“I am right here to observe some hockey,” Ilya Vorobyov mentioned, divulging little else about his week in Vancouver.
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What Ilya Vorobyov was doing in Vancouver stays a really open query.
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The veteran Russian hockey coach has flown again to Russia after spending per week “observing” the Vancouver Canucks.
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Throughout his week lengthy go to to Vancouver, he took in three Canucks video games at Rogers Area: Oct. 27 versus the St. Louis Blues, Oct. 28 versus the New York Rangers and Oct. 31 versus the Nashville Predators.
Vorobyov is well-travelled. He performed for Russia on the 1995 World Juniors in Alberta. His father’s teaching profession, a famed coach, took him all over the world in his youth as effectively.
He performed in Germany for years — he was present Canucks commentator Dave Tomlinson’s teammate with Adler Mannheim in 2001-02.
However this was his first go to to Vancouver, he acknowledged to Postmedia.
“I’m right here to observe some hockey,” he mentioned, divulging little else about his week in Vancouver.
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It might be assumed that he’s in search of work — but when it concerned the Canucks, nobody is saying. The Canucks themselves mentioned they aren’t hiring the previous coach of Metallurg Magnitogorsk within the KHL, regardless of no less than one report saying so in Russian media.
“I used to be fired very late,” he mentioned of how his time ended with Metallurg and why he wasn’t picked up by one other KHL group briefly order.
He’s obtained a reasonably spectacular teaching resume: He led Magnitogorsk to a Gagarin Cup championship in 2016, taking up from Mike Keenan early within the yr. Metallurg made the finals a yr later.
He was let go early within the 2017-18 season after Metallurg stumbled out of the gates, however was employed on by SKA St. Petersburg for the 2018-19 season. On the identical time he was employed to teach the Russian nationwide group.
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For no matter motive, that season didn’t work out, though his group gained 49 video games and made the convention finals. However he did have a younger Andrei Kuzmenko on that squad — and a 17-year-old Vasily Podkolzin suited up thrice as effectively.
“Oh sure, my outdated coach. It was good to see him,” Kuzmenko instructed Postmedia on Saturday. However he shrugged when requested if he thought his outdated coach can be again in his life.
After his lone season with SKA, he went again to Metallurg, main them again to the finals in 2022. However the group introduced on the finish of the season they have been moving into a special course.
He has yet one more Canucks connection: Canucks defensive improvement coach Sergei Gonchar performed half a season for Metallurg in the course of the 2012-13 season, when the NHL homeowners locked out the gamers. That was Vorobyov’s first season as a KHL assistant coach below Paul Maurice who coached Magnitogorsk for that one season.
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Was it Gonchar who made the connection? Who is aware of.
Ultimately, there was actually just one extra query to ask: would he like to teach within the NHL?
“Oh sure, after all. It’s the NHL,” he replied, flashing a touch of a smile.
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