Two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov shared his thoughts on the relationship between Avangard’s general manager Alexei Sopin and head coach Guy Boucher. The comments came after the club’s season-ending press conference on May 11.
Kozhevnikov expressed surprise that Sopin did not call out Boucher during the event. “You’d expect the general manager to at least react to his own coach’s boasting, especially when it’s well known that Boucher had full freedom at Avangard. He built the roster exactly as he wanted, with management acting more like support staff,” Kozhevnikov said.
The Olympic champion criticized Boucher for shifting blame onto Sopin. “This Canadian friend has already started making Alexei the scapegoat, claiming that Avangard wasn’t provided with sufficient roster depth. It’s just sad to see,” Kozhevnikov added.
Kozhevnikov also recalled Sopin’s earlier public criticism of his former club Dynamo Moscow, calling it unusual for a manager to comment on another team’s decisions. “I expected that yesterday Sopin would at least respond to his own coach, not someone else’s. But no—the young manager stayed silent. In this situation, I feel sorry for him,” Kozhevnikov concluded, adding that Avangard appears to be heading toward a turbulent season.
