Yakovlev on Leaving Sibir for Torpedo

Alexey Yakovlev, the 31-year-old forward now with Torpedo, said he had expected to spend his whole career with Sibir, the club that produced him and for which he made 382 appearances.

"It was hard, I planned to spend my whole career in Novosibirsk. It turned out to be a step out of my comfort zone — the last time something like that happened was when I travelled in the VHL. But the reality is I had no other options — I need to fit into the team and get used to the situation," Yakovlev said.

He traced the first sign of the move to a conversation with Sibir's general director, Lev Igorevich Krutokhvostov, in early September, before the start of the regular season. Yakovlev then played two matches and thought his place was secure, before the coaching staff decided otherwise.

He said he had barely spoken with head coach Lyuzenkov before the trade went through. "I barely spoke to Lyuzenkov at all, only right at the end, before the trade. I don't even count the conversation after the tournament in Omsk — that was on the ice, I had to do a drill and the head coach called me over at that moment. There were no more conversations with the coaching staff after that. Nobody raised any questions or complaints about me in a month and a half. Only Albert Viktorovich Leshchev, the defencemen's coach, worked with me — showing video at meetings and giving me pointers on my play in defence and the neutral zone," Yakovlev said.

He said the feeling that something was wrong had been there since the start of pre-season training. "Yes, I felt it from the very start. It was as if nobody demanded anything from me — there was a kind of indifference," he said.

That may mean a slower start at Torpedo than his numbers at Sibir would suggest, as Yakovlev settles into a dressing room away from the only club he had known.