You may be right about smaller NA leagues, but Russian mentality is totally different. You meet newcomers with hostility, we meet them with hospitality. Gorovikov said it best: "To play with or against an extra class athlete isn't a burden nor responsibility - it's a pleasure".
Same for those low hit. I remember the same suspicion brought after Ska-Carolina exhibition game. when Canes fans thought that SKA player targeted Staal's knees. It really has more to do with willing to check hard, size difference (both Staal and Malkin are very tall) and not that much hitting experience but certainly not intention to injure.
Ah yes. The noble and hospitable Russian mentality! Hahahah..
Geno with a couple wide shots at end of OT and SO. How do you say "rust" in Russian?
I'd rather he shake it off now, with a team that I don't have any emotional attachment to, than later with the Pens. That's right, I'm still holding out hope for an NHL season. Just in time for 24/7 and the Winter Classic
I don't think so. I just think he plays a more NA style of game now and it doesn't work that well there.
Maybe, but he said in one of his post game interviews after the last game that he and Sarge hadn't really spent a lot of time on the ice in terms of conditioning ... and they had Bryz in net when the were practicing with CSKA's youth team. He certainly did well enough at the IIHF tourney, so he's shown his game still translates to the big ice. A couple more games and he'll be fine.
::EDIT:: also, keep in mind no matter how much Geno and Sarge conditioned, they're stepping into the KHL after the league has already gone through the preseason and a half dozen games or more of the regular season, it's going to take them a few games to catch up.
Ah yes. The noble and hospitable Russian mentality! Hahahah..
I'm not Russian and certainly as a homer this guy exaggerates, it's not like Russians are any different to other people, everyone wants to keep his job and nobody wants to lose it cause some guy suddenly appears because of some lockout...
Then again, as far as I now, KHL has regulations in place that only 3 guys from NHL can come over to a team and nobody is actually fired, only the roster is expanded to accomodate the new players, so the guys might be sent to farm club or not dress up for games but they still get paid, so that solves that.
But then again I would also agree to the poster that there is no KBG and cold war nonsense of delibrately harming opponent's players going on like the poster mention as regards Carolina-SKA game some time ago, it's just stupid paranoia of the Western world like in Super Series where Canadians thought that they were watched and taped and what not during it in Russia and feared they would be poisoned etc. I doubt anyting like that actually took place... USSR in the 70s was nothing like North Korea today.
Nah, he's definitly out of shape. He can't even stickhandle properly. And too slow. But he was better than in the previous game.
To be honest, everyone and everything looks slower on the big ice... NHL players (as a whole) are better than others not because of speed- everyone can skate fast- but cause of skills and comparing to KHL especially, cause of better two-way game....
That's probably the biggest difference between KHL and NHL- the speed would be the same, skill level too but the problem's KHL is full of lazy ***** who do not come back in their own zone fast and guys like Zaripov who openly admits he's afraid of any physical contact... When I see a KHL guy 1.82 and weight 78 kg who makes all those cool moves it's immediately clear that the guy would have no chance in NHL where he'd be massacred. Some say cause it's big ice it doesn't matter but I still think it kinda matters, if not on the boards then in front of the net surely...
Whatever happened with all the talk about Crosby potentially joining Malkin in the KHL? Afaict it was just talk?
The assumption was that he would wait until the lockout had been going on for a couple of months. There's also the cost of insuring his contract, which might be prohibitive for most teams.
