According to Zadorov, Rotenberg has wanted everything from the locker room music of the national team.
Nikita Zadorov knows that he will not return to Russia, at least during Vladimir Putin’s lifetime. AOP / USA TODAY SPORTS
NHL defenseman From Nikita Zadorov28, was heard making a bold statement in an interview with Juri Dudi.
Calgary Flames top defender Zadorov strongly criticized the Russian president Vladimir Putin and condemned the war unequivocally.
In the interview, Dud also asked Zadorov about the state of Russian hockey. He was interested to know what kind of personality and leader Roman Rotenberg is.
Rotenberg, the current head coach of the Russian national team and St. Petersburg SKA, worked as the national team’s general manager for a long time.
Zadorov participated in the World Championships in Bratislava 2019 and in Riga 2021.
– Rotenberg’s jacket read “team leader”. He had made that title himself, Zadorov laughed.
According to the Russian, he has never seen a person operating with a similar title in his career.
– He should patent it.
– Rotenberg wanted to control everything. It was miserable. He even chose the songs to be played in the dressing room. No one else had permission to play the music, Zadorov claimed.
Dud asked what song Rotenberg played before matches. The answer stunned him.
– He called I love you Soldier. Quite a song choice, Zadorov replied.
“We didn’t have coaches”
Roman Rotenberg’s taste in music did not please everyone. PDO
In 2019, in Bratislava, Russia experienced humiliation. As Zadorov said, the team was one of the most famous Russian teams of all time.
– We had Yevgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk… Then we lost to Finland, which didn’t have any NHL players. We had stars, but the team was completely messed up. It wasn’t built to win.
– The NHL has very clear principles on how to prepare for matches. Every time we study the opponent’s weaknesses and strengths, how the opponent enters the attacking zone and how to attack them. We had nothing. It was just said that Finland is retreating to hedgehog defense and laughed at. We didn’t really have coaches on that team.
At that time, Finland, which overthrew Russia, sensationally went all the way and won the World Cup gold.
Zadorov was not surprised when Rotenberg was appointed as the head coach of the current Russian national team. According to him, Rotenberg is a passionate hockey fan who wants to learn more about the game.
– But everyone really laughs behind his back, Zadorov shook.
Mersut and money bag
According to Zadorov, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation has slapped a terrible amount of money on the World Cup teams.
Two rooms in the hotel in the competition city have been reserved for the families of each player. Since the flights, everything has been taken care of to the last, and the players have not had to worry about anything.
2014 Russia put the Sochi Olympic disappointment out of their minds when they won World Cup gold in Minsk, Belarus.
– Ovechkin asked for a new Mercedes for every player. They got them too.
– In addition, each player has a bank card. They had two days to claim the $400,000 championship bonus for themselves. That means 400,000 for each player.
– Would you have taken the money? You sound pretty judgmental, Dud asked.
– I would have taken it. I just don’t think it sounds reasonable. Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon received an iPad as a bonus for the World Championship gold, Zadorov laughed.
Zadorov said he was aware that he would never again be invited to represent Russia at the prestigious tournament.