The hockey off-season is coming to an end, the rosters of almost all teams have been formed - in some places they are already complete, in others the final approvals are being completed. In the news, we can only wait for spot changes or exchanges between clubs. What awaits Chelyabinsk Traktor for the 2018-2019 season? Will the team retain its “bronze” roster?
Beginners
The Yuzhnouralsk club does not have the financial resources to invite overly “expensive” hockey players. Therefore, their tactical “games” during the summer signing of contracts looked very interesting. The first high-profile purchase was the May acquisition of Alexander Bergstrom. Then new line-up“Traktor” for the 2018-2019 season was supplemented by Nikita Khlystov and Alexander Sudnitsyn, Ryan Stoa, Anton Glinkin and Evgeny Lapenkov.
Pavel Francouz, the former number one, went to conquer Colorado. And, apparently, Vasily Demchenko is now vying for the title of main goalkeeper. But the newly acquired Sudnitsyn, who is in brilliant physical fitness. The five clean sheets he played last year are excellent proof of this.
Alignment by links
The practically approved composition of HC Traktor for the 2018-2019 season allows us to reflect on the tactical arrangement of players during the match. The most likely groupings of players will be as follows:
- The first link will probably remain with the four legionnaires. Baylen as a defender, Shchekur - top scorer club last season, Gunge - distinguished himself in the playoffs. But Videll's departure should only be beneficial team game, because Berström played with Gunge in the Swedish national team, his skate is sharper and his speed on the ice is impressive.
- In the second line of the “old” there will only be a pair of defense left - Ryasensky and Nikitin. It is still unknown how the remaining players will be positioned. Head coach German Titov said that he wanted to try different options, including adding Anton Glinkin to the Kravtsov-Sharov pairing, or moving Sharov completely aside and strengthening Vitaly Sharov with the legionnaire Stoa, so that he would roll out the scorer, like Kirill Kaprizov once did. If this move works, a new young star will shine on the hockey horizon.
- The third and fourth links are pure fortune telling. Rotation is expected in both defensive pairs and forward combinations. It is still unknown whether three centers will be withdrawn at the same time, which of them will have to change their role, who will be replaced by newcomers. The first options will appear only after the Governor's Cup, which will start in just a few days. It is quite possible that the team coach will decide to put several test combinations on the ice in order to identify the most successful ones at the tournament and evaluate the level of training of each hockey player.
Important! For Traktor, the 2018-2019 season tournament will most likely also consist of shooting matches - when the composition of the team becomes clear during the game.
The team finished last season playing matches according to the “13+7” scheme. Considering that the application for participation must necessarily indicate two players under 20 years of age (and there are plenty of them in the Traktor 2018-2019 squad), high rivalry among the young players is expected. Isaev proved himself excellent last year, gaining momentum towards the end of the season, while Mamaev, on the contrary, shone in the first half of the championship. Participants of the 2018 Youth World Championship Alekseev and Shepelev probably dream of proving themselves and not sitting as reserves all year.
Expectations
The composition of HC Traktor for the 2018-2019 season is in no way inferior to the past. On paper, he even wins in some ways. The retired hockey players were replaced with equal performance. The team is expected to play brilliant, goal-scoring hockey. But the club’s defense remained at high level. It would be nice to find a defenseman with a spectacular shot, and if in 2018-1019 there are transfers within the KHL, then, most likely, Traktor will set its sights on such a hockey player.
Chelyabinsk will undoubtedly provide competition, and very serious competition, to top clubs. But will this be enough to stop being good middle peasants and get ahead? Fans of the club hope that under the leadership of Titov, who knows his business, all problems will be solved and the season will be successful!
The president of the Traktor hockey club, Boris Dubrovsky, gave the hockey players instructions to reach the finals of the KHL Eastern Conference this year. Hockey players have completed the pre-season tournament in Magnitogorsk and are preparing for the opening of the new season.
The KHL regular championship starts on August 21. Traktor will play its first game on August 23 - the Chelyabinsk team will play in Tolyatti with Lada, and on August 27 the first home game will take place, where Traktor will compete with Avtomobilist (Ekaterinburg) for the victory. Newcomers of the season are Igor Polygalov, Ivan Vishnevsky, as well as American Nick Bailen and the first Swede in Traktor, Linus Wiedell. A pleasant surprise for the fans was the return of Alexander Rybnikov, who in the 2015/2016 season already became the top scorer of the “black and whites”.
- It's an anniversary season. We are preparing very seriously, we will try to please our fans,” he noted head coach team Anvar Gatiyatulin during a meeting with Boris Dubrovsky.
In the traditional pre-season tournament in memory of Ivan Romazan, final match which took place yesterday, Metallurg, Kunlun, Sibir and Traktor competed for the trophy. At the end of the tournament, all teams except Metallurg scored five points, but the first place due to additional indicators went to Beijing hockey club KunLun Red Star. The Black and Whites ended up in third place.
In another pre-season tournament - international cup President of Kazakhstan, which was held in Astana as part of the EXPO-2017 exhibition, the Chelyabinsk team took silver, losing first place to Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik.
Regular season calendar 2017/2018– Of course, we always set the highest goals for ourselves. But also second place in the pre-season tournament - good result. It is very important to prepare well for the new season. Supporting sport of great achievements is a priority for the region, because it is what shapes the younger generation correct landmarks and the desire to lead healthy image life,” said Boris Dubrovsky.
Black, white 1947 - 1953 - "Dzerzhinets"
1953 - 1958 - "Vanguard"
1958 - ... - "Tractor"
Story
As you might guess, “Traktor” got its name because it was founded on the basis of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in 1947. True, the first names of the team were “Dzerzhinets” and “Avangard”. The club began to be called "Traktor" from the 1958/59 season.
In the first season, the Chelyabinsk club won the right to play in the first group of class “A” teams. Traktor managed to get closer to the leaders for the first time in the 1954/55 season, when the club took fourth place. In 1972, Chelyabinsk residents managed to become finalists of the Spengler Cup. A year later, Traktor reached the final of the USSR Cup. In the decisive match, the Chelyabinsk team played with CSKA and even led the match with a score of 2:0, but in the end lost with a score of 5:2. Traktor won the USSR Championship medals in the 1976/77 season, when the team won bronze medals. Traktor hockey players often fell under the banner of the national team with which they won world championships and the Olympic Games.
After the formation of the MHL, Traktor managed to become a bronze medalist twice in the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons. In the 1999 season, Traktor flew to Major League, and managed to return to the elite only in the 2005/06 season.
The regular season of the first KHL season in 2008/09 began really well for Traktor. The Chelyabinsk team was in the top ten for a long time, but it did not do so well at the end of the championship and took twelfth place according to the results of the regular championship. In the first round of the playoffs, Traktor lost to Atlant Mytishchi. The Moscow Region team turned out to be head and shoulders above the Chelyabinsk team, winning three matches with a total score of 13:2.
The next season turned out to be difficult, primarily due to financial difficulties in the team. Traktor's budget was cut by thirty percent, as a result of which a number of its leaders left the club, including best player last season Oleg Kvashu. Despite the fact that Traktor scored only sixty-four points, the club still managed to make it to the playoffs. In the first round, the Chelyabinsk team met with Magnitogorsk Metallurg, to whom they lost with a score of 3:1. And already in the 2010/11 season, Traktor failed to make it into the playoffs with the same sixty-four points.
In the 2011/12 season, Traktor became, perhaps, the main discovery. In the summer, the Chelyabinsk club conducted a fruitful transfer campaign, managing to sign such star players as Bulis, Chistov, Garnett and Kontiola. Having started the regular championship neither shaky nor weak, “Traktor” showed more and more confident hockey with each subsequent match. For many fans, the victory of the Chelyabinsk team in the Continental Cup was a real shock. "Traktor" scored one hundred and fourteen points, ahead of St. Petersburg SKA for just one credit point. In the first round of the playoffs, the Chelyabinsk team's opponent was Khanty-Mansiysk "Ugra", which managed to win only one match out of five. Moreover, the third match of the series will be remembered by many, when Traktor managed to win 7:6, losing 2:6 during the match. Then “Traktor” met with Kazan “Ak Bars”, but the two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup also fell under the pressure of the Chelyabinsk team. The grueling series with Kazan played a role in the finals of the Eastern Conference, where Traktor lost to Avangard Omsk in five matches. At the end of the season, Traktor became the owner bronze awards for the first time since 1994.
In the 2012/13 season, the Chelyabinsk club managed to retain Evgeny Kuznetsov, whom many had already matched to the NHL. Regular season Traktor finished in third place in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, Traktor won the Eastern Conference Cup and reached the finals of the Gagarin Cup for the first time. On the way to the first final in the history of the Chelyabinsk club they beat: Astana “Barys” (series score 4-3), Omsk “Avangard” (series score 4-1) and Kazan “Ak Bars” (series score 4-3 ). In the final of the Gagarin Cup, the “tractor drivers” played against the Moscow “Dynamo”, to whom they lost in a very stubborn series with a score of 2-4, thereby winning for the first time in their history silver medals and an honorable second place in the Kontinental Hockey League championship. This result was the best in the history of the Chelyabinsk team.
But Traktor failed to maintain its leading position. In the summer, the team was seriously updated, and not in better side. As a result, Traktor failed to make it to the playoffs, finishing in nineteenth place in the general table regular season.
Awards and achievements
Winner of the KHL Continental Cup: 2011/12
KHL silver medalist: 2012/13
KHL bronze medalist: 2011/12
Bronze medalist of the USSR Championship: 1976/77
Bronze medalist of the MHL Championship: 1992/1993, 1993/1994
In addition, Titov will have to deal with team chemistry. It's no secret that distinctive feature Gatiyatulin's work always had an impressive atmosphere in the team.
And one more important point. Titov begins to work in one of the most hockey cities in the country, where every action is under the close attention of fans. Titov will be constantly compared to Gatiyatulin. The pressure on the new Traktor coach will be enormous. The successes of last season will increase this pressure several times.
Traktor has a very difficult division
Summer has changed a bit KHL structure. Ugra and Lada were expelled from the league, Torpedo were transferred to the Eastern Conference, Slovan and Dynamo Minsk went to the Tarasov Division, and Dynamo Moscow and Severstal went to the Bobrov Division. The first three changes will directly affect Traktor and will definitely not make life easier for the team.
Last season, Ugra and Lada played together with Traktor in the Kharlamov division and the Eastern Conference and took the last two places. Against Ugra, Traktor won all three matches and beat Lada twice. The place of these clubs in the division was taken by the strong Torpedo.
In addition to Torpedo, Traktor’s rivals in the Kharlamov division will be Avtomobilist, Magnitogorsk Metallurg, Ak Bars and Neftekhimik. Traktor will play four matches against all division rivals.
Match HC "Traktor" - "Ak Bars", April 2018
It will be very difficult.
“Ak Bars” is the winner of the Gagarin Cup, the team has not lost its power and will again be a contender for victory.“Avtomobilist” has carried out an excellent selection and will one hundred percent claim the leading position in the division; the ambitions of the club’s owners should definitely be realized in the new season. Metallurg, winner of the Gagarin Cup in 2014 and 2016, has seriously strengthened. In Magnitogorsk, they don’t like to be below Traktor at the end of the season, and Metallurg vice-president Gennady Velichkin professionally knows how to draw conclusions from failures. All four derbies will be very hot. Torpedo is in the process of restructuring, but this team will not fall below a certain level.
And finally, Neftekhimik. The team of Chelyabinsk coach Andrei Nazarov will continue to play fast and hard vertical hockey in the next season. Considering the new Finnish format of the site on home arena“Neftekhimik”, this will create difficulties for any opponent.
Match HC "Traktor" - HC "Neftekhimik", March 2018
In addition, Traktor will play four matches against Severstal and Barys. There should be fewer problems here.
As you know, the first division teams, plus six, get into the playoffs best teams conferences. In this sense, it is worth remembering the favorites of the neighboring division for Traktor - Avangard and Salavat Yulaev. Serious changes have taken place in both Omsk and Ufa; their composition looks very strong. Avangard, with its new head coach Bob Hartley, should definitely become one of the leaders in the conference. “Salavat Yulaev” is one of the leaders.
Last season, “Traktor” climbed high in the table at the first stage, not only because of the excellent performance of Anvar Gatiyatulin, but also due to the problems of its competitors: “Avangard”, “Salavat Yulaev” and “Metallurg”. This season there will either be no such advantages, or there will be much less.
Bobrov Division: Dynamo (Moscow), Dynamo (Riga), Jokerit, Severstal, SKA, Spartak
Tarasov Division:“Vityaz”, “Dynamo” (Minsk), “Lokomotiv”, “Slovan”, “Sochi”, CSKA
Eastern Conference
Kharlamov Division:“Avtomobilist”, “Ak Bars”, “Metallurg”, “Neftekhimik”, “Torpedo”, “Traktor”
Chernyshev Division:“Avangard”, “Admiral”, “Amur”, “Barys”, “Kunlun Red Star”, “Salavat Yulaev”, “Siberia”
Traktor has a tight calendar in September and October
At the start of the season, Traktor will play four matches in Chelyabinsk, three of them against the most serious opponents: CSKA, Metallurg and Avtomobilist. Then the team will have a very difficult trip to Magnitogorsk, Helsinki, Moscow for the match with Spartak and to Sochi. After which - another home series of four matches and again three serious rivals - Salavat Yulaev and Dynamo Moscow, which seriously strengthened their squads, as well as the always strong Lokomotiv. Immediately after this is always heavy in physically a tour to China and the Far East, plus an away match with Salavat Yulaev.
Much will depend on how Traktor conducts this segment. Including, perhaps, the fate of German Titov himself, since Chelyabinsk is very fond of making high-profile resignations in the fall.
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A month and a half has passed since the official start of the off-season - May and 15 days of June are behind us. The main signings have already taken place, so the composition of the teams can be considered 95% complete. Only targeted new contracts and, possibly, exchanges remain ahead. We can already guess what the links will look like.
One of the most intriguing players on the summer market turned out to be Chelyabinsk Traktor. Team with Southern Urals In recent years, it hasn’t blown up the news agenda with high-profile transfers and mass purchases. Not, as they say, finances. Here they manage to make do with dotted touches to create an overall, not the most expensive, picture. And this summer the situation has not changed - the club announced the first selection news in early May: Alexander Bergstrem became a Traktor player. He was followed by Alexander Sudnitsin, Anton Glinkin, Nikita Khlystov, Ryan Stoa and Evgeny Lapenkov.
Traktor newcomers in the 2018 off-season: Nikita Khlystov, Alexander Bergstrom, Alexander Sudnitsin, Anton Glinkin, Ryan Stoa, Evgeny Lapenkov.
Contracts renewed: Igor Polygalov, Evgeny Ryasensky, Nikita Nikitin, Alexey Petrov, Richard Günge, Alexander Rybakov, Semyon Kokuev.
Thus, in at the moment"Traktor" can be defined as the following set of players:
Goalkeepers: Vasily Demchenko, Alexander Sudnitsin, Vladislav Sukhachev
Defenders: Dmitry Alekseev, Artem Borodkin, Nick Baylen, Nikita Zhuldikov, Igor Isaev, Danil Mamaev, Nikita Nikitin, Evgeny Petrikov, Alexey Petrov, Evgeny Ryasensky, Nikita Khlystov, Alexander Shinin
Forwards: Ivan Bezrukov, Alexander Bergstrom, Anton Glinkin, Danil Gubarev, Richard Gunge, Semyon Kokuev, Vitaly Kravtsov, Artem Penkovsky, Alexander Podkorytov, Igor Polygalov, Alexander Rybakov, Ryan Stoa, Alexander Sharov, Maxim Shipin, Marcel Sholokhov, Paul Shchekhura, Alexander Tridchikov
The number of field players included those who were included in the squad at least once KHL match in the 2017/2018 season. You can also mention defenders Alexander Shepelev, Ilya Karpukhin and forwards Ilya Zinoviev, Semyon Afonasyevsky and Evgeniy Kobyakov.
Proposed lineup for the first match of the season:
Demchenko (Sudnitsin)
1st: Baylen-Borodkin, Bergstrom-Szczekhura-Gunge
2nd: Nikitin-Ryasensky, Glinkin-Stoa-Kravtsov
3rd: Shinin -Isaev, Sharov-Polygalov-Lapenkov
4th: Petrov/Khlystov/Mamaev, Kokuev-Rybakov-Gubarev/Penkovsky + limiter
With the departure of Pavel Francouz, Vasily Demchenko should become the nominal number one. The 24-year-old goalkeeper has shown more or less stable play since the 2016/2017 season and saves 93.3% of shots with 2.45 goals conceded per match. He is reliable, makes a lot less mistakes and can clean up behind his teammates, simultaneously getting into the weekly top 10 of the best saves in the league. By the way, Demchenko also started last season, not Francouz, and played much more often at the start of the championship.
Alexander Sudnitsin will clearly not let Demchenko relax and will create healthy competition. This great option for backup. He has similar stats but more experience. Sudnitsyn can be considered one of the courageous goalkeepers. If he catches his best game, it will be incredibly difficult to break through. 5 clean sheets in the 2017/2018 season are proof of this.
On paper, the first line of four legionnaires and the captain of Traktor only became stronger. The main characters in it remain: scoring defender Nick Baylen, Traktor's top scorer in the 2017/2018 season Paul Szczekhura and Traktor's top scorer in the 2018 playoffs Richard Gunge. With the departure of Linus Videll, the unit should not lose any team chemistry, because Bergström and Günge played together in the Swedish national team. At the same time, Bergström is much sharper on the ice than Widell and is more focused on the goal: 21 goals in the 2017/2018 season.
The only thing that has remained unchanged in the 2nd line is the defense pair. The signings of Nikitin and Ryasensky in the 2017/2018 season in Chelyabinsk were met with skepticism, but both defenders proved that they were not invited in vain. In the matches that Nikitin and Ryasensky played together, they looked more than convincing. The only thing that is alarming is that Ryasensky is injured, although this problem can be solved by a full off-season, which the 2012 world champion did not have last year.
There are options in the attacking three. It is likely that Vitaly Kravtsov will continue to play in conjunction with Sharov, and Anton Glinkin will join them as a replacement for Alexei Kruchinin, who has left for SKA. But the new head coach of Traktor, German Titov, has already mentioned that he would like to try Ryan Stoa next to Kravtsov, so that the American would develop the Chelyabinsk player in the same way as he once did with Kirill Kaprizov in Novokuznetsk. If the American and the growing Chelyabinsk star play well, Traktor will only benefit from it.
In 3-4 links it is difficult to say anything for sure. One thing is for sure: one of the centers will have to move to the edge. Let's assume that the Tractor link from the 2015/2016 season remains unchanged. Then the Kokuev-Rybakov-Gubarev trio will be fourth, since Gubarev and Kokuev are rotation players, instead of whom Chelyabinsk youth in the person of Bezrukov, Podkorytov, Kobyakov, Sholokhov and Shipin will periodically appear in the lineup.
An option with Rybakov on the edge is also possible, especially since Alexander was already used in this role in the 2017/2018 season. Then the third link will look like this: Rybakov-Polygalov-Kokuev, and Lapenkov-Sharov-Gubarev/Penkovsky will play in the fourth. We are unlikely to see three centers together (Sharov-Polygalov-Rybakov).
Why are Sharov, Polygalov and Lapenkov standing next to each other in the lineup now? Because in this form, this trio should take on the destructive functions that the Petrov-Chernikov pairing performed last season. It is worth noting that Polygalov’s line has more attacking potential than Petrov’s line from last year. Lapenkov and Polygalov play sharper and more aggressively. The latter, at the end of the 2017/2018 season, had a streak of 16 points in 17 matches.
In defense, everything is more or less clearly in the first two top fives. The rest will be rotated, and that's normal. Borodkin, Petrov and Isaev, starting from the end of the last regular season, shared places in the third and fourth lines. The same Isaev started last season poorly, but he improved significantly in the second half. Mamaev, on the contrary, played almost 50 regular-season matches and got tired by the playoffs, without really spoiling the picture. Shinin and Petrov are reliable, experienced defenders - this is a plus, minus - age can affect them. Let’s not forget about Khlystov, who combines such qualities as are necessary for a defencist, such as playing on the spot and a powerful shot from the blue line.
“Traktor” finished the season playing according to the “13+7” system. Whether German Titov will continue in the same vein will be clear already at the Governor’s Cup or the Romazan Memorial. Much depends on how young defenders, including 2018 World Cup participants Dmitry Alekseev and Alexander Shepelev, spend the off-season. If they can convince the coach that they are ready for the KHL level and secure a place in the starting lineup, as Igor Isaev did a year ago, then one of the forwards will have to move - no one has canceled the rule of two players in the application under 20 years old.
What to expect? On paper, Traktor looks no worse than it did a year ago. Alexey Kruchinin and Anton Glinkin are different players, but in terms of performance they are quite equivalent. The lineup became deeper with the addition of Ryan Stoa and the transfer of Igor Polygalov to the third line. In addition, Rybakov and Kokuev should play better in the new hockey year, since now they won’t have to deal with Dynamo, train according to own program and finish the championship on its last legs. Looking to the future with optimism, 3 goals per match should no longer be the ceiling for Traktor. The defensive pairings have not changed compared to the 2017/2018 season, so there are no obvious reasons for concern. Although it would definitely be nice to add another “top” defender with a good shot. And then there will definitely be strengthening “on all fronts” and good prospects to compete with the giants this season.