The signing of Tolchinsky, the pursuit of Gritsyuk and Laipsik: how the transfer campaign in the KHL is going

Tolchinsky's transition and negotiations with Gritsyuk

The current holder of the Continental Cup remains the most active in the KHL transfer market. In addition to Matvey Michkov and Nikita Zorkin, who returned from loan, SKA has already managed to acquire nine new players, one of which was star forward Sergei Tolchinsky, who did not sign a new agreement with Avangard. He spent three years in Omsk and helped the team win the first Gagarin Cup in history, and last season he became the second best scorer of the team with 56 points (16 + 40), only Vladimir Tkachev (23 + 36) had more.

Rumors about his move to St. Petersburg appeared at the beginning of the week, and then they were confirmed by the head coach of the army team Roman Rotenberg. He posted a photo of the athlete signing the documents on his Telegram channel and provided it with a comment: "Collective work and personal contribution of everyone." This was followed by confirmation from the club, which announced the conclusion of a five-year contract with the hockey player. According to media reports, during this period, Tolchinsky will earn 400 million rubles.

It is noteworthy that SKA is not going to stop there. The two-time Gagarin Cup winners have supposedly already reached an agreement with Tolchinsky's former partner, forward Arseniy Gritsyuk, whose contract with Avangard has also expired. The parties did not come to a common denominator during the negotiations on the extension of the agreement, as a result of which the athlete received the status of a restricted free agent. Thus, he can communicate with other clubs, but Omsk are able to keep him if they repeat the offer he received.

However, this will be extremely difficult. According to Sport-Express, SKA is ready to pay Gritsyuk 115 million rubles for two seasons, not counting bonuses. And this despite the fact that a year ago his salary at Avangard was almost six times less.

The only question is whether the "hawks" will dare to change their original verdict and still put Gritsyuk the money that they and the agent were counting on. As far as we know, the side of the hockey player demanded 110 million in two years, but now the stakes have increased. Otherwise, Avangard will lose another star player who can become one of the leaders of the club in the near future. In the last regular season, Arseniy scored 40 points (15 + 25) and became the fourth scorer of the team, losing only to Reed Boucher, Tkachev and Tolchinsky. And with the last two, Omsk also could not agree.

"In Omsk, the situation is such that in the upcoming season Gritsyuk could become the main Russian star of the club, as they say, all positions are open. In SKA, it seems to me, the situation is a little different, there are few places on the poster, Arseniy is one of them. There is a very serious competition among young talents, it must be maintained in every match and at every training session, there will be no excuses. Psychologically, this is a delicate story, restructuring will be required. There is no answer to how it goes, "former Avangard head coach Dmitry Ryabykin assessed the forward's prospects in an interview with the Russia-Hockey.ru portal.

The future of Laipsik and Serebryakov

It is possible that in the new team Gritsyuk will be in the same top three with the former star of another leader of the Eastern Conference. We are talking about Brendan Leipsic, in whose signing SKA is also interested. The Canadian finalized the current agreement with Metallurg and did not renew it. But unlike the Russian, he became an unrestricted free agent, which is why he has the opportunity to choose where to continue his career.

And in this regard, SKA seems to be a great option. After the departure of Nikita Gusev and Dmitry Yashkin, there was a place for Brendan in the first line. At the age of 29, he is in great shape, and the completed regular season was his most successful during his stay in the KHL. The ex-Washington striker chalked up 11 goals and 33 assists - only Philippe Maillet (22 + 31) was more productive at Metallurg. The problem is that neither Leipsic nor Gritsyuk differ in size and "physics", and this was one of the keys to CSKA's victory over SKA in the Western Conference finals. Thus, Petersburgers run the risk of relying on the "gamers" again and stepping on the same rake as in recent years.

Of course, if they don't get a high-class goalkeeper who can single-handedly pull out series in the Gagarin Cup. And if you believe the rumors, such work is underway. The media talk about SKA's interest in Nikita Serebryakov, who was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the past season.

According to its results, he took the first place in the percentage of reflected shots (94.4%) and the second in the reliability coefficient (1.79), and subsequently confirmed his status in the playoffs. It was his brilliant performances that allowed the "Admiral" to first sensationally knock out one of the leaders of the East - "Salavat Yulaev" from the struggle, and then impose a fierce struggle on the future finalist of the championship - "Ak Bars".

Moreover, another circumstance hints at the possible transfer of Serebryakov to SKA. Some time ago, Yuri Klyuchnikov, who worked with Nikita in Vladivostok, was invited to the post of goalkeeper coach of the army team.

"Yuri Viktorovich is a strong specialist, but let's see who Admiral will invite instead of him. I think they will find a replacement. But I am very grateful to Klyuchnikov for everything that he has done for me during our joint work. We worked hard, hard. From start to finish. And thanks to him, I began to succeed, which led to such a season," Serebryakov told Izvestia, while refusing to comment on rumors about a possible move to the Northern capital.

Mass purchase of "Lada"

In parallel with the strengthening of the base, the two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup gets rid of those who, in the opinion of the club's management, are not able to help him in the next campaign for the trophy. And if rumors are to be believed, it does it almost on an industrial scale. The other day, the Metaratings portal reported on the transfer of Nikita Popugaev and Dmitry Buchelnikov to Lada, but then it was reported that up to 15 people could go from St. Petersburg to Togliatti.

"I learned about the existence of a certain list of SKA players, which includes up to 15 people, to strengthen Lada. They say that the names in it changed several times. After the St. Petersburg club finally decides on those who will not count on next season, transfer activity in the KHL market should increase. The domino effect, "said Sport-Express columnist Mikhail Zislis.

It is noteworthy that even before that, many called Lada the new unofficial farm club of SKA. Previously, this status was assigned to Vityaz and Sochi, whose compositions were regularly replenished by representatives of the army team. However, the leadership of Togliatti hastened to dispel the rumors.

"We hope that Dmitry Buchelnikov will be with us. The first strong newcomers will appear in two or three days. SKA farm club? No, we won't. In addition, we will have three foreigners," said Lada sports director Rafik Yakubov.

Perhaps one of the star newcomers will be goalkeeper Anton Khudobin. In the playoffs of the 2019/20 season, he won the competition for the place of the first number of Dallas and brought the club to the Stanley Cup final, where only Tampa could stop him. However, later the Russian gave way to the promising Jake Oettinger, and then was completely exchanged to Chicago, which started perestroika. And as the agent of the 37-year-old goalkeeper said, at the end of his career, he intends to return to his homeland.

"Yes, (negotiations. - RT) are underway. When Anton decided to play in the KHL, goalkeepers were signed in almost all teams. Now we will negotiate with Lada," the representative of the goalkeeper Alexander Chernykh admitted to RB Sport.

Departure of Reideborn

At the same time, the KHL goalkeeping shop was not without losses. The league lost the current holder of the Gagarin Cup in CSKA Adam Reideborn. A few weeks ago, it was reported that Salavat Yulaev was interested in him, but he preferred a voyage to Switzerland to move to the capital of Bashkortostan. As reported by TASS agent Alyosha Pilko, the Swede made a choice in favor of Bern. In the past season, the club took only eighth place in the regular season, and capitulated in the playoffs at the stage of the 1/4 finals.

In turn, Khudobin's example was followed by forward Vitaly Kravtsov, who made another attempt to gain a foothold in the NHL a year ago. However, it was unsuccessful. In 28 games for the Rangers, he scored only 6 points (3 + 3), after which he was traded to Vancouver, where he also did not succeed (1 + 1 in 16 games). After that, the player decided to return to where he last showed high results.

At the end of 2021, the striker again came to his native Traktor and first had a decent regular season, and then flashed in the playoffs. In 15 matches, he scored seven goals, gave three assists and helped the Chelyabinsk team reach the East final for the first time in five years. And although there they lost to Metallurg without a chance (1-4 in the series), they could be more than satisfied with their performance.

And now Traktor, with the assistance of Kravtsov, will try to rehabilitate itself for the failure in the last championship. According to its results, the club took only ninth place in the conference table and could not qualify for the Gagarin Cup. This was largely due to the mass departure of legionnaires, so now the leadership of the "bears" is relying on domestic performers. In addition to Vitaly, three hockey players were acquired in the offseason - and all from Russia.

At the same time, the story continues to develop around another KHL star, Dmitry Yashkin, who is courted by Ak Bars. On Tuesday, it was reported that he would sign a three-year contract with Kazan. However, there has been no official confirmation from the club and the league yet.

And Matvey Guskov is likely to stay in Moscow. Earlier, Lokomotiv made a qualifying offer to the young forward, but CSKA did not agree to just let go of the young talent. According to media reports, the army team is likely to repeat it and thereby keep the player.