18 Traktor-98 hockey players entered into bilateral agreements with the club.
Alexander Yakovenko
Born on February 22, 1998 in Karaganda
Defender
Height 178 cm, weight 69 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Alexander Yakovenko was one of the main defenders of Traktor-98, which won a full set of national championship medals in three years. Now at the age of 17, Yakovenko has already passed all the levels of junior national teams (U16, U17 and U18) and managed to get into the team where hockey players a year older played (Russia U18) and compete at the Junior World Championship. The 2014/2015 season was Yakovenko’s debut as a member of the Polar Bears. Over 16 meetings, the defender managed to score 4 (0+4) points with a usefulness indicator of +4.
As part of the national teams, two tournaments turned out to be particularly successful for Alexander: the World Challenge Cup (U17) and the Four Nations Tournament (U17). At the first forum, considered an unofficial world championship, Yakovenko with 4 (1+3) points became top scorer national team among defenders, and in second place he was the best, scoring 5 (3+2) points and sharing the title of the most productive player with teammates Vitaly Abramov and Platon Popov.
Dmitry Alekseev
Born on February 17, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Defender
Height 182 cm, weight 84 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014), winner of the World Challenge Cup as part of the Russian U17 national team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).
Dmitry Alekseev is the main defender of the Russian U17 national team and the Polar Bears. During his performances in the country's junior teams (U16 and U17), Alekseev missed only three out of 11 tournaments and was always one of the main players in the national teams' defensive formations. This season, Dmitry played 23 matches for the Polar Bears (including three in the playoffs) and scored 1 (0+1) point in them with a usefulness indicator of +4.
Vladislav Sukhachev
Born on May 14, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Goalkeeper
Height 179 cm, weight 82 kg.
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 national team (2014).
Vladislav Sukhachev spent one season in the 2014/2015 season full match for the “Polar Bears” - on the road in Kirovo-Chepetsk against the local “Olympia” and managed to immediately add a “cracker” to his asset. Like Yakovenko and Alekseev, Vladislav is one of the untouchable players of the junior team of his year of birth. Over two seasons, he played for Russia U16 and U17 in eight tournaments and scored eight (!) clean sheets in them.
Alexander Podkorytov
Born on August 21, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: right
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 national team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).
Like many of his Traktor-98 partners, Alexander Podkorytov has been a member of the Russian national team of his year since the first tournament. During this time, Podkorytov was called up to the U16 and U17 junior teams seven times.
In the 2014/2015 season, Alexander made his debut in the Polar Bears, playing 20 matches and scoring 6 (3+3) points with a utility indicator of +7.
Platon Popov
Born on February 3, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: left
School: Hockey school named after Sergei Makarov, Traktor Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals of the Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015).
Platon Popov played for the U16 and U17 national teams in seven tournaments and managed to score 14 (9+5) points in 22 meetings. In Youth hockey league Popov played 10 matches for the Polar Bears this season and scored 1 (0+1) points.
Also, goalkeeper Arthur Mustafin, defenders Vladimir Krupenko, Nikita Skladchikov, Leonid Lavrinenko, Alexander Shepelev and Ilya Karpukhin, as well as forwards Vladislav Kuliev, Marcel Sholokhov, Evgeny Kobyakov, Vyacheslav Krasheninin, Arkady Shafigulin, Evgeny Danilov and Kirill Koshurnikov, also signed contracts with the club.
The question is not at all idle - according to the official KHL website, on April 30, out of 25 people in the main Traktor squad, the contract of 17 players will end at once (!). Among them are goalkeeper Alexander Danylyshyn, six defenders (Vladimir Denisov, Nikita Zhuldikov, Deron Quint, Philip Novak, Alexey Petrov and Alexander Shinin), as well as ten forwards (Semyon Afonasyevsky, Anton Glinkin, Ilya Zinoviev, Semyon Kokuev, Alexey Kruchinin, Vyacheslav Osnovin, Dmitry Pestunov, Andrey Popov, Martin Ruzicka, Alexander Rybakov).
Of those who have contracts valid for the next season - both main goalkeepers (Vasily Demchenko and Pavel Francouz), three defenders (Artem Borodkin, Egor Martynov and Konstantin Klimontov) and three forwards (Maxim Yakutsenya, Alexander Sharov and Danila Gubarev).
It is also worth noting that among those who play for Traktor’s farm club Chelmet, but already have experience playing in the KHL, the contracts of forwards Mikhail Mokin and Alexey Zavarukhin are ending. Defender Nikita Khlystov, forwards Artem Penkovsky and Andrei Yerofeyev, as well as goalkeeper Egor Nazarov (he showed up for Traktor matches, but has not yet taken to the ice) have contracts for one more season. Also, the contracts of three promising young Chelmet forwards - Vladimir Ionin, Alexey Zakarlyukin and Artem Sevankaev - are ending.
In total, Traktor’s roster for the next season is guaranteed to include a full goalkeeper line of three people, two pairs of defenders (of which only one is at the level of a solid “base”), and a motley three-and-a-half attack team.
Among those whose contracts are expiring, five young players (defender Zhulidikov, as well as forwards Afonasyevsky, Zinoviev, Kruchinin and Osnovin) have the status of “restricted free agents”. That is, the club can keep them on its roster by making a qualifying offer, and in three cases (Zhuldikov, Afonasyevsky and Zinoviev), if this offer amounts to 150 and 170 percent of the current salary for the next two years, then the players do not even have the right accept contract offers from other clubs.
But what is much more important is that among the remaining 12 players whose contracts are ending are all of today’s Traktor leaders (except perhaps the deep reserve goalkeeper Danylyshyn).
Namely, all the experienced defenders (40-year-old Quint, 33-year-old Novak and Petrov, 32-year-old Shinin and 31-year-old Denisov), the club’s three leading scorers (Rybakov, Popov and Kokuev), one of the symbols of the current “Traktor” Anton Glinkin as well as experienced Dmitry Pestunov and Martin Ruzicka.
For each of them, you can make a whole list of arguments both for extending the contract with them, and for not doing this, and wish them good luck in the new club. In addition, the set of factors that actually influence whether a contract is signed or not is much more extensive than one might imagine. The financial capabilities of the club and the general economic situation in the region and country, the “wants” of the players and especially their agents, the situation within the team and the club, relationships with the coach, the reputation of the management, the tasks facing the team, and the real resources (not only monetary) invested (or not) in their implementation, and so on and so forth.
It is very important how the head coach sees the team’s play and its composition.
But, perhaps, the most important thing is how its leaders see the strategic development of the team and the club. Not for the next season - for three to five, or even ten years. It is on this basis that in serious clubs plans are prepared, immediate and medium-term tasks are determined, resources are “supplied” and their sources are determined, financial and, no less important, personnel policies are built, part of which is selection work, both “externally” for club market - in Russia and abroad, and on the "domestic" - among its own system of farm clubs and children's school (the "vertical" that Traktor has: the main team - the VHL club - the MHL team - the children's school, according to in many respects the best in Russia).
Chelyabinsk Traktor, which recently experienced another change in leadership and structure, practically did not declare the existence of a strategy for its own development. Well, except for the words of the club president, governor of the Chelyabinsk region Boris Dubrovsky, who spoke about the need to rely on his own students. However, there is and never has been anything more detailed, public and in written form in the public space. Exceptionally beautiful words about good intentions.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the club’s sports management, firstly, is relatively inexperienced (the Black and Whites’ mentor Anvar Gatiyatulin is an intelligent and promising coach, but he has only been working in the KHL for a couple of months and has never been involved in full-fledged selection on the “external” market, and first vice-president Sergei Gomolyako and general manager Evgeniy Gubarev have only been in their posts for the second year), and secondly, the competence of key management figures raises serious doubts - the selection campaign for the last two seasons of Traktor, in fact, failed.
If the club's management has some kind of long-term development strategy, it would be nice to publicly declare it. This, among other things, will help Traktor act calmer and more confidently in the transfer market. The fans may not forgive another failure.
Alexander Yakovenko
Born on February 22, 1998 in Karaganda
Defender
Height 178 cm, weight 69 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Alexander Yakovenko was one of the main defenders of Traktor-98, which won a full set of national championship medals in three years. Now at the age of 17, Yakovenko has already passed all the levels of junior teams (U 16, U 17 and U 18) and managed to get into the team where hockey players a year older played (Russia U 18) and compete at the Junior World Championship. The 2014/2015 season was Yakovenko’s debut as a member of the Polar Bears. Over 16 meetings, the defender managed to score 4 (0+4) points with a usefulness indicator of +4.
As part of the national teams, two tournaments turned out to be especially successful for Alexander: the World Challenge Cup (U 17) and the Four Nations Tournament (U 17). At the first forum, considered an unofficial world championship, Yakovenko with 4 (1+3) points became the team’s top scorer among defenders, and at the second he became the best, scoring 5 (3+2) points and sharing the title of the most productive player with teammates Vitaly Abramov and Platon Popov.
Dmitry Alekseev
Born on February 17, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Defender
Height 182 cm, weight 84 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014), winner of the World Challenge Cup as part of the Russian U17 team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).
Dmitry Alekseev is the main defender of the Russian U17 national team and the Polar Bears. During his performances in the country's junior teams (U 16 and U 17), Alekseev missed only three out of 11 tournaments and was always one of the main players in the national teams' defensive formations. This season, Dmitry played 23 matches for the Polar Bears (including three in the playoffs) and scored 1 (0+1) point in them with a usefulness indicator of +4.
Vladislav Sukhachev
Born on May 14, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Goalkeeper
Height 179 cm, weight 82 kg.
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 national team (2014).
Vladislav Sukhachev played one full match for the Polar Bears in the 2014/2015 season - on the road in Kirovo-Chepetsk against the local Olimpia and managed to immediately score a “crack”. Like Yakovenko and Alekseev, Vladislav is one of the untouchable players of the junior team of his year of birth. Over two seasons, he played for Russia U16 and U17 in eight tournaments and scored eight (!) clean sheets in them.
Alexander Podkorytov
Born on August 21, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: right
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).
Like many of his Traktor-98 partners, Alexander Podkorytov has been a member of the Russian national team of his year since the first tournament. During this time, Podkorytov was called up to the U16 and U17 junior teams seven times.
In the 2014/2015 season, Alexander made his debut in the Polar Bears, playing 20 matches and scoring 6 (3+3) points with a utility indicator of +7.
Platon Popov
Born on February 3, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: left
School: Hockey school named after Sergei Makarov, Traktor Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals of the Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015).
Platon Popov played for the U16 and U17 national teams in seven tournaments and managed to score 14 (9+5) points in 22 meetings. In the Youth Hockey League, Popov played 10 matches for the Polar Bears this season and scored 1 (0+1) points.
July 29, 2015 Natalia Kalentyeva Photo: Vyacheslav Shishkoedov
Hockey is not only about pucks, passes and the adrenaline of seriously wound up stands. This is also a complex system of contracts, negotiations on which sometimes drag on for months. Why the contracts of KHL hockey players are a sealed secret, how much ballast is in the league and whether the “black and white” people receive vacation pay - general manager of Traktor HC Evgeniy Gubarev told UP about this and much more.
Viewing contract
- Evgeniy Mikhailovich, several contract forms are practiced in the KHL: one-sided, two-sided (KHL-VHL), one-sided MHL and viewing contracts. What are they and what is the difference?
- One-sided ones differ only in salaries. Just a year ago, if a player lowered his standards and stopped satisfying the club’s management, he received the same money when moving from the KHL to the VHL. Management had no leverage. Last year, the KHL management decided to reduce the contract by 40% when a player moves to a lower league. That is, if a player reduces his demands on himself and begins to play much worse, then we can put him in the waiver draft, while reducing the contract by 20%. If within two days he is not bought by any other KHL club, then after a certain time we can again put him up for the waiver draft, reducing the contract by another 20%. Thus, the contract is reduced by 40%, thereby saving the club money. When concluding a two-way contract, the player’s salary “floats”: when playing in the KHL, he receives some money, while moving down to a lower league level, he, accordingly, receives other money. As for viewing contracts, they are concluded before the season for a period of two months. A viewing contract allows you to watch a hockey player before signing an annual contract without wasting your money. I liked it and signed a normal contract. If you didn't like it, you broke up.
About 80 percent of the time we refuse the services of these hockey players. You need to understand that, as a rule, guys who have not signed anywhere and have nothing else left to get into the league go to tryout contracts.
- By what criteria does the management evaluate the players, then making them different offers regarding the duration of the agreements?
There are a lot of criteria. First of all, the age and skill of the player, his desire to play. The club management weighs all the positive and negative qualities of the player. Down to discipline in everyday life and character.
- Can players challenge the length or size of the contract?
Not hockey players, but their agents can, roughly speaking, bargain. If we need a hockey player, we see that he is progressing, he is young and talented and will bring us results, we can raise his contract ourselves in the off-season. This happened last year with Artem Borodkin. We understood that he could leave for another club, so we decided with Sergei Yuryevich (Gomolyako - author's note) that he needed to raise his contract.
- Is the contract system built the same way in the NHL?
The differences are probably only in finances. IN North America the financial situation is more stable, and contracts in the NHL are concluded for up to eight to nine years. In Russia this is not yet possible.
Plus a scholarship for the gifted
- At what age can you sign contracts with young players?
We sign contracts with young players from the age of 17. Until this age they have contracts with the hockey school and they belong to the school. If a young hockey player wants to leave for another club, then according to the regulations, this club must pay compensation to the SDUSHOR.
- Does the selection in the draft somehow affect the wages of young people?
This year we signed 18 or 19 people with the condition that they do not enter the draft. This will allow us not to lose the guys. When they enter the draft, their salary will, of course, be different.
- In the KHL, talented hockey players are paid a scholarship. Who falls under these criteria and are there any scholarship holders at Traktor?
By decision of the KHL Board of Directors, the most talented hockey players aged 17 to 20 years may be awarded annual personal scholarships. To date, no one receives scholarships as part of Traktor. The last scholarship recipient was Evgeny Kuznetsov.
- Who pays gifted sports school students and how much?
The amount of such scholarships in each specific case is established by the League at the request of the club. I won’t announce the amount, but believe me, the money is good.
There is a lot of ballast
- What can affect the termination of a contract with a player?
Any situation: decreased skill, reluctance to play, misunderstanding with the coaching staff - in a word, there are many factors.
- What is the termination mechanism and how large is the compensation?
The mechanism is very simple. Take, for example, Kostya Panov, who had a contract until 2016. Konstantin is a very good player, but coaching staff I didn’t see it in my system, so we had to terminate the contract with him. Provided that the termination occurs in the off-season, we were obliged to pay him 25% of the current contract as compensation. If the contract was for two years, then for the second year we would be required to pay another 20% of the contract amount.
- As I understand, last season it was precisely because of too large compensation that a number of players were in the team, although they were not one hundred percent up to its level.
Yes. If the compensation is very large, we cannot break off the employment relationship with such a player, although he does not help the team much. No one wants to exchange such personnel either. Why would a club take a hockey player for a lot of money whose contract does not correspond to the player’s level?
- Is there a lot of such ballast in the league?
Unfortunately, for now yes. Everyone makes mistakes, including managers.
- There is a players’ union that defends the interests of players...
Moreover, the union wins probably in 50% of cases. But as far as I remember, Traktor had no problems with the union.
No vacation or sick leave
- A trivial question: do players have vacation pay or is the contract automatically extended for 12 months?
Traktor players' contracts are divided into 12 months. There are vacation pay. Another thing is that some hockey players, for example, foreign players, ask to be paid the minimum under the contract, and the main amount to be paid at the end of the season.
- The contract has a main part and a bonus part. How are they divided as a percentage and what are bonuses paid for?
It is impossible to calculate bonuses in percentage terms, since they are completely different for everyone: for goals, points, assists. We sit down with the agent of each specific hockey player and agree on everything one-on-one. Since last season, we have introduced this practice: bonuses are awarded to a hockey player provided that the team scores more goals than they concede, that is, his plus-minus indicator is positive.
- IN recent months Chelyabinsk closely followed how events developed in the Voinov case. Do you know the details of his contract? Can litigation and arrest affect the contract?
Yes, the contract can change. I recently spoke with Slava's agent in Canada. He said that 70 percent of Voynov will remain in the NHL. But he definitely plays in " Los Angeles Kings"It won't. If he returns to Russia, the rights to him belong to Traktor. True, he will play for his native club, provided that we can offer him the money he asks for. If we cannot offer him a decent contract, then we have the right to sell him to any other club and earn good money.
- Lokomotiv forward Sergei Plotnikov bought part of the contract from the club in order to go to the NHL. Do you think this is good practice?
At one time, Petri Kontiola wanted to play in the NHL, he also bought out his contract from Traktor. As a result, he did not play in the NHL and returned to Russia. After that, he asked for a lot of money, which we couldn’t give him, so we exchanged him to Lokomotiv for Kruchinin and Martynov, saving a fairly large amount. In general, the NHL is the best league in the world, and every player dreams of playing in it. There would be an offer, as they say. Therefore, it seems to me that any hockey player in such a situation would act like Plotnikov. This is fine.
- By the way, the NHL does not hide either the salary ceiling of clubs or the amount of contracts. In Russia, everything is exactly the opposite. Why?
We are simply not mentally ready for this. Everyone understands that there are poor and rich clubs. In general, this is a difficult question, both from a financial and ethical point of view. It’s not for nothing that the players’ union is against the publication of information about contracts.
Hockey educational program
A hockey player who has a signed contract acquires the status of a “current contract”.
A hockey player who has accepted a contract offer from a club or has received a binding offer from a club acquires the status of a “player assigned to the club.”
A hockey player becomes an unrestricted free agent if he has reached the age of 29, his contract expired on April 30, and he has not received a qualifying offer from his former club.
A hockey player who has entered into a junior contract (a contract for training in sports school), acquires the status of “junior”.
The “conflict” status is assigned if a hockey player with a valid contract voluntarily leaves the KHL, MHL or VHL club or terminates the contract early on his own initiative and does not pay the club the compensation provided for by the regulations.
A hockey player who was selected by a KHL club in the junior draft is assigned the status of “selected player.” The status of “assigned rights” is assigned to a hockey player if he, in the status of “OSA”, having a qualifying offer from a KHL, MHL or VHL club, voluntarily leaves the system of the corresponding league. If a player returns to the KHL under the age of 29, the club has the right to make him a new contract offer.
If a hockey player receives an injury or illness and the specified player is moved to the injured list, this hockey player is assigned the status of “injured player.”
In relation to Russian club A KHL hockey player has the status of “foreign player” if he is not a citizen of the Russian Federation; has Russian citizenship, but is registered to participate in the KHL championship using a passport from another state; has citizenship Russian Federation, but at the same time has “sports citizenship” of another state in the IIHF system.
