Esmantovich: CSKA rebuilt roster to fix power-play flaws

CSKA president Igor Esmantovich says the club has rebuilt its roster with the flaws of last season squarely in mind, after the team's playoff run ended in a quarter-final defeat to Avangard, 1-4 in the series.

"We did the work on our mistakes, looked at our weak points connected with the tactical side. I hope we will sort out our power play. For that we have a new right-handed defenceman, Alex Cotton, and Derek Barak is also right-handed. We also have a number of other players — Roy, Buchelnikov. In this respect we see and think about how to rebuild our power play and improve our penalty kill. Because on even strength we have an understanding, but the wave of newcomers who arrived this year is pushing us towards certain steps, which we will try to work through and put into practice," Esmantovich said at a press conference.

Cotton, a 25-year-old Canadian, has signed with CSKA until 31 May 2028. Barak, a 31-year-old American forward, has put pen to paper on a deal of the same length.

Asked whether the squad is now complete, Esmantovich said work continues daily and that money remains available under the salary cap. "The work goes on every day. There is money left under the cap. Whoever is better will play. The current lads know that, I've explained it to them. It's one thing to train well, another to win the Gagarin Cup," he said.

He was more guarded when asked to lay out the grounds for optimism this season. "Right now there is an inner feeling that we're 'champions on paper'. I can see that every line can decide the outcome of a match. But that's on paper. The lads must have no illusions. The result is a sum of small details, you have to work 24/7 so that the sporting gods hand us luck, the way it happened for Yaroslavl, for Omsk. There should be no one indifferent in this team," he said.

Esmantovich drew a comparison with the CSKA side of 2019, saying the current squad is close to that level. He pointed to forward Gamzin as having "grown up and matured", to Samonov as an experienced player who "adds his own flair to the game", and to defenceman Zamula as part of the pool of blueliners set to be trusted with power-play minutes. "Right now, if I'm honest, I don't want to think that we'll finish the season in the third round of the play-offs. That's not what CSKA is about. There is a target for the season. The squad is a sight to behold. I'm glad we managed to put together a team like this," he said.