Reviewing the 2024/2025 season for KHL clubs. Admiral changed their style to a more attacking and combinational approach during the offseason, returned to the playoffs after a one-year absence, and put up a strong fight against the eventual Gagarin Cup finalist.
The Far East team experienced a significant imbalance between home and away games throughout the regular championship. On their home ice, Admiral was a formidable force, proven by victories over teams like Dynamo Moscow (4:1), CSKA (3:2 OT), Spartak (4:3 OT), Avangard (3:2 OT), and Traktor (4:3 OT), not to mention less-ranked opponents. However, the `sailors` struggled significantly on the road – notable away losses include those against Kunlun Red Star (4:5 OT), Dinamo Minsk (2:7), Sochi (0:5), and Neftekhimik (1:2, 2:7). For most of the regular season, Admiral held a spot within the Eastern Conference`s playoff top eight, often in sixth or seventh place, but were overtaken by Sibir right at the finish line, ending up in eighth place in the conference. This was largely due to a five-game losing streak, which concluded with the two aforementioned away meetings against Neftekhimik.
In the first round, Admiral was matched against Traktor, the Eastern Conference leader. Nevertheless, the Far East team displayed a very effective (and, importantly, uncharacteristic for them) style of hockey with an emphasis on offense, which helped them take a 2-1 lead in the series by Game 4. However, the upset ultimately didn`t happen; Traktor won the next game, and the crucial moment of the series came in Game 5. The `sailors` were leading 4-0 by the third period, but Chelyabinsk managed to tie the game in just 11 minutes and went on to win in overtime. Traktor then secured their advancement to the next round in Game 6. Admiral can certainly mark this season as a success, and they deserve special recognition for such a vibrant and emotional series against the eventual Gagarin Cup finalist.
Best Players
Daniil Gutik
74 games, 57 (28+29) points
The 23-year-old forward emerged as a true leader this season, becoming Admiral`s top scorer and sniper. Furthermore, he can certainly be called one of the team`s main offensive creators. It was a breakthrough season for him, setting a personal scoring record, participating in his second career Fonbet KHL All-Star Game, and receiving significant ice time, including on the power play.
Nikita Soshnikov
62 games, 46 (25+21) points
In Vladivostok, Soshnikov gained the trust of the coaching staff and, consequently, received more ice time along with the captain`s patch. This positively impacted his game and productivity – for the first time in five years, he accumulated over 40 points in a season. In the series against Traktor, Soshnikov was one of the headliners of the Far East attack: tallying 5 points (3+2) in five games and contributing an incredible amount of valuable work.
Egor Petukhov
73 games, 44 (25+19) points
Previously considered a solid role player but nothing more, Petukhov unexpectedly thrived in Admiral and truly shone – he nearly doubled his personal season points record. Importantly, he didn`t lose his defensive skills, and the `sailors` gained a great two-way forward who can score, assist, play physically, and block shots. Besides his scoring and point-getting success, Petukhov was the team`s best forward in terms of plus-minus rating (“+5”).
Andrei Mishurov
52 games, 16 wins, 91.7% SV%, 2.76 GAA
Loaned from Avangard, Mishurov took over as Admiral`s starting goaltender during the season. His strong performance was a major factor in the `sailors` being able to compete on equal footing with Traktor in the first round of the playoffs. For Mishurov himself, the season was crucial, as he hadn`t played this much before and showed he was ready to handle a high level of workload.
Coach
Leonid Tambiev is in his fourth season leading Admiral, and he has guided the club to the playoffs twice. According to him, after the unsuccessful previous season, both the club and the coaching staff re-evaluated many things. This was reflected in their play – while Tambiev`s hockey was previously characterized by less flattering descriptions, in the current championship, the team aimed to play a more attacking style, with the first-round series against Traktor being the culmination of this approach. Looking at regular season statistics, Admiral earned 15 points more than last season, scored 40 more goals, and improved their power play. “We changed practically everything in Admiral, revised the training process and all microcycles in the right direction. We dedicated a lot of attention to the game, developing the players in terms of hockey. More days off were added during the preseason, so the players trained with full dedication; they had enough focus, emotion, and energy,” Tambiev shared at the season-ending press conference.
Best Match
Admiral played many interesting games during the season, but the best one – in terms of result, importance, and emotions – was arguably the third game of the playoff series against Traktor. By the 14th minute, the `sailors` were leading 2-0 after a Nikita Soshnikov double, but they lost their entire advantage in just a minute midway through the second period. Libor Šulák put Vladivostok back ahead, but Chelyabinsk tied it again. Soshnikov brought Admiral victory in overtime, completing a hat-trick in the playoffs against his former team – what a storyline!
Young Players
The main young talents in Admiral`s lineup were Gutik and Mishurov, mentioned above. As for the others, the goal of making the playoffs requires the coaching staff to be quite cautious about integrating young players into the roster. This season, Nikita Susuyev, Raul Yakupov, and Nikita Guslistov played for the `sailors` – however, none of them managed to fully secure a place in the main lineup.
Offseason Work
The first order of business for the `sailors` was retaining key players, extending contracts with Petukhov, Šulák, and Arkadi Shestakov. New agreements with the club were also signed by Dmitri Zavgorodniy, Ivan Muranov, and Pavel Shen. Regarding incoming transfers, there has only been one so far – Admiral signed a two-way contract with the best player of the Belarusian Extraliga, Valentin Demchenko.
As for losses, there are quite a few – Mishurov and Susuyev returned to Avangard and Spartak, respectively, after their loans ended. Soshnikov moved to Sibir, Vyacheslav Osnovin to Lada, and Jake Virtanen (originally Rodewald in the text, but Virtanen is the widely known player from Admiral who left for Salavat) to Salavat Yulaev.
Gareth Tenby