Nick Bailen: Gatiyatulin had a methodology that worked for Traktor
Traktor Chelyabinsk’s Nick Bailen has risen to new-found TikTok and Instagram stardom during the 2020 quarantine. Decked in his hockey gear while playing golf or employing his wife Shelby in Cirque du Soleil-style stunts, the high-producing defenseman is amassing a following for his skills off the ice—except for his father, who has a TikTok and has still not followed him.
Bailen’s All Star 2019-2020 season began with an injury and ended with a comeback, but his social media hi-jinx have nearly resulted in a few hospital trips. “Shelby almost got decapitated because we forgot to turn the fan off,” Bailen recalled from an unfortunate outtake this spring. “I did [a video] where I was picking her up, and her head almost got chopped off in the ceiling fan.” The couple took it as a learning moment, but both have sore necks and a few scars to show for some of their bolder attempts.
Despite the occasional mishap, Nick and Shelby have showcased their colorful personalities from Chelyabinsk to Florida this year, and the hockey-loving couple are looking forward to the new season under returning head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin. Bailen began his KHL stint with Dinamo Minsk in 2014, making a brief stop in Sweden before joining Chelyabinsk in 2017. Born in Fredonia, New York, Bailen naturalized during his time in Minsk and competes for the Belarusian National Team. I caught up with both of the Bailens between social media shoots and home renovations.
Gillian Kemmerer (GK): You went from a major injury in the first game of the season to an All Star nod in January. Despite team struggles, you made quite the personal comeback.
Nick Bailen (NB): Obviously, it was very unfortunate that I got hurt. I don't even know if it was the third or fourth shift in the first game of the season. That was quite a blow to myself and the team. It ended up being a lot worse of an injury than we originally thought it was going to be because I was out for fifteen weeks or so. It was almost half the season. That was tough because it didn't require surgery, I just had to wait for everything to heal up. But [Traktor] were good. They gave me all the time I needed to recover, and let me go to see the doctors I needed to see. Once I came back, I just slid into good chemistry with my teammates and everything like that.
For me personally, it wound up being statistically one of the better years. If I would have had that same kind of season when I was healthy all year, I probably would have been top one, two, three, or four D in the league for points. It was definitely an honor to be named to the All Star game by the league for only playing, I think, sixteen games at that point. For the team's sake, we didn't finish where we wanted to. We had so many injuries this year to so many guys, coaching changes and things like that. Whenever we would have chemistry, somebody would get injured. I think at one point, there were eight or seven guys in the press box. Unfortunately, that's just the way hockey goes sometimes. I was blessed to be able to come back healthy and stronger than I was at the beginning.
GK: There were very few North Americans on Traktor this year. Did that require any adjustment on your part?
NB: Because I've been overseas for so long now, it's easier for me. I speak enough Russian to get by. When you get guys who have never played in the league before, it's an adjustment period to learn the different style or how to communicate with the guys and with the coaching staff. It's a different league than in the NHL or Sweden or Switzerland or Finland.
Take a guy like Lukas Sedlak. He dominated this year, coming from being a role player in the NHL to now being a top line center. I think he’s arguably one of the better centers in the whole league because he just plays the game the right way that it's supposed to be played. Once he got into the groove of things, he made everybody around him on the ice better. I think he's a good centerpiece to build your forts around and have as an example. [Tomas] Hyka, same thing, great player. It just took him a few games and then once they got grooving, they clicked so well together. With not having a lot of imports on the team North American-wise, I wouldn't say it affects me so much. It probably affects my wife more than anybody just because there's not as many wives to speak English with fluently. I find myself having to develop more of a Russian speaking background every year. So I better be fluent by one of these years, or it's going to be pretty embarrassing.
GK: If you were to write a guide for expats in the KHL, what are the differences you would have them look out for in the locker room?
NB: The main thing I always tell the guys is to make sure you walk around and shake everybody's hand in the morning, or they're going to get pissed off. I think I have an understanding that back from World War times, they would basically shake hands with everybody and be like, "Oh, it's nice to see you and it’s nice you’re still alive,” you know? Unless you're sleeping under the same roof. It takes time for North Americans to get used to that. Or when you're in the NHL, for example, the older guys eat first and get preference to certain things before the rookies do. That’s not really the way it works in Russia or even in Sweden or Finland, when I've been there. When guys come from the NHL or the American League, you have to go with the flow. Don't stress about the little things. Put your ego aside a little bit for that stuff, and just sit wherever you have to sit or eat wherever you have to eat.
GK: Anvar Gatiyatulin will once again be your head coach. Are you looking forward to working with him again? Traktor has been quite active in the off-season.
NB: For me personally, that's great. I had a good working relationship with him. He's a good coach and speaks enough English to have conversations with non-Russian speaking players. Pretty much all of our assistant coaches that we had at the end of the year are back, and all of those coaches have worked together in the past. So from that aspect, it's great because he knew what worked the year that we won the bronze medal. Obviously it’s a different year, different season, things can change, but he had a methodology that worked for Traktor. And I think he'll try to replicate the same things that we had that year, which I think will work again.
He's a really good player's coach. He respects you, so you respect him back. I think that was a great move. I know the fans are happy about it because he's a local guy. We brought back some guys that had a good year from this past season. A guy that I think gets under-appreciated, especially on certain teams, is [Alexander] Avtsin. We signed him back and he's such a hardworking player. He's great in the locker room because he speaks English so perfectly. He's been in the American League before, so he's a good translator as well. Workhorse. And then we've added a couple of other Russian skilled players and some imports.
