MOSCOW, April 4, Andrey Senchenko. Winner of the 2020 Gagarin Cup/21 Bob Hartley, after his departure from the post of head coach of the Omsk hockey club Avangard, expressed his confidence that Olympic champion Ilya Kovalchuk should try himself as a coach. Kovalchuk played for Avangard from 2020 to 2021. Hartley sees his assistant Dmitry Ryabykin as a successor in Avangard. «Covey is an amazing man filled with passion. He lives and breathes hockey. Look at his career. I'm never surprised that Ilya is so successful — not only as a player, but also as a person. He is always ready for leadership, and he hates to lose. He has a huge heart, Ilya is always ready to meet halfway. I am convinced that he is ready to try himself as a coach, general manager, or anything at all. Never I will not forget his phone call when he urged me to accept a position at Avangard. Together with him we were on the same team, together we won the Gagarin Cup. Kovalchuk is my hockey son. Together we saw a lot, I am immensely grateful to him, » Hartley said at a press conference.
