Kevin Hayes: KHL Better Than Expected at Ak Bars
New Ak Bars forward Kevin Hayes says the KHL exceeded his expectations, praising Nizhny Novgorod's arena and adjusting to puck-protection play.
Kevin Hayes has given his first impressions of the KHL after making the move to Ak Bars from North America.
"The KHL is a great league. I played with many strong hockey players who played in the KHL. But, to be honest, I did not know that much about the KHL myself. So now every new city interests me. Last night I walked around Nizhny Novgorod. A very beautiful city, a wonderful arena. I can say that everything turned out better than I expected," Hayes said.
Asked what has been hardest to adjust to on the ice, Hayes pointed to puck protection rather than pace.
"Probably the main thing is holding onto the puck longer. I was used to getting the puck in the corner and starting to protect it, and a defenceman would be right there immediately. But here it's already happened a couple of times that I shielded the puck with my body, expecting pressure, and nobody closed in on me straight away. You need to get used to that," Hayes said.
Ak Bars have been busy off the ice too. The club struck a preliminary deal for Torpedo forward Yegor Sokolov and completed a three-way trade with Torpedo and Dinamo Minsk that sent Alistrov to Minsk and brought Nizhny Novgorod the KHL rights to defenceman Kolyachonok.
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