Post by icing101 on Jun 23, 2004 10:46:56 GMT -5
By Dmitry Ponomarenko (Sovetsky Sport)
New coach of team Russia who will be behind the bench during the World Cup Zinetula Bilaletdinov gave his thoughts on the players who were included in the roster.
- Mr. Bilaletdinov, please start with the goaltenders
-I guess there are no questions about Evgeny Nabokov and Nikolai Khabibullin. Both are starting goaltenders of leading NHL clubs. Nikolai is playing in the final of the Stanley Cup. What else is there to say?
- Why Maksim Sokolov will represent Superleague?
Who else in Russia is better than him? Maksim was the main goaltender of team Russia. He has a lot of international experience. Plus he is playoffs 2004 MVP in Russia.
-Are you happy with the defence?
Defence must be experienced, that is why it will be led by Darius Kasparaitis, Sergei Gonchar, Daniil Markov, Oleg Tverdovsky..... They all fought for Russia on multiple ocasions, where Olympic Games stand out. Also we have some youth too - Anton Volchenkov and Vitaly Vishnevsky already proved themselves in NHL.
-Last fall Volchenkov had a severe concussion, he came back only in February.
-I have not spoken with him yet personally, as I have not with many other players. We discussed the players with the GM of team Russia Igor Tuzik and my assistents Viktor Tikhonov and Vladimir Yurzinov. I am sure, our choice of the players is the right one. I will talk to all the players in the next days.
-Final roster does not have Andrei Nikolishin, though he was in the preliminary list.
-We ended up having too many forwards - Aleksei Yashin, Sergei Fedorov, Aleksey Zhamnov, Pavel Datsyuk.... Nikolishin would have been centering the fifth line then. I thought it would have been not right putting such an experienced player on the fifth line. It is not wise to pick Andrei and have him sit on the bench. That is why I offered to take young Chubarov. He will have some playing time as we will have rotations for him. Basically, we take him thinking of the future.
-Do not you feel that there is lots of scorers but not enough working horses? Did you want to offer someone like Brylin?
-I do not agree. The team has enough players who can score and play defence. Viktor Kozlov, Sergei Samsonov, Aleksei Kovalev, Oleg Kvasha, Zhamnov, Yashin.... How many more? Someone needs to score.
-Plan for preparations is the same? You start August 18 in Kloten?
-Yes, as was planned before.
-Tverdovsky, Sushinsky and Ovechkin are all from Superleague. Tell us about them
-I already mentioned about Oleg, he was also the best player in Russia's championship. Sushinsky is the leading scorer, and they both along with Sokolov represent Russia's new champion Omsk Avangard. About Ovechkin - I know him very well. I coached him two years in Dynamo for two seasons. Sasha is very aggressive and always active on ice. Forward like him will improve any team. He is an all-star player in Russia.
-Will Russian clubs let players from Superleague go to World Cup? World Cup starts only two days before regular season in Russia starts?
-I was assured by Russian Hockey Federation that there will not be a problem. Superleague GM's promised that they will let any players go to World Cup long before roster was announced.
SPORT EXPRESS – Interview of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
Alexander Shapiro (Sport-Express)
Translated by William Berg
Q : What is the reason for the absence from the final roster of Sergei Zubov and Vladimir Malakhov, two very experienced players, if not the best Russian defensemen in the NHL?
Bilyaletdinov : I don’t really want to talk about Zubov, you better ask this question to general manager Igor Tuzik. Concerning Malakhov : he put forward an injury.
Q : The 10-player list that was announced a few days ago by Viktor Tikhonov included Andrei Nikolishin. However he is not on the final roster. Why?
Bilyaletdinov : There is no doubt that Nikolishin is an experienced professional, but in my opinion, it is necessarry to have young players on the team. Such as Zubrus, Chubarov, Kvasha, Kovalchuk.
Q : Who led the talks with the players : you or Igor Tuzik?
Bilyaletdinov : After my appointment as head coach of the national team, I actively influenced the formation of the roster. I talked to Vladimir Yurzinov, Viktor Tikhonov, received their advice and gave them my opinion.
Q : Why doesn’t the list include Vyacheslav Kozlov, who became one of the most efficient Russian players in the NHL last season? Same about Sergei Brylin.
Bilyaletdinov : Regarding Vyacheslav Kozlov, I can say that he rarely expressed his desire to play for the national team, therefore it didn’t make any sense to invite him. Brylin is a center, whereas we already do have four high class centers in Zhamnov, Yashin, Fedorov and Datsyuk. It wouldn’t be reasonable to keep a such player in reserve.
Q : What if one of them gets injured?
Bilyaletdinov : Viktor Kozlov can be a winger, but also a center.
Q : Many people were surprised by the selection of players such as Chubarov, Valeri Bure, Vishnevski …
Bilyaletdinov : And what is so suprising? I got a very good report on each of them, that’s why they’re part of the group that will go to the World Cup.
New coach of team Russia who will be behind the bench during the World Cup Zinetula Bilaletdinov gave his thoughts on the players who were included in the roster.
- Mr. Bilaletdinov, please start with the goaltenders
-I guess there are no questions about Evgeny Nabokov and Nikolai Khabibullin. Both are starting goaltenders of leading NHL clubs. Nikolai is playing in the final of the Stanley Cup. What else is there to say?
- Why Maksim Sokolov will represent Superleague?
Who else in Russia is better than him? Maksim was the main goaltender of team Russia. He has a lot of international experience. Plus he is playoffs 2004 MVP in Russia.
-Are you happy with the defence?
Defence must be experienced, that is why it will be led by Darius Kasparaitis, Sergei Gonchar, Daniil Markov, Oleg Tverdovsky..... They all fought for Russia on multiple ocasions, where Olympic Games stand out. Also we have some youth too - Anton Volchenkov and Vitaly Vishnevsky already proved themselves in NHL.
-Last fall Volchenkov had a severe concussion, he came back only in February.
-I have not spoken with him yet personally, as I have not with many other players. We discussed the players with the GM of team Russia Igor Tuzik and my assistents Viktor Tikhonov and Vladimir Yurzinov. I am sure, our choice of the players is the right one. I will talk to all the players in the next days.
-Final roster does not have Andrei Nikolishin, though he was in the preliminary list.
-We ended up having too many forwards - Aleksei Yashin, Sergei Fedorov, Aleksey Zhamnov, Pavel Datsyuk.... Nikolishin would have been centering the fifth line then. I thought it would have been not right putting such an experienced player on the fifth line. It is not wise to pick Andrei and have him sit on the bench. That is why I offered to take young Chubarov. He will have some playing time as we will have rotations for him. Basically, we take him thinking of the future.
-Do not you feel that there is lots of scorers but not enough working horses? Did you want to offer someone like Brylin?
-I do not agree. The team has enough players who can score and play defence. Viktor Kozlov, Sergei Samsonov, Aleksei Kovalev, Oleg Kvasha, Zhamnov, Yashin.... How many more? Someone needs to score.
-Plan for preparations is the same? You start August 18 in Kloten?
-Yes, as was planned before.
-Tverdovsky, Sushinsky and Ovechkin are all from Superleague. Tell us about them
-I already mentioned about Oleg, he was also the best player in Russia's championship. Sushinsky is the leading scorer, and they both along with Sokolov represent Russia's new champion Omsk Avangard. About Ovechkin - I know him very well. I coached him two years in Dynamo for two seasons. Sasha is very aggressive and always active on ice. Forward like him will improve any team. He is an all-star player in Russia.
-Will Russian clubs let players from Superleague go to World Cup? World Cup starts only two days before regular season in Russia starts?
-I was assured by Russian Hockey Federation that there will not be a problem. Superleague GM's promised that they will let any players go to World Cup long before roster was announced.
SPORT EXPRESS – Interview of Zinetula Bilyaletdinov
Alexander Shapiro (Sport-Express)
Translated by William Berg
Q : What is the reason for the absence from the final roster of Sergei Zubov and Vladimir Malakhov, two very experienced players, if not the best Russian defensemen in the NHL?
Bilyaletdinov : I don’t really want to talk about Zubov, you better ask this question to general manager Igor Tuzik. Concerning Malakhov : he put forward an injury.
Q : The 10-player list that was announced a few days ago by Viktor Tikhonov included Andrei Nikolishin. However he is not on the final roster. Why?
Bilyaletdinov : There is no doubt that Nikolishin is an experienced professional, but in my opinion, it is necessarry to have young players on the team. Such as Zubrus, Chubarov, Kvasha, Kovalchuk.
Q : Who led the talks with the players : you or Igor Tuzik?
Bilyaletdinov : After my appointment as head coach of the national team, I actively influenced the formation of the roster. I talked to Vladimir Yurzinov, Viktor Tikhonov, received their advice and gave them my opinion.
Q : Why doesn’t the list include Vyacheslav Kozlov, who became one of the most efficient Russian players in the NHL last season? Same about Sergei Brylin.
Bilyaletdinov : Regarding Vyacheslav Kozlov, I can say that he rarely expressed his desire to play for the national team, therefore it didn’t make any sense to invite him. Brylin is a center, whereas we already do have four high class centers in Zhamnov, Yashin, Fedorov and Datsyuk. It wouldn’t be reasonable to keep a such player in reserve.
Q : What if one of them gets injured?
Bilyaletdinov : Viktor Kozlov can be a winger, but also a center.
Q : Many people were surprised by the selection of players such as Chubarov, Valeri Bure, Vishnevski …
Bilyaletdinov : And what is so suprising? I got a very good report on each of them, that’s why they’re part of the group that will go to the World Cup.