Vladimir Krechin: don’t worry – Traktor won’t be weaker next season

How did it happen that Traktor lost a large group of players in the first days of May?
Let’s stop panicking and put this into perspective. Yes, we did lose seven or eight players, but in 90% of the transfers we simply could not prevent them from happening. Traktor sold to Dynamo the rights on Valery Nichushkin. You have to understand that with the rate Valera is evolving as a player, he will have become NHL player in one or two years, and Traktor won’t get a penny for him. So Traktor’s management decided to do what we thought was best for Valery and for our team.
Then let’s take Maksim Karpov; Dynamo made him an offer that provided much better financial conditions than ours did; same goes for Yakutsenya and Quint. Believe me, we wanted to save the guys that left the team, but there are situations we can do nothing about.

Do you think these losses are retrievable?
Absolutely! One of team’s primary objectives is bringing new blood into the roster. Traktor’s hockey school is one of the best in Russia. Our alumni should not be confined to the hockey school, but rather grow professionally in their native team which is interested in their progress and trying to create perfect conditions for their successful and sustainable evolution. In order to avoid situations like the one with Nikita Nesterov when he simply came up to us and said he would be going to Tampa, from now on we will sign multi-year contracts with our young prospects. One of the brightest examples is Vyacheslav Osnovin. Two years ago he told us he wanted to stay in Traktor, and we will do everything in our power to make him a star which I am sure he can become. Plus, some of Traktor’s 17 year-olds like Aleksandr Mikulovich and Dmitry Sergeyev will be in team’s summer training camp and have a chance to show their potential. We give these boys an opportunity to realize their dreams.

With that said, many assume Traktor will be much weaker in the next season.
Let’s look at it from a different angle. Firstly, those ‘many’ tend to forget that we have saved the core of the team; Panov, Kontiola, Garnett, Bulis, Chistov, Kuznetsov, Katichev, Vasilchenko, Popov, Glinkin, Dugin – each of those players prolonged their contracts with Traktor. So basically we still have three very strong attacking lines.
Secondly, Traktor has recently signed three veteran defensemen in Aleksandr Guskov, Maksim Kondratyev and Aleksey Bondarev; young Konstantin Klimontov and Maksim Gorechishnikov also extended their deals with the team. Do you think they don’t make for a decent substitution for those who left the team? I for one don’t think so.
Thirdly, we still have two months before the beginning of the pre-season to negotiate other trades. We are working very hard in this department. I won’t be divulging the names except one – we all want to see Juhamatti Aaltonen in Traktor. If doesn’t get a decent offer in the NHL, it will be very likely that he lands a contract in Chelyabinsk. You all see how he and Kontiola are doing in the IIHF World Championships; plus, a possible Panov-Kontiola-Aaltonen has all the chance in the world to become a dominant force in KHL.
Fourthly, Traktor is a solid system; some of the players from Chelmet and Medvedi will go to Traktor’s summer training camp, and if they show us they are good, it’s very likely you may see them in the 2013/2014 season. Once again, all they have to do is show us what they are capable of.
And lastly – Valery Belousov has proven time and time again that he can work with anybody and have the needed results irrespective of the changes in the roster. Traktor lost a group of players, but we have already found good replacement and will continue to do it. We understand that the fans want the players they have come to adore to stay in Chelyabinsk, but unfortunately in today’s hockey world it is next to impossible.