards of Ilya Vorobyov within the framework of the Czech Ice Hockey Games will meet with Sweden. On May 4 and 5, the national team’s schedule includes matches with Finland and Sweden.

The final stage of the Euro Tour will be for the coaching staff the last opportunity to make adjustments to the composition and finally decide on the game combinations. On the criteria by which the team's mentors select players, why the national team coaches relied on Ilya Kovalchuk and whether the Russian team is able to win the gold world championship, RT told the former defender of the Russian national team, the manager of the breeding service FHR and a member of the Triple Club ( hockey players who won the gold medals of the World Cup and the Olympics, as well as the Stanley Cup) Vladimir Malakhov.

“Before the hockey team has always been put the highest tasks”

- Do you agree that the national team for the World Cup in Slovakia is the strongest by name, since the Olympic Games of 2014 in Sochi?

- Probably, I will not argue with this statement, on paper and by name to protect the colors of the national flag really collected the best.

- On paper? Do you think it is possible that the main stars will not be able to find understanding on the ice?

- Let's not think about the bad. Now we are talking about forecasts and chances. The guys just got together, so the first conclusions about the functional state can be made only after the upcoming stage of the Euro Tour.

- Having a similar selection of players, can any result other than a victory be considered successful?

- Let's see how the tournament will take shape, but it’s not a secret that the highest goals have always been set for the hockey team. Of course, we all really want to win. Although the World Cup is small, its price is too high.

- The Russian national team has not won the world championships since 2014. Perhaps this year FHR has set itself the task of bringing gold home at any cost?

- I have already said above that our tasks are always the most ambitious. It is another matter to understand whether the current team is capable of solving them with confidence. The first trainings give reason to look to the future with optimism, the composition looks good, you just need to use its potential wisely.

- Often legionnaires from the NHL refuse to come to the team. Why this time all the polls expressed a desire to go to the world championship?

- There is no need to look for any pitfalls here. It was just that the team was lucky, and the circumstances were such that the best players turned out to be free and ready to go to the World Cup. I will not argue that for those guys who flew out of the Stanley Cup, this event is joyful, but their ambitiousness and desire to help their country was not allowed to just pick up and finish the season.

- What about fatigue accumulated over the season?

- We are all adults and professional people. Hockey players know that you need to go to the national team in good shape. Looking at the first training, I can say that everyone looks very dignified!

- Fans and experts, analyzing the training that you are talking about, make conclusions about possible combinations in the links and in general about the composition ...

- Very good! (laughs) I will not reveal all our secrets, look for the upcoming games of the Euro Tour. On them everything will become clear.

"Waiting for unpredictable World Cup"

- Let's return to the topic of NHL players in the Russian national team. Is this due to the fact that the bosses of the overseas league did not let them go to the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang?

- Here, the organizer played into the hands of the transfer of the start of the tournament to a later date. Thus, not only we are flying to Slovakia with the strongest team. Canada and the USA gathered very worthy teams, and a number of European teams were able to strengthen the players of the NHL. Personally, I am waiting for a very interesting and unpredictable world championship.

- Wouldn't it have been better to bet on more recent players from the KHL or is it more logical to prefer the experience of the NHL players?

- This is an eternal question, and no one has found a clear answer to it. Although, in my opinion, the KHL is still inferior to the NHL in terms of skill level. We must realistically assess our capabilities and understand that the honor of the country must be protected by the best. But we have no problems with a rational approach to the formation of the composition. The coaching staff does not divide players into leagues, a vivid example of this - Egor Yakovlev from New Jersey, he left the team and gave way to representatives of the KHL.

- That is the generally accepted opinion that all players from the NHL should definitely get a place in the national team, is not it?

- Overseas club is not some kind of protective totem and a ticket to the world championship. On the whole, there were never any guaranteed places in the national team. Judge for yourself, I have already said about Yakovlev, but then also Nikolai Goldobin and Pavel Buchnevich. They generally remained outside the team, simply because it was clear to everyone - the guys could not yet win the competition. Now the national team has five links and great masters claim to have a place in each of them.

"Malkin was eager to come."

- Let's move on to our main stars. Yevgeny Malkin spent not the best season in the NHL. What caused his call to the team?

- The fact that everyone knows how Zhenya can play. His challenge was very deliberate. Before you make it, the coaching staff and management have long communicated with Malkin. He was eager to come. Highly motivated. I don’t think that one unsuccessful season somehow reduced his skills, he is a big and serious player and with the right approach will become a key figure for this team.

- Ilya Kovalchuk's season is also difficult to call successful ... He, as well as Malkin, was among the seven worst players in terms of utility ("-25" and "-26", respectively). In addition, he fell out of favor with the trainer, "Los Angeles Kings." However, he was even chosen as a captain in the national team.

- I have no questions for him. Yes, he didn’t fall into his plate, didn’t grow together with the coach, but that’s why he didn’t stop being the Kovalchuk we all know. Ilya is able to prove at the coming World Cup that he was put on a cross early on. He and Zhenya are probably the most motivated of all, for them, ambitious guys, it is very important to prove themselves in the national team and to finish the year brightly.

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Publication from Evgeni Malkin (@ e.malkin71geno) 30 Apr 2019 at 4:09 PDT

- Alexander Ovechkin came to the national team after last year's victory in the Stanley Cup and offensive defeat in the first round of this season. In what psychological condition is the striker "Washington" and the main star of the Russian team?

- Communicated with Sasha, he is in a good mood, gradually moving away from losing. Yes, not everything worked out for him this season the way he wanted, but for Ovechkin the national team is a separate point in his career. He, like no one, always breaks into a team, so, despite the precipitate from the season results in the NHL, he will give a hundred percent.

- Recently, Malkin gave an interview in which he expressed an opinion regarding the game in one link with Ovechkin. In particular, he stated that they are not very compatible with each other. Do you agree?

- They know better. But in general, at the moment they are in different combinations, the coaches decided to break them, and then we'll see what happens.

- Maybe we should give them one more chance and try to use them in one of the five?

- I would not put them in one link. Two overall guys, big masters, you need to play around with other guys. Two leaders in the same three ... I would not do that.

- Nikita Kucherov comes to the team in the status of a new record holder among Russians on points in the playoffs. How do you rate his game this season?

- He has a situation similar to Ovechkin. The season ended poorly, but the bitterness of defeat did not affect his desire to play for the national team. All our leaders, our stars, are eager and very eager to finish the hockey year on a positive note. So failures in the NHL can have a positive impact on the result of the national team at the World Cup.

- Place Andrei Vasilevsky at the gates of the team can not be doubted? Goalkeepers are usually very fatigued. Is he able to powerfully perform at the World Championships after the energy-consuming season?

- While all, including goalkeepers, look fresh. Closer to the tournament, the coaching staff will be able to understand what each player is capable of. As for goalkeepers, in my opinion, all three of them play at about the same level. The decision will be made on the basis of all factors, including psychological ones.