America or Russia? Talented forward from Avangard faces tough choice – Hockey News
Omsk striker Arseniy Gritsyuk blurred the beginning of the season, but opened up in the second half of the championship.
Rebooted with a new trainer
Extended to 68 games, the regular season is pursuing new records. Both personal and team. The news came out that player X had set a record for points, goals or assists. Such is the nature of the great long season. More matches, more playing time, more points. So Arseniy Gritsyuk, a month and a half before the end of the regular season, updated the performance record in the KHL. For 53 matches, the striker scored 32 (12+20) points. A year ago, in 39 games, the New Jersey prospect earned 28 (16+12) points. However, the forward could play more useful if it weren’t for the failure to start the regular game.
Gritsyuk, like the rest of Avangard, blurred the start of the season. The victory at the August Sochi Hockey Open remained a successful success for Dmitry Ryabykin, who was fired in mid-October. The team was picked up by the assistant Mikhail Kravets, invited at first. The specialist has not previously worked in top clubs with big tasks. However, when he got to Avangard, he inspired life for a crisis team and revealed hockey players. Including the extinct Gritsyuk, because they expected a breakthrough from Arseniy after a super-successful last season.
A stable place at the base, a trip to the Olympics, a saving shootout in the semi-finals with the Swedes – the beginning of 2022 came close to the progress of the Krasnoyarsk player in the 2022/23 season. Moreover, Ryabykin declared in the summer that he was not going to tie the hands of those who fell and give freedom on the ice. All creative ideas ended in the preseason. Avangard opened the regular season with a month-long trip and fell into a depression – both in terms of the result and the game. The change of coach rebooted the team and revealed the leaders.
It is wrong to associate Gritsyuk’s decision at the beginning of the season with team problems. The youth attend recessions. There is even the concept of “syndrome of the second season.” When, after a successful debut in the league, yesterday’s juniors do not cope with the given height. What causes the pattern to break. Episodes Arseniy literally disappeared from the ice. And not to use utility even for calculating energy and enthusiasm. Ryabykin himself connected Gritsyuk’s performance with psychology. And in the congregation, that too early striker fell so much attention. Interviews, fans’ interest, billboards around Omsk with Arseniy’s portraits. “It nailed him a little,” Ryabykin explained.
Gritsyuk’s indicative statistics before and after Ryabykin’s resignation suggests that with the advent of Kravets, Arseniy took up his head and inquired with the pressure that had piled on. The striker did not immediately, but gained stability. The 81st number of the Hawks under the new coach, on average, scores almost twice as many points per match.
Statistics of Arseniy Gritsyuk in the 2022/23 season.
Omsk or New Jersey?
Gritsyuk has grown prettier with Avangard. Omsk residents spread their wings and got close to the leaders of the conference, which was only recorded at the start of the championship. Arseniy is in the quarter of the team’s scorers, ahead of first center Korban Knight. The Canadian, of course, played fewer matches due to waiting, but he played an average of six minutes more and goes into the first special brigade of the majority. The idea of the coaches with the unification of Gritsyuk and the motor Sergey Tolchinsky worked perfectly. Revealed with creative wingers is not the most technical center Alex Broadhurst.
Gritsyuk’s contract with the Hawks expires on April 30. Omsk general manager Rashid Khabibulin floridly focuses on negotiations with the forward and reinforces the hope that it will be possible to achieve an offensive. “Arseniy has an agent – Shumi Babaev. Such an oriental guy. It is difficult to communicate with him, he will never say anything, he will reach out to the last. But on the other hand, Arseniy and I talked several times. He really understands that for him at least at least a season is worth spending here, ”Khabibulin believes.
In North America, Gritsyuk is ready to meet with bread and salt in New Jersey. The perestroika team produced an unexpectedly cool first part of the regularity. However, the forwards expect that the Krasnoyarsk player will have a place at the base. Arseniy did not find a royal constitution in the KHL. Artemy Panarin or Kirill Kaprizov did not grow into a capturing player, someone overseas flew away. However, there are enough examples when hockey players who were not strong in the KHL were revealed in North America. Gritsyuk, of course, will not be offended by the ruble in Avangard. The club is ready to cling to the pupils. It is financially beneficial for the attacker to stay in Russia and earn on the future.
New Jersey Hockey Players.
Photos USA Today Sports
Nothing prevents Gritsyuk from going to the Devils while waiting for the season if Omsk finishes the playoffs early. After that, decide on plans and consider the option of renting in the KHL by signing a rookie contract with New Jersey. Arseniy did not manage to reach all the peaks in Russia. Gritsyuk won the Gagarin Cup with Avangard in 2021, but won the playoffs in only three games. The saga with the striker’s contract is one of the central offseason. On paper, there are no losing options for a hockey player. I want as many bright forwards as possible to be discovered in the KHL, but at the same time, we will be happy for the Devils if such a creator as Gritsyuk joins their attack.