Fedorov's series, Radulov's mood and thirst for revenge: the main intrigues of the Gagarin Cup final "Ak Bars" - CSKA

Second meeting between Ak Bars and CSKA

The 2023 KHL playoff final promises to go down in history, because it will bring together the most titled club in the league and the record holder for the number of hits in the decisive round. If successful, Ak Bars will take the trophy for the fourth time and break away from its closest competitors, while CSKA will catch up with Kazan in the number of Gagarin Cups and even the balance between victories and defeats in the final stage of the tournament. And along the way, he will take revenge for 2018.

Five years ago, few expected that CSKA would be able to suffer such a fiasco. The CSKA team had the strongest roster, which included future NHL stars Kirill Kaprizov and Andrei Kuzmenko, as well as Stanley Cup winner Valery Nichushkin. But there were also Mikhail Grigorenko, Matt Robinson and Ilya Sorokin, who at that time competed with Lars Johansson. "Ak Bars" could not boast of such a selection of performers. The ball was ruled by Stanislav Galiev, Canadian-Portuguese striker Justin Azevedo, who never got a chance to prove himself in the Los Angeles Kings, as well as Anton Lander, who at one time unsuccessfully went to the Edmonton Oilers.

As a result, all the matches turned out to be intense, and four of them ended with a minimal difference in the score. But at the right moment, it was Ak Bars that demonstrated the "killer instinct" and turned out to be stronger. At the same time, one of the main characters of the final unexpectedly became Rob Klinkhammer, who failed that playoff. On the eve of the final round, he had only six (1 + 5) points, but with CSKA he scored as many as two winning goals, including the "golden" in the last, fifth meeting. However, the most valuable player was still recognized as Azevedo, who "shot" one point more (2 + 1).

Duel of coaches

A lot has changed since then. A year later, a humiliating defeat from Avangard in the first round of the playoffs ended the second coming of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov to Ak Bars, after which Dmitry Kvartalnov and Oleg Znarok tried to prove themselves in the team. But none of them was able to repeat the success of the legendary specialist. The first failed to remove the "curse" of Omsk, twice losing to them in the Gagarin Cup, and the second lasted at the helm of the team for only a few months.

CSKA also made changes in the coaching staff. For four years, Igor Nikitin led the army team to the final three times and helped them win the first trophy in history, but the failure in the series with Avangard cost him his job. In his place came Sergei Fedorov, who immediately justified the trust. Under him, the Red-Blues defeated Metallurg in an equal battle and caught up with SKA, Dynamo and the same Magnitogorsk in terms of the number of Gagarin Cups.

And Fedorov approaches the confrontation with Ak Bars in the status of a specialist who has never lost in the KHL playoff series. And this despite the fact that during these two years his wards were several times one step away from failure, but each time they managed to get out of a difficult situation. Last year, they only dealt with SKA and Metallurg in seven meetings, and this year they were almost beaten by Severstal and Lokomotiv. But they demonstrated character and subsequently defeated their teammates from the Northern capital without any problems.

And in light of this, the duel between Fedorov and Bilyaletdinov looks extremely curious. Undoubtedly, in terms of Zinetul's experience, Hajdjarovic has a huge advantage, but his opponent, like no one else, is able to instill confidence in his wards. Yes, some criticized the ex-Detroit forward for being too calm and unable to revive the team at the right time. But it is possible that this is the strength of Muscovites. Unlike many others, they are not nervous, even when they are in the role of catching up, and continue to bend their line.

But will Fedorov's "magic" work when one of the most titled and authoritative specialists in Russia appears on the next bench? Previously, Bilyaletdinov was defeated only once in the final of the KHL playoffs - in 2015, Ak Bars, led by him, could not cope with SKA. And the additional intrigue of their confrontation is added by the fact that the mentors have never competed with each other before. At the time of the start of the coaching career of the future opponent Zinetul, Haidyarovich was on a "sabbatical", and both matches of the current regular season were held before his return to office.

"The Rule of the Former"

As for the athletes, Alexander Radulov promises to become the central figure in this series. In 2022, the star forward returned from the NHL and not only helped his new team win the Eastern Conference (which provided it with a home ice advantage in the finals), but also reached the decisive round of the KHL playoffs. Moreover, he did it in the status of the top scorer and sniper of Ak Bars (8 + 7). On the eve of the start of the series, he shares with Reed Boucher the third place in the list of the most productive hockey players of the tournament. Only future opponents are ahead - Maxim Mamin (7 + 9) and Mikhail Grigorenko (9 + 12).

And there is every reason to expect that the already uncompromising Radulov will be especially motivated in meetings with CSKA. After all, he will play against his former team, the departure from which was extremely ambiguous. According to media reports, in 2016, the forward demanded a two-year contract from the club for 500 million rubles a year, agreed on the amount of 420 million, but later went to the NHL anyway. And in the camp of the army men, he was clearly not forgiven for this.

"We are not negotiating with him. Radulov betrayed the CSKA hockey club. He left the club, promising to sign a contract with us. But he cheated on us. We try not to return to this character," CSKA President Igor Esmantovich said in May 2022.

At the same time, the striker himself declares that the upcoming confrontation will not be something special for him. Let it be hard to believe.

"A lot of time has passed. Almost the entire team has been updated there. The series will be special in that it is the finale. It doesn't matter who we play against, we have to go out and do our job, achieve a good result," the Ak Bars press service quoted Radulov as saying.

Kirill Petrov, who also defended the colors of CSKA, will be no less charged for the final. True, together with Radulov, they played only 15 matches, after which he went to Montreal. In his absence, the forward scored 65 points in two regular seasons, and in the playoffs he scored five goals and nine assists in 30 games. But he did not become a champion, losing twice in the decisive stage. And then he extended his unsuccessful streak at Avangard, stopping one step away from triumph for the third time in a row. And his new team lost it to the army team.

Championship experience

At the moment, Fedorov's wards can rightly be called one of the most sophisticated in the context of the struggle for the Gagarin Cup. And this is especially noteworthy, because CSKA is one of the ten youngest teams in the league, if we take into account the average age (26.37 years). For comparison, according to this indicator, Ak Bars significantly surpasses the opponent (27.8), which is explained by the presence in the squad not only of Radulov, but also of Vadim Shipachyov with Vyacheslav Voynov and Danir Khafizullin, each of whom overcame the 33-year milestone.

But despite this, CSKA is called the favorite. And there are reasons for this, in addition to the presence of the invincible Fedorov in the headquarters, and Grigorenko, who is having a great season, in the cage. He already has 21 points to his credit. And if he adds five more to them, he will be equal to Danis Zaripov and Jan Kovář in this indicator. Only Sergey Mozyakin (13 + 20) scored more in the playoffs.

A key factor could also be the presence of Nikita Nesterov and Darren Dietz, who occupy the first place in the race of scorers among defenders. The first is the best assistant of the playoffs.

But there is also one of the best organizers of attacks in the league, Konstantin Okulov, and the magic wand of the army team, Anton Slepyshev, whose pucks brought the team victory in the Gagarin Cup meetings three times. By the way, Shipachev, who became one of the main creators of the superiority of Ak Bars over Avangard, has the same amount.

As for the goalkeeper duel, it is extremely difficult to name the favorite. On the one hand, Timur Bilyalov is beyond praise and ranks third in terms of the percentage of reflected shots (94%). Only Nikita Serebryakov and Johan Matsson are higher. But Adam Reideborn is extremely reliable (93.2%), and in terms of "breadcrumbs" he is on the first line (four).