Roman Rotenberg, vice president of the St. Petersburg SKA club of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) club, has expressed the opinion that KHL is approaching the level of the National Hockey League (NHL).
It has already been reported that in 2020/2021. KHL season is very problematic, because due to the spread of Covid-19, games are postponed, foreign teams are forced to quarantine from time to time, while Russian clubs face huge problems with the lineup. One example is the SKA unit, which at one point could not be helped by about 20 hockey players from the main line-up, as a result of which junior teams and farm club players went on the field.
This situation is not surprising, as already in the pre-season tournaments in several clubs cases of infection were detected, as a result of which there were few teams that prepared well for the season. The example of the NHL proves that currently the safe conduct of matches is possible only in the conditions of a “bubble”, as happened with 2019/2020. play-off tournament in Edmonton and Toronto.
Meanwhile, the vice-president of SKA believes that in terms of the quality of the game, the Russian league is close to the North American championship. “KHL is approaching the NHL level. The small size of the field has a completely different hockey, different intensity and tension. This is our direction for winning the world championships and the Olympics, ”said Rotenberg.
The last time the Russian national team became the world champion was in 2014 under the leadership of Oleg Znarok and Harry Vītoliņš, but a year later it played in the final. Also, in 2018, the neighboring team beat Germany 4: 3 in overtime in the final of the Pyongyang Olympic Hockey Tournament. It should be noted that NHL hockey players did not participate in the tournament and the Russian team was collected only from KHL players.
