The Russian Hockey Federation has made their third coaching change in the last five weeks for the 2022 World Juniors. Former NHLer Igor Larionov was supposed to retain his role as head coach of the U20 team, but is now working in some capacity with the Olympic team.
Following Larionov's departure, Oleg Bratash was named head coach, and with just over one month until the World Juniors begin in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta, they've made another change, and the reason is a bit controversial in Russia.
Due to language barriers, Bratash has been demoted to assistant coach, while Hockey Hall of Fame defenceman Sergei Zubov has been named the new head coach.
"I am ready to work in this role at the World Junior Championship. I think that our coaching staff has enough knowledge and experience to work at such a large tournament, we have a talented team and we're preparing for the competition," Zubov said.
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Oleg Bratash commented on the move, telling IIHF.com, "In order to effectively prepare for the World Junior Championship, Sergei Zubov has been declared the team's head coach. At the tournament we will speak a lot with the organizers, there will be a strict Covid-19 protocol, and Sergei speaks English as a result of his experience of living in North America. Furthermore, he has coached in the KHL. These aren't major changes."
The Russian Hockey Federation also released their preliminary roster for the tournament, and it is loaded with talent. The roster included goaltender
Yaroslav Askarov (Nashville 1st rd pick 2020), forward
Matvei Michkov (projected top three pick in 2023), as well as a pair of projected top ten picks in the upcoming 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Danila Yurov and
Ivan Miroshnichenko. The full roster can be found here:
Russia's Preliminary Roster.Russia will kick-off their 2022 World Junior tournament on December 26th against Sweden.
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