Elite hockey gunner Ilya Kovalchuk has become the general manager of the Russian national team for the Beijing 2022 Olympics, where the team will defend gold against Pyongyang. Head coach Alexej Žamnov has appointed a longtime NHL forward to help him build a team for the Olympics.
“Ilya has a lot of experience working in the Russian national team, she knows all the guys in the KHL and the NHL. I think she knows a lot about all the players that I don’t know. a big plus, ”Zhamnov said. the website of the Russian Hockey Federation.
Kovalchuk played 16 matches for Omsk last season. He’s not working anywhere this year, and according to the deal with Žamnov, he won’t be signing a contract for the Olympics either. “Right before the Olympics he will be able to communicate more with the players and I will be able to focus on the training process,” said amnov.
Kovalchuk played 926 NHL games in 13 seasons, scoring 876 points (443 + 433). He is three-time winner of the Gagarin Cup, two-time world champion and Olympic champion of Pyongyang. It lacks only the Stanley Cup among the big trophies of the collection.
Head coach Zhamnov also announced today that his assistants will be Alexei Kudashov, Stanley Cup winners Sergei Fyodorov and Sergei Gonchar, and as goaltending coach, another man with an important lead in the NHL Yevgeny Nabokov.
In Beijing, the Russian hockey players will be one of the opponents of the Czech team in the base group with Denmark and Switzerland. Their first three nominated players are Washington captain Alexandr Ovechkin, fellow shooter Nikita Kucherov and Tampa Bay championship teammate goalie Andrei Vasilevsky.
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