panoo

Posted by George James Malik
August 19, 2007 07:11AM

Former Red Wings assistant coach Barry Smith has signed on to coach SKA St. Petersburg in the Russian Superleague. Smith is nothing but impressed with the level of competition he's witnessing in a league said to be on par with the AHL:

August 17, The Hockey News: "Working with these players has been terrific so far," said Smith, who has been putting his new team through training camp workouts since July 3. "Having NHL-level talent to train with really raises the standard of practice, and adds something new for the boys who've been here right from the start."

The list of NHLers who have started preparing for the 2007-08 season with Smith is a who's-who of Russian stars: Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar of the Penguins, Viktor Kozlov, Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals, Alexander Radulov of the Predators, and former Florida Panther Alexei Semenov are among those who have been put through their paces by Smith, who has been pleasantly surprised by their off-season fitness and enthusiasm.

"It's turned out better than I thought, because I was a little worried about some of the NHL guys not being on the ice (prior to camp) and having some problems with speed or tempo," said Smith, who quit his job as assistant coach to Wayne Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes in April. "But they were excellent. The tempo on the ice is unbelievable. I'm very impressed with the speed and the skill."

Not surprisingly, Smith has a different take on the way Russian clubs take care of their players. While salaries are tax-free, and clubs provide apartments and leased automobiles as amenities, the "bring five rolls of TP with you on road trips" factor, suggests Smith, offsets the Superleague's benefits:

"On the ice, the play is excellent, but off the ice there's still some things that are backwards we're trying to get up to speed," said Smith, who already has coached St. Petersburg in 10 exhibition games this summer. "A lot of people, especially NHL players, don't realize that the people who work in NHL locker rooms are far and above those who do the same jobs anywhere else. The conveniences that are set up for NHL players are tremendous, and other parts of the hockey world just don't get that treatment. But they're doing a great job here trying to get a much better standard and trying to organize the room properly."

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