C.-PETERSBURG, June 2, Dmitry Edigarev. Vyacheslav Bykov, the former head coach of the Russian national hockey team, said that instead of the Stanley Cup, the Gagarin Cup should be carried around the country and domestic hockey should be developed.
Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL) Bill Daly said on Friday that Russian players will not be able to bring the Stanley Cup to Russia in the summer of 2023. The Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights will play in the Stanley Cup final, which are played by Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and forward Ivan Barbashev, respectively. With the victory of any of the teams, the trophy will go to a hockey player from Russia.
“For me, the NHL has lost respect. What they are doing to the hockey community is terrible. They have set precedents where our players in the international arena are not allowed to prove themselves. For me, the NHL does not exist anymore. They do everything only in their interests. Sport should give people the opportunity to develop, and the NHL is already a politicized organization. We should promote our league, our hockey and our sport more. It is better to carry the Gagarin Cup around the cities. For some reason, American and Canadian players do not take the Gagarin Cup to themselves, » Bykov said.
CSKA Moscow became the owner of the Gagarin Cup in 2023.
In February 2022, due to the situation in Ukraine, the NHL stopped considering Russia as a venue for future matches with the participation of league clubs, suspended the work of Russian-language social networks, limited the functionality of the Russian-language version of the site, and also suspended relations with business partners in Russia. Russian players play for NHL clubs without restrictions.