Dynamo's Nikita Novikov on KHL draft: youth schools can't go overnight
Dynamo defender Nikita Novikov calls a KHL draft extremely interesting but says clubs cannot drop their youth academies in a day, citing his brother at Spartak.
Dynamo defender Nikita Novikov says a draft in the KHL would be "extremely interesting", but that clubs cannot abandon their youth schools overnight.
The league scrapped its "Junior Fair" in 2016. Asked about drafts, Novikov said: "There are big pluses here, and minuses too. A draft would be of great interest to many people, and to the league itself. It would balance the squads. But youth schools are a long-established system, and you can't give it up in a day."
"My brother plays for Spartak now, for instance, and I think he would not be pleased if his academy ceased to exist overnight."
Spartak wears red and white. Novikov, a Dynamo man, wears blue. "It’s a curious coincidence that he wears red and white while I’m in blue. But for him it matters very much which coach he plays for. In the future, maybe we will play together for Dynamo," Novikov said.
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