Most of Traktor's players are expiring their existing contracts. A new image scandal broke out in “Traktor Kokorin became the lowest paid RPL football player. his salary was equal to minimum wage

We can say for sure that in the new KHL season the Chelyabinsk club will no longer be the same.

Proposal to Gatiyatulin – “for the fans”

Information that the management of Traktor will not renew the contract with the team’s head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin, although timidly, was heard during the East final against Ak Bars. It seemed crazy - how not to extend the best coach of the season and the author of the main sensation of the KHL? But it is true – in the solemn words of the club’s top officials there was not a hint of gratitude to the coaching staff. And now, when Anvar Gatiyatulin (as the current coach of Traktor - this is a historical event!) was invited to the coaching staff of the national team, there is not a word about this on the official resources of the hockey club.

Gatiyatulin is not the coach that Traktor management needs. And they said goodbye to him a long time ago, despite the result. And the new offer that the general manager spoke about Evgeniy Gubarev, as knowledgeable people say, was made “for the fans.” “But we tried,” they would later say at Traktor.

“According to a source with knowledge of the situation,” the contract for Gatiyatulin was offered the same as it was. But those very “improvements” that Gubarev spoke about are only possible bonuses. Moreover, the coach’s agents offered more than the real market amounts. And those 100 million that the “insolent” Gatiyatulin allegedly asked for do not at all look good on the author of these targeted rumors. Moreover, in “Traktor” Anvar Gatiyatulin also could practically not influence the transfer policy and even the composition. But everyone knows that there are untouchables on the team. And what normal person would dare to accept such conditions? Even with all his patriotism.

The gap between the head coach and management is many kilometers long, and it will only grow. Of course, I wanted Gatiyatulin to continue working as head coach. Even if not in Traktor. However, they do not refuse such an offer as from SKA. If you want to work in the national team, work in St. Petersburg, and vice versa. The national team and the city on the Neva provide opportunities that no other club coach in the KHL can provide. And it's not about money.

At the same time, it is now completely unclear who will lead Traktor after Anvar Gatiyatulin. On the one hand, information appeared about German Titov And Andrey Razine. Titov seems to know how to work with poor clubs and in extreme conditions, but he doesn’t stay anywhere for long. The option with Razin seems surprising, but they played together with Gubarev at Magnitogorsk and are generally good friends. But it’s unlikely that the caring Razin will remain silent when faced with “local specifics.” Even if he misses work, he will take the opportunity that comes his way.

On the other hand, there is information that the management is looking for a head coach with Chelyabinsk roots, realizing that a stranger will not last long here - there are a great many negative examples. Although most of all the top officials of Traktor HC would like to see “their man” on the coaching bridge. Since last season there has been talk about Andrey Sokolov, who was specially allowed into the coaching staff as a “safety cushion” and a possible successor to Gatiyatulin. But an explosion of misunderstanding in this case cannot be avoided – if the club’s management still cares about it.

Kravtsov and the realities of the KHL

Of course, we wouldn’t want a repeat of 2013, when the silver Tractor began to be taken away. But these are the realities of this league. The plundering of poor clubs that dare to rise high is a favorite tradition. Over these five years in the KHL, not only has nothing changed for the better, but it has only gotten worse.

In this case, it is even a sin to express any complaints against the management of Traktor: if “someone” wants to take a team player even with a valid contract, their opinions Senicheva and they won’t even ask Gubarev. Everyone remembers perfectly what happened to Valery Nichushkin in 2013. He was sold “like a thing” to Dynamo Moscow, and the young forward was forced to leave for America, although he planned to play for another year with Traktor in the KHL. Otherwise, his career would have turned out differently. On the plus side, Dynamo also got rich Maxim Karpov.

Now a similar situation is happening with Vitaly Kravtsov. Showing outstanding results at a young age and being called up to the national team is a harbinger of unhealthy changes in our hockey. The guy should calmly play at least one more season in the KHL in a team where they value and trust him, and then go to the NHL. But here everything was decided for him. The same as for Alexey Kruchinin, who became Karpov as under Nichushkin. Kruchinin is a diligent guy, but very unstable. And it’s not a fact that he will be able to show the same game outside of Chelyabinsk.

In exchange for Kravtsov and Kruchinin"Traktor" must get some players. But the question is who it will be and how they will be useful to the new team.

It was known in advance that Traktor would leave Pavel Francuoz. The Czech goalkeeper was eager to join the NHL last off-season and it’s good that he was retained for this championship. All that remains is to say a big thank you to him for the season and wish him a dream come true overseas.

The main goalkeeper should be Vasily Demchenko, and the spare one is completely “green” Vladislav Sukhachev. But, apparently, the Traktor management is now looking for an experienced goalkeeper, realizing the great risk from the Demchenko-Sukhachev team.

Everything is more or less calm only with the legionnaires. Remain Paul Szczechura And Richard Gunge. The contract with Linus Videll, but should come in its place Alexander Bergstrem from Siberia". The defender also remains Nick Bailen.

Will leave Maxim Yakutsenya– and this is obvious. Not needed Alexander Rybakov And Semyon Kokuev. Fate is still unknown Yuri Petrov And Alexandra Chernikova. Remains Igor Polygalov, Yes Sharov With Penkovsky.

Due to the fact that with the departure of Kruchinin and Kravtsov, a whole link will be lost, with strikers, especially those who are productive and goal-scoring, so far everything is difficult. You won't get far with just the legionnaire troika.

On defense, except for Baylen, Alexander Shinin,Nikita Nikitin, Evgeny Ryasensky(the main thing is that it doesn’t break down so often anymore), Artem Borodkin, Igor Isaev. No new contract yet Alexey Petrov. Goes to Avtomobilist Ivan Vishnevsky, so strengthening in defense is necessary.

It is also necessary to attract young people from Chelmet and Polar Bears, although, of course, this should be done competently. A Chelyabinsk student born in 1997 is returning to Russia. Yakov Trenin, who unsuccessfully tried to conquer North America, but he won’t be in “Tractor.”

In general, the future of Traktor is still in the fog. There is no head coach or coaching staff in general, and without this it is impossible to conduct a normal transfer policy. There is no preparation plan for the next season. And the most alarming thing is that the management, apparently, does not know what it wants and what kind of team it is building. You need your own people, convenient and comfortable, but with them “Traktor” is unlikely to show such a result.

July 29, 2015 Natalia Kalentyeva Photo: Vyacheslav Shishkoedov

Hockey is not only about pucks, passes and the adrenaline of seriously wound up stands. This is also a complex system of contracts, negotiations on which sometimes drag on for months. Why the contracts of KHL hockey players are a sealed secret, how much ballast is in the league and whether the “black and white” receive vacation pay - general manager of HC Traktor Evgeniy Gubarev told UP about this and much more.

Viewing contract

- Evgeniy Mikhailovich, several contract forms are practiced in the KHL: one-sided, two-sided (KHL-VHL), one-sided MHL and viewing contracts. What are they and what is the difference?

- One-sided ones differ only in salaries. Just a year ago, if a player lowered his standards and stopped satisfying the club’s management, he received the same money when moving from the KHL to the VHL. Management had no leverage. Last year, the KHL management decided to reduce the contract by 40% when a player moves to a lower league. That is, if a player reduces his demands on himself and begins to play much worse, then we can put him in the waiver draft, while reducing the contract by 20%. If within two days he is not bought by any other KHL club, then after a certain time we can again put him up for the waiver draft, reducing the contract by another 20%. Thus, the contract is reduced by 40%, thereby saving the club money. When concluding a two-way contract, the player’s salary “floats”: when playing in the KHL, he receives some money, while moving down to a lower league level, he, accordingly, receives other money. As for viewing contracts, they are concluded before the season for a period of two months. A viewing contract allows you to watch a hockey player before signing an annual contract without wasting your money. I liked it and signed a normal contract. If you didn't like it, you broke up.

About 80 percent of the time we refuse the services of these hockey players. You need to understand that, as a rule, guys who have not signed anywhere and have nothing else left to get into the league go to tryout contracts.

- By what criteria does the management evaluate the players, then making them different offers regarding the duration of the agreements?

There are a lot of criteria. First of all, the age and skill of the player, his desire to play. The club management weighs all the positive and negative qualities of the player. Down to discipline in everyday life and character.

- Can players challenge the length or size of the contract?

Not hockey players, but their agents can, roughly speaking, bargain. If we need a hockey player, we see that he is progressing, he is young and talented and will bring us results, we can raise his contract ourselves in the off-season. This happened last year with Artem Borodkin. We understood that he could leave for another club, so we decided with Sergei Yuryevich (Gomolyako - author's note) that he needed to raise his contract.

- Is the contract system built the same way in the NHL?

The differences are probably only in finances. In North America, the financial situation is more stable, and contracts in the NHL are concluded for up to eight to nine years. In Russia this is not yet possible.

Plus a scholarship for the gifted

- At what age can you sign contracts with young players?

We sign contracts with young players from the age of 17. Until this age they have contracts with the hockey school and they belong to the school. If a young hockey player wants to leave for another club, then according to the regulations, this club must pay compensation to the SDYUSHOR.

- Does the selection in the draft somehow affect the wages of young people?

This year we signed 18 or 19 people with the condition that they do not enter the draft. This will allow us not to lose the guys. When they enter the draft, their salary will, of course, be different.

- In the KHL, talented hockey players are paid a scholarship. Who falls under these criteria and are there any scholarship holders at Traktor?

By decision of the KHL Board of Directors, the most talented hockey players aged 17 to 20 years may be awarded annual personal scholarships. To date, no one receives scholarships as part of Traktor. The last scholarship recipient was Evgeny Kuznetsov.

- Who pays gifted sports school students and how much?

The amount of such scholarships in each specific case is established by the League at the request of the club. I won’t announce the amount, but believe me, the money is good.

There is a lot of ballast

- What can affect the termination of a contract with a player?

Any situation: decreased skill, reluctance to play, misunderstanding with the coaching staff - in a word, there are many factors.

- What is the termination mechanism and how large is the compensation?

The mechanism is very simple. Take, for example, Kostya Panov, who had a contract until 2016. Konstantin is a very good player, but the coaching staff did not see him in their system, so we had to terminate the contract with him. Provided that the termination occurs in the off-season, we were obliged to pay him 25% of the current contract as compensation. If the contract was for two years, then for the second year we would be required to pay another 20% of the contract amount.

- As I understand, last season it was precisely because of too large compensation that a number of players were in the team, although they were not one hundred percent up to its level.

Yes. If the compensation is very large, we cannot sever the employment relationship with such a player, although he does not help the team much. No one wants to exchange such personnel either. Why would a club take a hockey player for a lot of money whose contract does not correspond to the player’s level?

- Is there a lot of such ballast in the league?

Unfortunately, for now yes. Everyone makes mistakes, including managers.

- There is a players’ union that defends the interests of players...

Moreover, the union wins probably in 50% of cases. But as far as I remember, Traktor had no problems with the union.

No vacation or sick leave

- A trivial question: do players have vacation pay or is the contract automatically extended for 12 months?

Traktor players' contracts are divided into 12 months. There are vacation pay. Another thing is that some hockey players, for example, foreign players, ask to be paid the minimum under their contract, and the main amount to be paid at the end of the season.

- The contract has a main part and a bonus part. How are they divided as a percentage and what are bonuses paid for?

It is impossible to calculate bonuses in percentage terms, since they are completely different for everyone: for goals, points, assists. We sit down with the agent of each specific hockey player and agree on everything one-on-one. Since last season, we have introduced this practice: bonuses are awarded to a hockey player provided that the team scores more goals than they concede, that is, his plus-minus indicator is positive.

- In recent months, Chelyabinsk has been closely monitoring how events developed in the Voinov case. Do you know the details of his contract? Can litigation and arrest affect the contract?

Yes, the contract can change. I recently spoke with Slava's agent in Canada. He said that 70 percent of Voynov will remain in the NHL. But he definitely won’t play for the Los Angeles Kings. If he returns to Russia, the rights to him belong to Traktor. True, he will play for his native club, provided that we can offer him the money he asks for. If we cannot offer him a decent contract, then we have the right to sell him to any other club and earn good money.

- Lokomotiv forward Sergei Plotnikov bought part of the contract from the club in order to go to the NHL. Do you think this is good practice?

At one time, Petri Kontiola wanted to play in the NHL, he also bought out his contract from Traktor. As a result, he did not play in the NHL and returned to Russia. After that, he asked for a lot of money, which we couldn’t give him, so we exchanged him to Lokomotiv for Kruchinin and Martynov, saving quite a large amount. In general, the NHL is the best league in the world, and every player dreams of playing in it. There would be an offer, as they say. Therefore, it seems to me that any hockey player in such a situation would act like Plotnikov. This is fine.

- By the way, the NHL does not hide either the salary ceiling of clubs or the amount of contracts. In Russia, everything is exactly the opposite. Why?

We are simply not mentally ready for this. Everyone understands that there are poor and rich clubs. In general, this is a difficult question, both from a financial and ethical point of view. It’s not for nothing that the players’ union is against the publication of information about contracts.

Hockey educational program

A hockey player who has a signed contract acquires the status of a “current contract”.

A hockey player who has accepted a contract offer from a club or has received a binding offer from a club acquires the status of a “player assigned to the club.”

A hockey player becomes an unrestricted free agent if he has reached the age of 29, his contract expired on April 30, and he has not received a qualifying offer from his former club.

A hockey player who has signed a junior contract (an agreement to study at a sports school) acquires the status of “junior”.

The “conflict” status is assigned if a hockey player with a valid contract voluntarily leaves the KHL, MHL or VHL club or terminates the contract early on his own initiative and does not pay the club the compensation provided for by the regulations.

A hockey player who was selected by a KHL club in the junior draft is assigned the status of “selected player.” The status of “assigned rights” is assigned to a hockey player if he, in the status of “OSA”, having a qualifying offer from a KHL, MHL or VHL club, voluntarily leaves the system of the corresponding league. If a player returns to the KHL under the age of 29, the club has the right to make him a new contract offer.

If a hockey player receives an injury or illness and the specified player is moved to the injured list, this hockey player is assigned the status of “injured player.”

In relation to a Russian KHL club, a hockey player has the status of “foreign player” if he is not a citizen of the Russian Federation; has Russian citizenship, but is registered to participate in the KHL championship using a passport from another state; has citizenship of the Russian Federation, but at the same time has “sports citizenship” of another state in the IIHF system.

Alexander Yakovenko
Born on February 22, 1998 in Karaganda
Defender
Height 178 cm, weight 69 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk

Alexander Yakovenko was one of the main defenders of Traktor-98, which won a full set of national championship medals in three years. Now at the age of 17, Yakovenko has already passed all the levels of junior teams (U 16, U 17 and U 18) and managed to get into the team where hockey players a year older played (Russia U 18) and compete at the Junior World Championship. The 2014/2015 season was Yakovenko’s debut as a member of the Polar Bears. Over 16 meetings, the defender managed to score 4 (0+4) points with a usefulness indicator of +4.
As part of the national teams, two tournaments turned out to be particularly successful for Alexander: the World Challenge Cup (U 17) and the Four Nations Tournament (U 17). At the first forum, considered an unofficial world championship, Yakovenko with 4 (1+3) points became the team’s top scorer among defenders, and at the second he was even the best, scoring 5 (3+2) points and sharing the title of the most productive player with teammates Vitaly Abramov and Platon Popov.

Dmitry Alekseev
Born on February 17, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Defender
Height 182 cm, weight 84 kg.
Grip: left
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014), winner of the World Challenge Cup as part of the Russian U17 team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).

Dmitry Alekseev is the main defender of the Russian U17 team and the Polar Bears. During his performances in the country's junior teams (U 16 and U 17), Alekseev missed only three out of 11 tournaments and was always one of the main players in the national teams' defensive formations. This season, Dmitry played 23 matches for the Polar Bears (including three in the playoffs) and scored 1 (0+1) point in them with a usefulness indicator of +4.

Vladislav Sukhachev
Born on May 14, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Goalkeeper
Height 179 cm, weight 82 kg.

Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 national team (2014).

Vladislav Sukhachev played one full match for the Polar Bears in the 2014/2015 season - on the road in Kirovo-Chepetsk against the local Olimpia and managed to immediately score a “crack”. Like Yakovenko and Alekseev, Vladislav is one of the untouchable players of the junior team of his year of birth. Over two seasons, he played for Russia U16 and U17 in eight tournaments and scored eight (!) clean sheets in them.

Alexander Podkorytov
Born on August 21, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: right
School: "Traktor" Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals at the Russian Championship as a member of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of the World Challenge Cup as a member of the Russian U17 team (2014), winner of bronze medals at the MHL Championship (2015).

Like many of his Traktor-98 partners, Alexander Podkorytov has been a member of the Russian national team of his year since the first tournament. During this time, Podkorytov was called up to the U16 and U17 junior teams seven times.
In the 2014/2015 season, Alexander made his debut for the Polar Bears, playing 20 matches and scoring 6 (3+3) points with a utility score of +7.

Platon Popov
Born on February 3, 1998 in Chelyabinsk
Attack
Height 176 cm, weight 66 kg.
Grip: left
School: Hockey school named after Sergei Makarov, Traktor Chelyabinsk
Career: “Traktor-98”, “Polar Bears”
Achievements: Winner of gold, silver and bronze medals of the Russian Championship as part of Traktor-98 (2013, 2014, 2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015), winner of bronze medals of the MHL Championship (2015).

Platon Popov played for the U16 and U17 national teams in seven tournaments and managed to score 14 (9+5) points in 22 meetings. In the Youth Hockey League, Popov played 10 matches for the Polar Bears this season and scored 1 (0+1) points.