Admiral's top scorer Danil Gutik moves to Spartak
Danil Gutik, the top forward of hockey club Admiral, has moved to Spartak in a player exchange. He admitted that he wanted the trade himself and, as an athlete, is always looking for a new challenge, according to Admiral«s press service.
Danil Gutik is from Khabarovsk and started playing hockey with the local Amur, switching to the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv school at age 13. From the 2017/18 to 2019/20 seasons, he played for Loko in the Youth Hockey League (MHL) and Loko-Junior in the National Youth Hockey League.
In early October 2020, he moved to Moscow Dynamo in an exchange, where he played a season in the MHL, and after two more matches the following season, he started playing for the Youth Hockey Club Dynamo St. Petersburg.
In November 2021, he signed a two-year, two-way contract with Admiral and made his KHL debut on November 19 in an away match against Torpedo (1:4). Over the last three seasons, Gutik has been Admiral«s top scorer, accumulating 130 points (56 goals, 74 assists) in 219 KHL games.
He also has the following achievements:
winner of the Hockey Challenge Cup (U17);
winner of the World Cup among youth club teams: 2019/20;
bronze medalist with the Russian U18 national team at the 2018/19 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Canada;
two-time winner of the Kharlamov Cup: with Loko 2018/19, and with Dynamo Moscow 2020/21.
Gutik thanked the fans and everyone he worked with while at Admiral, including suspended head coach Leonid Tambiev, who was eventually replaced by Oleg Bratash.
«Thank you for the support that I felt in every match, at home and on the road. Your voices and faith helped me grow and fight until the final siren. You are special! The atmosphere you created, I will never forget. I especially thank every club and Fetisov Arena employee, including administrators, medical staff, massage therapists, coaches, equipment managers, ice and technical services, stewards, security, and all others I forgot to mention. Thanks to you, I could only think about hockey. Special thanks to general director Alexei Andreyevich An and former head coach of HC Admiral Leonid Grigoryevich Tambiev. Thank you for the trust and the opportunity to prove myself. Thanks to your support, I was able to take my first steps in the KHL,» said Gutik.
The native of Khabarovsk admitted that leaving Vladivostok is difficult and not easy for him, as the city and people have become part of his life, but he will be happy to return here.
Interestingly, Admiral received three players in exchange: forwards Daniil Usmanov and Yegor Chezganov, and defenseman Nikita Efremov. The club also acquired the rights to scorer Maxim Musorov.
Nikita Efremov began his sports career in the school of Novosibirsk«s Sibir, played 182 games for the Siberian Snipers in the MHL, scoring 48 points (19 goals, 29 assists). In the KHL for Sibir, he has 179 games and 17 points (5 goals, 12 assists). This season, he played 17 games for Spartak, scoring 2 points (0 goals, 2 assists) with a plus-minus rating of -8, as well as 9 games for Khimik, with 1 point (0 goals, 1 assist).
Daniil Usmanov is from the school of Mytishchi«s Atlant, debuted in the MHL for them in the 2019/20 season and played 59 games, scoring 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists), making him the team»s top scorer. After moving to the Moscow Spartak system, he played for the youth team, and a year later, in the 2021/22 season, debuted for Voskresensk«s Khimik. In the current regular championship, he played 25 games for the »red-whites« and earned 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists), as well as 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) in 11 games for Khimik.
Yegor Chezganov is from Belarus and began his professional career in 2020 with the club Almaz from Cherepovets (MHL). In the 2022/23 season, he already had training sessions with Admiral, but moved to Spartak. This season, he started with the Shanghai Dragons on loan, participated in 13 games, and recorded 1 assist.
The news was also commented on by Admiral«s general manager Viktor Gordiyuk. He confirmed that the decision to leave was Danil Gutik»s, and he had been asking the team for a trade for 2–3 months.
«It»s a pity to lose such a player. Danil grew up with us, I brought him here several years ago. But it«s his choice, he really asked for a trade. Here, he developed as a player and gained a lot of experience. We truly regret it, but we can»t go against his decision. We wish him luck and a happy journey. We are getting three young guys: Daniil Usmanov, Yegor Chezganov, and Nikita Efremov. Plus, we are getting the rights to Maxim Musorov. This is our future, the foundation for building a new team. We are trying to do it this year and finish next year,« summed up Gordiyuk.
On January 20, we wrote that HC Admiral continues its rapid decline this KHL season — the home match against Kazan«s Ak Bars became a symbol of the deep crisis in which both the team and its captain found themselves. The encounter on the ice of Vladivostok ended in a crushing defeat for the hosts with a score of 2:5, and the key and most discussed episode was an own goal by the defensive leader and captain of the »sailors« Libor Shulak.
