Actually, Salavat Yulaev Ufa has always had troubles with the goalies. When I say always, I mean last 12-15 years. Of course you'll disagree with me, because of Aleksander Yeryomenko. He's an exception. He's one of the guys who brought the 1st ever Russian Superleague Cup to Salavat Yulaev. In my opinion, he's the best goalkeeper of Ufa club ever. But I have to give credit to the whole team then, the rest of the roster was excellent. After Yeryomenko's first season in Ufa, the results became a lot weaker. 2 seasons later the coaches considered Yeryomenko wouldn't become better and got rid of him. That was one of the biggest mistakes made by Salavat Yulaev management. After that Aleksander won 2 Gagarin Cups in a row with Dinamo Moscow.

In 2010 Salavat's management buys a new foreign goalkeeper, Erik Ersberg. You should understand when you have the best roster in the league you don't need a top goalie. Ersberg wasn't the best, but a good one. I would call him the 3rd strongest one in last 10 years. From the 1st season (2010/2011) he won the Gagarin Cup, the first ever and the last so far for Salavat Yulaev. He played one more season in Ufa and then withdrew into shadows. Ufa became the highest point in his career, which proves the point that he wasn't a top goalie.

Erik Ersberg will always be remembered in Ufa by two facts: he was in the team which brought the first Gagarin Cup to the city of Ufa and by this amazing head save against Metallurg Magnitogorsk, the eternal rival of Salavat Yulaev:

From that point HCSalavat has started to have troubles with the goalkeepers. There was Iiro Tarkki, Vitalii Kolesnik, Vadim Tarasov, Nikita Davydov, Vitalii Koval, Leland Irving and etcetera. There is tendency in Salavat Yulaev and generally in KHL to buy one 1st foreign goalkeeper and an unknown Russian one. This strategy sometimes justifies itself, sometimes not. According to it, the foreign one should be much better than a Russian goalkeeper, and he must play vast majority of the games. In case of Ersberg this system was realized brilliantly, but then comes Iiro Tarkki, who was hoped to be new Erik. He was also a good keeper, but not a top one. He could make an amazing save, but later make a silly mistake. I consider any goalie a top if he constantly saves the team from any dead puck. So in 2012 Tarkki was considered to be the 1st keeper, but he couldn't show his best game. Salavat gets knocked out in 1/8 of Gagarin Cup. The next year young Andrei Vasilevski comes to the ice and creates a sensation. A young boy, 18 y. o., becomes the 1st goalie and brings bronze medals to Salavat Yulaev. Vasilevski is the one who I consider the 2nd best goalie in Salavat Yulaev. I give much respect to Vladimir Yurzinov jr who was brave enough to let Andrei do the play-offs. In my opinion he is the best alumnus of HCSalavat's hockey school. Having played 2 years in the 1st team, Andrei went overseas to Tampa Bay Lightning being a strong competitor to Ben Bishop. Right from the start he amused the whole NHL. The highest point in Andrei Vasilevski's career so far is the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, where he was the 1st keeper. Pretty much for a 20-year-old, huh?

Then in Salavat Yulaev comes a time for bad management again. The club buys Vitalii Koval who was supposed to be the main goalie. Of course it didn't come true. During the season Leland Irving, a Canadian guy, who played for Jokerit joins Ufa. This is again a story of a bad foreign player who was substituted by a good own school alumnus. Vladimir Sokhatsky, Ufa-born, gets the attention of fans. That year Salavat hasn't done anything brilliant in play-offs, but this is all about bad management which buys a foreign goalkeeper who requires high salary, while you have a good Russian one. The same year, for example, Toros had also a good prospect, Rafael Khakimov. He's also born in Ufa and could be at least watched by the 1st team. Why not? No answer. In season 2015/16 new management comes to Salavat Yulaev. New coach Igor Zakharkin and new manager Leonid Weissfeld changed the goalkeeping system completely in two years. Rafael Khakimov went to Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk and then was exchanged for talented Andrei Kareyev to Metallurg Novokuznetsk. The management invited Andrei Litvinov to Toros and as a potential 3rd keeper of HCSalavat and our favourite Niklas Svedberg. Last year Sokhatsky was his substitute, in critical moments he could save Salavat Yulaev. In play-offs Svedberg was just amazing. He dragged the team to one more bronze medal in the League. If Svedberg's 1st season was great, this year something happened. In addition Vladmimir Sokhatsky was exchanged to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg for young Nikita Tsirkul and Maksim Askarov, which are young prospects for Tolpar. Andrei Gavrilov was invited to Ufa from Sochi. Very ambivalent decision by Weissfeld in my opinion, although he showed some great games. We know everything about both of the keepers' perfomance this season. Bad goalkeeper choice was already seen in November, December 2016, then why couldn't the coaches at least invite Nikita Tsirkul (one of the best in MHL) and Andrei Litvinov to practice with the main team, to substitute Gavrilov or Svedberg as a 2nd keeper? Now that Gavrilov is injured, Litvinov is the 2nd one, who hasn't ever played in KHL. We don't talk about Gagarin Cup so far, you know why. Vladimir Yurzinov jr wasn't scared to take big risks and let 18 y.o. Vasilevski be the 1st and this risk paid off! Why couldn't Zakharkin at least try these young guys? No answer. At the same time Zakharkin trusted 19 y.o. Kirill Kaprizov and 20 y.o. Mikhail Vorobyov in KHL. So he knows how to work with young players. Probably we won't find answers for these questions. Now we just have to believe in Goalie Coach Kirill Korenkov that Niklas Svedberg will be alright. We hope so. We believe in Niklas.