Sochi has signed three NHL games with 23-year-old goalkeeper Alexei Melnichuk. He spent the past year and a half first in North America, where he played in the San Jose system, and then moved to Tampa Bay. True, Melnichuk did not have a chance to play for “lightning” or even farm clubs. Instead of imposing competition on Andrei Vasilevsky, he traveled the vast expanses of the ECHL.

The decision to return to Russia on behalf of Melnichuk is absolutely correct. Entering the “Tampa” base and being at least Vasilevsky’s backup is a cake in the sky. The competition in the system is huge, including another Russian, Amir Miftakhov. In the KHL, however, everything went well for Alexei. And when he started his career on the SKA base and was loaned to Nizhny Novgorod.

How did Sochi manage to get such a goalkeeper? Earlier accrued rights helped. Mikhail Berdin and Ivan Morozov didn’t really play for the Leopards, but they were listed as players for the southern club before they went to North America. Hence the opportunity to trade these rights. He, the other, is not yet going to Russia, which means that the SKA is working with tomorrow, even the day after tomorrow in mind. Whereas “Sochi” is gaining strength here and now.

It seems the young goalie hasn’t really earned anything in his career, but has come from the third strongest league in North America. Is there any reason to argue? Object of attention? However, in the realities of modern KHL, the Sochi goalkeeper tandem, which, in addition to Melnichuk, also included Maxim Tretiak, certainly seems to be one of them, if not the strongest. At least on May 10, when the contract with the newcomer was signed.

Blame, of course, the ambiguous status of the legionnaires. Although for most foreigners everything is clear and understandable. Juho Olkinuora has left Metallurg before the playoffs started. Almost simultaneously with him, “Siberian” left Harri Syateri, and “Salavat Yulaev” Juho Metsola. Roman Vill finished the playoffs but will definitely not return to Traktor. There will be no Eddie Pasquale in Yaroslavl as Lokomotiv has announced its focus on Russian players. And this is not the whole list.

Teams that have set up goalkeeper tandems by mid-May can be counted on the fingers. After the replacement of Bocharov, Lokomotiv can boast of its connection with the young Isaev. The avtomobilist took Bobkov to the young Galkin, who did not have the most successful season in Kazan. SKA will most likely play Vegaelo Nikolaev, who, along with Samonov, scored yesterday for the national team. Against this background, Severstal – Shugaev with the Podyapolskaya brigade looks monstrous.

There is a shortage of hockey goalkeepers in Russia. KHL clubs without foreigners have serious problems

It is clear that if Avangard manages to persuade Shimon Grubets to fulfill their contractual obligations, they will be able to calm down in Omsk beyond the final border. CSKA has repatriated Sharychenkov from Ufa, but it is not yet clear whether the champions have lost to NHL-only Ivan Fedotov or Adam Reideborn. If you take them one by one, there are stronger goalkeepers in the KHL than Melnichuk or Tretiak, but even the best clubs are still full of holes. Who will back Timur Bilyalov in Kazan? Will Chelyabinsk take the risk of entrusting the last frontier to Garipov? Questions, constant questions.

This situation, of course, did not develop due to the crisis in the Russian goalkeeping school. Despite having the best foreign goalkeepers in the KHL, some clubs still relied on domestic teams. And most importantly, the current trend began to make itself felt a few years ago after Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin went abroad. Now their example was followed by another “soldier” champion Fedotov. The unprecedented demand for our goalkeepers in the NHL is leaving the KHL clubs with crumbs from the master table. And if until recently it was possible to compensate for this with Swedish, Czech and Finnish collections, now Melnichuk-Tretyak looks almost like a dream brigade. Our condolences to everyone who has not yet agreed on this issue.