Former coach of the Russian national team and KHL clubs Vladimir Plushev shared his expectations from the first round of the KHL playoffs.
– What episode will be the toughest cut?
– In the first round, there won’t be any special nicks. Probably, in the pairs Lokomotiv – Jokerit and Salavat Yulaev – Traktor, the teams will squeeze something out of themselves, although Jokerit abandoned their site, no one explained the reason from the KHL. I assumed that the “jokers” could play their matches in Moscow or St. Petersburg, but it turns out that all the games will be in Yaroslavl. It will be difficult to win the series, although Jokerit is capable of fighting for the Gagarin Cup in terms of level and class.
Lokomotiv’s main motivation is not to go through the first round, but to fight for the Cup. For a long time they only posed such a problem, but never solved it. Now they are able to spoil the nerves of the leaders, although in the next rounds it will be difficult for them to do this.
“Traktor” – “Salavat” are not an easy pair, they will fight to the end. I think Salavat will solve their problems in the first round.
– Who is the shadow favorite in every conference?
– In the West it is SKA and Dynamo Moscow, in the East – Salavat and Magnitka. Salavat probably has more chances, because Magnitka is in a fever throughout the season, and not everything has been done in the team’s line-up, as we would like, how Metallurg should look, taking into account its entire history and hockey culture, – reports Plyushchev’s wordsChampionship».
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