Press review on the results of open training session

Barys hockey club held an open training session of the first team for the media. Club president Boris Ivanishchev and head coach Andrei Skabelka answered questions from journalists of Bestnews, Shaiba and Azattyq Rýhy information portals on Barys members, tasks for the season, desire of legionnaires to obtain Kazakhstan sports citizenship, as well as about Roman Starchenko's leave from the team.

Boris Ivanishchev on Roman Starchenko's leave

- Roma was offered a contract and we have already agreed with an agent. He stood ready to go out on the ice tomorrow. But the Spartak from Moscow made an offer, he consulted with his family and decided to join another team. Process of withdrawal went rather well, and we are ready to return him at any time. He also said that he is always ready to play for the Kazakhstan national team.

On legionnaire goalkeeper

- Yes, we are looking for a foreigner. This must be done for some kind of rivalry among goalkeepers. There is competition in every club. Competition will help the guys to further develop their skills. The season is a record long – 68 games overall. God forbid injuries as we need a full team. Now we have Kazakhstan trainees in our team. Nikita Boyarkin is recovering from an injury, Andrey Shutov is training now, young trainees from our system Jalal-ad-Din Amirbekov, Maxim Pavlenko and Roman Kalmykov are on the way as well.

On large number of Russian players

- In fact, we have signed contracts only with two Russians: forward Kirill Maksimov and defender Mikhail Grigoryev. All others came for tryout contracts. Timur Fatkullin from SHL, Vladislav Syomin, owner of Bratina Cup, are on tryout contracts now. The games will show, if they do not suit us, then we would have to part with them. All of this is necessary to make good competition. We have tryout contracts until August 31. We will check the players in games.

On promising youth

- We have good players, but they have to match the level of KHL. There won't be many of them at once. Kaiyrzhan, Shaikhmeddenov, Alexandrov are now in the first team, we are attracting Amirbekov, Gusseinov, Shetle, Gaitamirov and others. But not all of them at once. We give everyone a chance to join the Barys system. Also, we held a youth camp, there were 34 players born in 2004 and older. We will attract them to Nomad, Snezhnye Barsy and to the first team, if possible. The vertical is working. In addition to these teams, we have another two playing in the Youth League, more than 700 children are engaged in the Youth Sports School now.

On legionnaires in Kazakhstan sports

- I think legionnaires are needed. Take any club in KHL – there are legionnaires everywhere. Head coach has certain tasks, there must be a high level. When strong legionnaires arrive, our guys try to match them and progress. It is not so easy to get a place in the team. Again, sometimes we invite Russians to Nomad in order to make rivalry, but there are only a few people. But, in Snezhnye Barsy, we have had only our players for five years. Someone says that number of Kazakhstan players in Barys is falling. On the contrary, it is growing in our country. Now 12 homegrown Kazakhstanis have contracts with the first team, three more are on tryout. A few young players are on notice of the development coach, they are already joining the first team.

On Barys goals in the new season

- At the moment, the team is recruiting new members. So let's wait a little bit. All tournaments will be held, we will gather and discuss again. Of course, we will still keep the bar, it is necessary, at least, to get to playoffs.

On fans' petition

- I read the petition. This is a subjective opinion of fans. We have no agreements with agents, there are no pullbacks. Player decides his own issues with agent, and we sign a contract with him. Everything is transparent, we transfer salaries to a card and make check ups every year. There have never been any pullbacks and agency fees. All agents are registered in KHL. They have no right to work with players without a license.

Andrei Skabelka on returning to Barys

- First of all, I want to thank those who, like me, accepted this appointment enthusiastically, and those who reacted with skepticism. People are different, and everyone has a different opinion. I could say that I accepted the offer to return with great pleasure. It feels like I have returned home. Everything is familiar and native.

On possible appointment of head coach of the Kazakhstan national team

- We are still discussing this issue. The first official games of the Kazakhstan national team are not so soon, so there was only a preliminary discussion. I could say that the situation has changed. National team is not only Barys anymore. More than 10 people play outside Kazakhstan.

On goalkeepers Andrey Shutov and Nikita Boyarkin

- Now there is a training process. If we talk about attitude of players to the work they are doing, then, of course, there are no questions. They have good rivalry among themselves, both are quite strong physically. Everything will depend on them. At the last World Cup, Andrey Shutov played almost all the matches. He gave the team opportunity to stay in game until the end, he played well enough. But I can not give you a full answer about the last year's championship, when Nikita Boyarkin played, since I didn't watch his play in full. But I know Boyarkin very well and I know that Nikita is quite strong goalkeeper.

On duties of Polishchuk and Sagymbayev in coaching staff

- We discussed these candidates with the management. Fyodor Polishchuk started the work with forwards. We have a lot of talented local players: Dimash Kaiyrzhan, Dias Gusseinov, Ansar Shaikhmeddenov. There are a lot of guys who need to be trained and developed. He will be responsible for the attack, and somewhere together we will be responsible for power play. As for Yerlan Sagymbayev, his official position is a development coach. He is a coach who will help us in tryout of players, fully monitor the Kazakhstan championship and will give us information about the guys who are showing themselves well.

On attracting players from national championship

- Firstly, much depends on them. But I will say that there are not so few Kazakhstan players. Young guys have a great future. And not in the long term, we will see them already this season. Players who are currently training are not a reserve, but our team at the moment. There is an expression - it is impossible to teach, but possible learn. The guys are stronger, they are ready to play. Everything else depends on them. This is hockey, there is a men's competition. If they survive, they will play further.

General Partner of Barys HC – Samruk Kazyna SWF JSC

Partner of Barys HC - Tourism and Sports Industry Support Fund CF

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