Vaisfeld: Neftekhimik's squad built for Grishin
Ex-KHL executive Leonid Vaisfeld explains Neftekhimik's 15-point start, crediting squad continuity and Igor Grishin, but questions whether slumps can be avoided.
Neftekhimik have taken 15 points from 10 games and sit top of the Eastern Conference table. Leonid Vaisfeld, the former general manager of KHL Fonbet Championship clubs, has given his reading of the start.
"I think Neftekhimik are indeed playing well. It seems to me that the squad there was put together for Igor Grishin. Besides, the players have understood his requirements and are meeting them. There was no turnover after last season, the squad has stayed together. There is no single reason for Neftekhimik's good start, but the whole package has let the side start well. But we remember that the Nizhnekamsk side did not finish last season's regular championship particularly well. The intrigue is whether the Neftekhimik coaching staff will manage to avoid long slumps. Right now the team is playing very well," Vaisfeld said.
The squad kept its core from last season, when Neftekhimik faded before the regular season finished. Whether Grishin's staff can keep that pattern from repeating is, by Vaisfeld's account, the open question this season poses.
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