Ovechkin's return to training and Sergachev's visit to the US Open: how the Russians are preparing for the new NHL season

Ovechkin's return to training and Sergachev's popularity

Less than a month remains before the start of the new NHL season.

And although the teams will start training camps only in the third decade of September, some star athletes have already rushed back to the ice.

For example, the captain of the Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin.

The Russian spent the summer at home and was a frequent guest at Dynamo football and hockey matches, and left for the United States in the middle of last week.

“Alexander Ovechkin left Russia today ... He flew to America to prepare for the NHL season with Washington,” forward agent Gleb Chistyakov told Sport-Express.

Upon arrival in the States, the leader of the "capital" did not waste time and had already managed to both prepare for the new regular season and support the local football team.

Ovechkin took part in the Capitals' roll-out, and a couple of days later he attended an NFL match between the Commanders and the Jaguars.

At the stadium, he was seen in the shirt of Kirk Cousins, the former quarterback of the team, who also played under the eighth number.

Other Russians returned to the US, including Evgeni Malkin and Mikhail Sergachev, who attended the US Open men's final between Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud.

At the same time, the Tampa Bay defender even confessed his love for tennis, calling it “the second best sport in the world”.

Sergachev, in general, became one of the main newsmakers of the summer among domestic hockey players.

In July, he signed an eight-year contract for a total of $ 68 million, thanks to which next year he will enter the top five of the highest paid Lightning players, and in August he was at the epicenter of the scandal surrounding the forum organized by Ak Bars.

The press service of the club announced the appearance of a defender at the event, but they did it before the information was brought to him by the manager.

At first, Mikhail reacted very violently to the actions of Kazan citizens and called their actions “zashkvar”, and later, although he became more restrained in his comments, he still did not attend the event.

“I told Ak Bars that I would not come to the conference, but the club did not delete this entry.

Then the club posted a post in which he made it clear that my team and I were to blame for what had happened.

Although it is not.

I think this is the mistake of Ak Bars and their PR people.

I will fight for my team to the end.

We have screenshots of correspondence where my manager Nikolai does not give exact consent to my participation, but for some reason after that my photo appears on the announcement.

Ak Bars acted incorrectly, exposing me as some kind of superstar who is dissatisfied with everything.

Although this is absolutely not the case, ”Sergachev told Sport24.

Already before leaving for the USA, the Lightning defender reappeared in the information space, but for a different reason.

A report appeared in the media that Sergachev distributed tickets to children from local schools for the matches of his native Neftekhimik in September, and subsequently bought out a whole sector in the Nizhnekamets arena for the entire season.

Prospects for Askarov and a chance for Dronov

But if Ovechkin, Malkin and Sergachev are among the leaders of their teams and have a solid place in the composition, then a number of their young compatriots have yet to prove that they are able to successfully perform in the strongest league in the world.

So, one of the most intriguing is the debut in the overseas league of Andrey Kuzmenko, who has successfully defended the colors of SKA over the past years.

In the summer, the striker signed an agreement with Vancouver and has already managed to impress head coach Bruce Boudreau.

The mentor described him as "a skillful and talented player, who also has a wonderful character."

And also admitted that he was looking forward to watching him in pre-season meetings.

High opinion in North America and about the 23-year-old goalkeeper Daniil Tarasov, who signed a three-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

According to The Daily Faceoff journalist Mike McKenna, although the Russian did not show himself in the AHL club Cleveland Monsters in the most successful way, he has the necessary talents to gain a foothold in the major North American league.

And the outstanding dimensions (196 cm) make the athlete "a real monster in the gate."

The fact that the club's current agreement with Joonas Korpisalo expires next year also has a positive effect on his prospects, as a result of which the team from Ohio may well bet on a younger player.

At the same time, McKenna was not so optimistic about the future of Yaroslav Askarov, who was selected in the draft with a record number 11 for Russian goalkeepers.

According to him, the young star may have difficulties due to both the lack of experience in performing at the highest level and his non-standard technique.

The former SKA goalkeeper works in a low stance, which can be detrimental to his ability to move quickly on target and deflect shots.

However, he did not completely write off Askarov from the accounts and suggested that over time he would be able to adapt his style to the realities of professional hockey, and this could open his way to the Nashville squad.

And if the positions of Juuse Saros are not in doubt, then Yaroslav may well compete for the place of the second number.

Try to gain a foothold in the league and Grigory Dronov.

The Metallurg Magnitogorsk defender was announced for the NHL Rookie Tournament (Prospects Showcase), in which he will defend the Carolina colors.

In July, he signed a trial deal with the Arizona but failed to impress the Coyotes coaching staff.

At the same time, it is noteworthy that none of the above-mentioned hockey players was included in the list of main contenders for the prize of the best rookie of the season according to The Athletic.

And in general, the chances of the Russians to win the Calder Trophy this year were assessed as extremely low.

The top 20 included only Rangers forward Vitaly Kravtsov (16th) and Columbus striker Kirill Marchenko (20th).

The top picks for the award are Owen Power (Buffalo), Matthew Beniers (Seattle) and Mason McTavish (Anaheim), selected in the 2021 draft in exactly the same order.

But the Russians are quite highly quoted in the dispute for the award for the best hockey player of the season (“Hart Trophy”).

The same The Daily Faceoff included three domestic athletes at once in the top 10 contenders for the award.

True, neither Kirill Kaprizov, nor Nikita Kucherov, nor Igor Shesterkin got into the top 3.

Two slots were taken by the “sweet couple” of Edmonton stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and Toronto leader Auston Matthews wedged between them.