Back to the KHL: Bob Hartley accepted the job to honor the memory of his late friend

Dose
Crédit:

Last Friday, we learned from Russia that Bob Hartley would be making a comeback behind the bench of a KHL team, Lokomotiv. This came as a surprise to many, given that we knew he had retired from coaching, but he obviously got the bug again.

And after all, knowing Hartley, no one was really surprised to see him back behind the bench: he eats hockey.

Today, however, we learned that it wasn’t for nothing that he decided to come out of retirement with Lokomotiv. For those who remember, it was Lokomotiv who were the victims of a plane crash that took the lives of almost all the members of the team.

And of the lot, there was Brad McCrimmon, the club’s coach (who didn’t have time to manage a single match), who died in the crash. And via BPM Sports, Hartley explained that it was to honor the memory of McCrimmon, a close friend, that he accepted this position.

Running the club that McCrimmon was to practice was something that spoke to him.

We don’t know if the coach’s contract is a multi-year one, but for the time being, Hartley will have the chance to lead the club that his friend was supposed to lead some fifteen years ago.

And he’ll be well paid for it: he’ll earn just over 2 million US dollars a year, a higher salary than many players in Russia.

Hartley also arrives at the helm of a team that has just won top honors in Russia and will be largely unchanged from last year. He will therefore have the opportunity to be at the helm of a team that should be competitive in an environment he knows well in Russia.

Lifting the Gagarin Cup at the helm of the team his good friend was to lead would be a fine way of honouring him.

Overtime

– What do you think?

– Very cool!

– Retirement for Tyler Johnson.

– He was in complete control against world #1 Jannik Sinner. Too bad.