New coach, same old problems: what's happening with Nizhny Novgorod's Torpedo?

      October 09, 2025 07:00 Sport — Nizhny Novgorod

      Nizhny Novgorod's Torpedo got off to an extremely successful start to the 2025/2026 season, recording six spectacular wins in a row for the first time in the club's history. But, as is known, all good things come to an end sooner or later. After two successful games in Saint Petersburg, Torpedo lost three matches in a row. Moreover, the Nizhny Novgorod side has not won at home since September 12. We look into what went wrong and what to expect from the car-plant club's next game.

      A new era

      The biggest and arguably most high-profile change was the early termination of the contract with the well-known Igor Larionov, who had led the club for three seasons and breathed new life into the team. Shortly after, general manager Vadim Averkin and CEO Alexander Kharlamov were also dismissed.

      Aleksey Isakov took over as head coach; under his leadership Torpedo-Gorky won the Russian championship title. In the 2023/2024 season Isakov headed Chayka, when they finished third in the championship. But it was the coach's successes with the farm club that became the final argument for his signing.

      With the start of the off-season, a rotation of the playing squad began and a new coaching staff was formed. On one day Torpedo said goodbye to nine players at once. New "old" players Alexey Kruchinin and Anton Sizov joined the team, along with foreign player Bobby Nardella, Yegor Sokolov who returned from overseas, and several experienced players such as Sergey Boikov, Mikhail Naumenkov, Dmitry Shevchenko, Alexander Yaremchuk, Daniil Zhuravlev and Nikita Rozhkov. The goaltending unit was reinforced by Denis Kostin. In addition, many players were retained in the squad.

      It is worth noting that Torpedo's budget is one of the most modest in the KHL, so big-name signings should not be expected.

      As part of the preseason preparation Torpedo won only one match, which sparked talk of a possible dismissal of the new coach with no KHL experience. But the club's management assured fans that Isakov enjoyed a large vote of confidence. And the team gave him an unforgettable debut.

      A historic record and old problems

      Precisely because of a poor preseason, Torpedo's successful start to the 2025/2026 season was unexpected. Torpedo won six games in a row. That allowed the team to occupy first place in the KHL regular-season table for a time. The points gained in early September became a safety cushion that has begun to run out.

      Of course, a good start does not guarantee an absence of rough edges. As if following Larionov's legacy, Torpedo are still taking penalties. There are silly mistakes in defense and in the power play. However, the Nizhny Novgorod side continue to play attacking hockey and to bring in youth from the system. And it is interesting to watch.

      But you cannot beat an opponent with one flashy performance. The Volga club has a serious problem with finishing. For example, in the match against Moscow Dynamo Torpedo registered 45 shots on goal, and only one of those became a goal. Thus, in the last two matches they have scored only two goals, losing to Dynamo and Metallurg 1:4 and 1:5 respectively.

      If you analyze the opponents Torpedo have already faced, you can see that at the beginning of September the Nizhny Novgorod side mostly met struggling teams: Salavat Yulaev, with a reduced budget, and Lada, where the first coaching dismissal of the season occurred, are languishing at the bottom of the table, with Sochi sitting just one point above them. SKA is still trying to adapt to Larionov-style nepotism, and Spartak had a less-than-ideal start.

      Metallurg, for example, is the leader of the Eastern Conference; under Razin the team has already won the cup. Severstal is a regular rival of Torpedo for a playoff spot. The Nizhny Novgorod side have not beaten Cherepovets at home since 2022; Andrei Kozyrev's attacking style, which set Torpedo's game in 2022/2023, proved stronger than Isakov's more balanced hockey. Torpedo lost to Neftekhimik and Dinamo Minsk by a single goal: you don't score, they score on you.

      Moreover, several Torpedo players have already appeared on the injured list, and some do not make the roster for sporting reasons.

      Is it time to write them off?

      Torpedo's difficulties did not come as a surprise; the transition period is not over yet. It is too early to draw definitive conclusions a month into the season. However, even now it is noticeable that Torpedo have gained something that was missing in recent seasons — a desire to fight and a rapport with the coach.

      With proper work on mistakes, discipline, finishing and selecting optimal line combinations, the team is capable of stabilizing its play so as not to find itself outside the playoff zone.

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