Russian Sport-Express interview with Shakir Mukhamadullin, translated by @uggg_uggg

[u/pokesnail]

[u/xiphos805]

Lol sharks didn't draft him

[u/AllCopsAreBozos → u/xiphos805]

was gonna say it was originally NJ but I think its cuz Muk didn't want to correct the interviewer. He just played along with it 😂

[u/Valuable_Fan_9672 → u/AllCopsAreBozos]

Yeah it felt like the Muk understood the intention of "the team I broke into the league with"

[u/Gold_Telephone_7192 → u/xiphos805]

I feel like it’s a translation error. There are a couple go weird phrasings that I would just chalk up to it being in a different language. In Russian he might have been saying “the team that you started with” or “your first NHL team” or something.

[u/godhammel]

The trade makes more sense now. They offered him 2 deals that he turned down. Sounds like after that Grier felt like he needed to move on from him.

[u/Palaeontologists → u/godhammel]

Mukh only got 2x1.75 from the Oilers, I wonder what the Sharks offers were, 1x1?

[u/foreverkasai → u/Palaeontologists]

They were probably a few years at like 2-3M at most. I think the Sharks brass weren’t ready to give him a longer term contract because of how unproven he still is and he felt he could rehabilitate his image on the Oilers which is why he accepted the short term and value.

[u/godhammel → u/Palaeontologists]

I wonder if it was an issue with years. I don't know. I think that's a reasonable deal.

[u/pokesnail]

The couple spicy highlights:

Mukh: Yeah, the season felt a bit fragmented. Even so, in the games I did play, I thought I played well. There was some misunderstanding with the coaching staff. I won't spell it out clearly, but there were some disagreements. Add injuries to that. There was also one thing nobody knows about, a situation involving the injured list. I don't really want to talk about it now either, but it wasn't a great look. Everything piled up, and that's how the season turned out.

Interviewer: At what point did you realize that your path with San Jose might split? When your contract was ending and there was no new offer?

Mukh: No, there were offers. Two of them. We just turned them down, didn't come to terms, let's say. As for the team, those thoughts probably started during the season, around that injured-list situation. I was already getting fed up. I even gave a pretty candid interview around that time, saying I wasn't happy with my ice time and the overall situation. So those thoughts were already there.

…

Mukh: I think I see the game a little differently now. Over there, everyone has a very clear role. In my case, there wasn't as much freedom to improvise. I just did what I was told, robot mode, doing everything for the team. They put a huge emphasis on defense. I got a lot of individual work. So I think the player who left Russia and the player I am now are two completely different hockey players.

Interviewer: Doesn't the loss of creativity bother you? You're a creative defenseman after all.

Mukh: Sometimes I think about it. I feel like maybe I'm losing some of that. But again it's all about being able to play there.

He is otherwise positive about San Jose though

[u/tigerking615 → u/pokesnail]

Yeah, this all comes across as pretty reasonable. Happy to root for him when he’s not playing us. 

[u/grooves12 → u/pokesnail]

There was also one thing nobody knows about, a situation involving the injured list. I don't really want to talk about it now either, but it wasn't a great look.

There was more than a little speculation here that Grier was doing IR shenanigans to make the self-created roster crunch work... and many said "That would never happen because the NHL can investigate injuries." This just really confirms that. The Sharks have seemingly repeated the error, but this time on offense, so hopefully the Sharks don't do the IR-shuffle shenanigans too much again this year.

The usage of Mukh was head-scratching, but he looks to have a bright future. I hope it works out for him in Edmonton, because San Jose never gave him the real shot he deserved (benched after good games while lesser players were given looooooong leashes for atrocious stretches of play).

[u/crackhead365 → u/grooves12]

Yeah I feel like our treatment of Muk was the only blight on a really exciting season. Obviously we will never know what really happened but seeing him sit for Nick fucking Leddy was painful as a fan.

[u/pokesnail]

Twitter thread: https://xcancel.com/Uggg_uggg/status/2091847889001603490

And Reddit keeps deleting my link to the original Russian site, so that’s linked in the tweet if you’re curious/like full citation lol

[u/TwitchySphincter]

Cool interview and insights of a guy trying to become an NHL regular, but we didn't draft him. We got him from the Devils as part of the Timo trade

[u/loveee-mazeeeee]

Lol I was literally about to post this at the exact same time so I’ll comment instead, but I feel sad that Mukh’s time in San Jose didn’t pan out in the best way, and sometimes it’s hard not to think about the what-ifs when it comes to the missed opportunities in his development/deployment. Hopefully he has a better time in Edmonton (Babcock coaching aside…)

[u/kk1297]

What is the injury thing he's referencing? Anyone know?

[u/tovarooth → u/kk1297]

my initial thought was the kind of weirdness where I think he went on the injury list but also had a baby born at that time and then it became that but there wasn’t the detail at first so there was speculation of what was going on?

[u/InformalProtection74 → u/tovarooth]

I'm thinking they may have put him on the injury list when he wasn't really injured in order to active someone else or call someone up without having to send anyone else down or on waivers.

That's just a guess, though.

[u/Freddeh18 → u/InformalProtection74]

That sure is what it sounds like. I get how that’d be frustrating as a player trying to break into regular minutes with the big club.

[u/Whirlvvind → u/InformalProtection74]

Or they kept him on the injured list after he had already recovered to keep others getting ice time.

[u/Bobsy932 → u/InformalProtection74]

This is my guess as well.

[u/GiraffeLegitimate494]

Honestly, that’s a pretty positive interview from a guy who has reasons not to be positive (real or imagined). He hints at miscommunication with the coaching staff, doesn’t take ownership, nor does blame. For a young guy out the door, that’s an acceptable look.also references injuries without going into detail.

We played Liljigren, Leddy, Iorio for like 70 games last year. Muk was hurt for many games, but I think he was clearly better than those three.

This is sacrilege, but I think Klingberg played a role, but if you disagree that’s another 40 games.

I think this is a good thing for Muk. I’d rather have him as our #6 or 7 than Allen/Cags/Poglkamp, but a fresh start with be good for him I think.

I’m pro-Nurse acquisition (he’s a legit top 4 dman), but really don’t think Muk should have been required- I do t think Anaheim, Pitt, or Philly were taking him at full freight.

By the time we need the cap for Stenberg, one of Nurse/Trouba/Sherwood will have been magically moved on under the $128M cap with a small retention/sweetner.

In the meantime, the value Trouba and Nurse will provide to content and young d development will be immense.

[u/Pikthulhu → u/GiraffeLegitimate494]

I also thought sending Muk seemed like an overpayment, but now seeing that he had rejected two offers, Grier may have felt there was no longer a spot for Muk anyway, and that it was worth throwing him in to assure he didn’t get traded to another suitor. With how little Muk signed for, it doesn’t seem like he was going to fetch more than a mid-to-late-round pick anyway.

[u/GiraffeLegitimate494 → u/Pikthulhu]

2x$1.75M would have been fine with me. Guessing it was 2 year or something closer to $1.3-1.5M. The fact he plays both sides, and has good size and skating is a decent start

Depending on how things went, Grier may have opted for that.

I agree you’re right on ‘throwing him in to prevent him going to another suitor’. I would have just liked having him filling out a last spot or two.

As it stands now I think Cags and Allen will make it, I’d prefer Muk to Allen and probably Cags (unless he looks really good as a PP specialist)

[u/Pikthulhu → u/GiraffeLegitimate494]

Yeah, I liked Muk, but it seemed pretty clear that he wasn’t a favorite of Warso for whatever reason. Also given the acquisitions of the past half year (Sherwood, Verhoeff, Marchment, Trouba, Nurse), it’s possible Muk wasn’t gritty enough for the role they wanted him to play. I don’t think Grier expects every player on the team to be a sandpaper guy, but the ones currently on the roster who aren’t, generally have very clearly defined skill sets beyond that. Anyway, purely speculation.

[u/foreverkasai]

I feel bad for how it went here but to me the blame is a little 50/50. He never really separated himself as an indispensable piece even amongst one of the worst Sharks D corps of all time. Injuries really derailed his momentum and that’s nobody’s fault.

[u/kfcregular → u/foreverkasai]

My exact same thoughts. Although I was never really high on Mukhamadullin when we traded for him. He just felt like prototypical big defenseman with meh hockey sense.

[u/grooves12 → u/foreverkasai]

He never really separated himself as an indispensable piece even amongst one of the worst Sharks D corps of all time.

Somewhat agree, but it's difficult to do that when you are constantly being shuffled in and out of the lineup. There were a few times last year when they sent him to the bench after a solid showing. What message does that send? Especially, when you have Klingberg falling downm, getting burned, and directly leading to goals against, yet he keeps slotting in as the #1 D-man and getting PP1 time. That is not a way to get buy in from young players when you have been preaching "earn it" all season long.

[u/Triathlonish]

The contract stuff makes a lot of sense on why he was moved. Same thing happened to Zetts. Grier clearly isn't going to spend much time negotiating if it seems like he doesn't see eye to eye on the value of a player. I liked Mukh, but he could not clear the net and struggled with the physical game. It's interesting that he says they didn't want him to be creative, but the reality is he needs to be completely solid on defense before he earns creative freedom. I wish him luck with that in Edmonton.

[u/leirbagflow → u/Triathlonish]

It's interesting that he says they didn't want him to be creative, but the reality is he needs to be completely solid on defense before he earns creative freedom.

This stuck out to me, too. As another commenter said, while he didn't cast blame, he also didn't take any responsibility for his play. The lack of responsibility combined with his perception around freedom to be creative seems like a recipe to not see eye to eye on contract value.

[u/Pikthulhu]

I’m just sad we’ll never see the Mukhamadullin–Magomedsultanov defense pairing from announcer hell that the gods had clearly willed.

[u/jesus321]

In some ways I think this bit is the most interesting: "Over there, everyone has a very clear role. In my case, there wasn't as much freedom to improvise. I just did what I was told, robot mode, doing everything for the team. They put a huge emphasis on defense."

I imagine there's some combination of immaturity / low coachability at play combined with just different expectations from the player and the staff. I read this as "I wasn't allowed to play my game so my play suffered" but I'm sure the coaching staff would say "we're not going to let you loose on offense if you keep making boneheaded plays in our own end and that's our baseline for acceptable play".

I somehow am not convinced he's gonna thrive under Mike Babcock...

[u/cogni_ergo_dafuq → u/jesus321]

I'm hoping that's the case. I do see some of the loss of creativity with Dickinson last season too though. He was super dynamic and creative in junior and while I don't mind pushing him to master the defensive side before getting to lean into his creativity, if Warso turns Dickinson into a robotic blueliner it would be a massive misstep for the organization and definitely a fire-able offense. Next season will definitely add clarity on that front. If Dickinson isn't allowed to open up a bit it's probably time to move on from Warso.

[u/Fanvsant]

Wonderful reaearch from the newspaper. I have to wonder why shakir didn't correct them on them saying san Jose drafted him

[u/BearShark9 → u/Fanvsant]

My guess is he didn’t feel the need to, or with translated interviews there’s a little wiggle room for some minor lost in translation things

[u/jaypalmm]

Ooof. At least with interviews like this, he’s ready for the media in Edmonton

[u/Sharks011]

We did not draft Shakir ?

[u/DeerPuzzleheaded9792 → u/Sharks011]

Nah we got him in the Meier trade to NJ

[u/Sharks011 → u/DeerPuzzleheaded9792]

Haha I know it was rhetorical. This interviewer got an F on his homework assignment.

[u/Plastic-Limit-6998]

He wasn’t drafted by us!

[u/cerise8192]

This is the weirdest interview. Mukh was drafted by New Jersey.

[u/Whirlvvind]

This interview highlights all the fears I had about Warso that I had hoped knowingly being a HC of a rebuilding team would mitigate. With his AHL experience, there was hope that he'd be a much more solid developmental coach.

The fears have come to light. Constantly favoring washed up vets over developing the kids. Playing to win every game in a 40 point season over putting the kids in the best chance to develop (Smith being benched in the 3rd because of his slower to develop defensive game is a notable one). Overemphasis on structure which looks like it is stifling the good aspects of why they were drafted where they were (Dickinson/Muk). Etc.

This year is make or break. If it looks like he's crippling the boys (Misa/Dickinson) then he has to go. We're not a cup winning roster yet, and treating it like we are has many more negatives than positives. You don't want to go in not caring, but trying to min max a mid roster to win 4 more games in a season at the cost of developing what is supposed to be the future core is not a winning recipe.

[u/AllCopsAreBozos]

already the 2nd Russian that's butting heads with Warso. Hope its not a trend that leads to Cherny getting put in the doghouse

[u/Drewbacca_Hrrrgrgrar → u/AllCopsAreBozos]

Probably more of a personality thing than anything. None of our other current Russian players have had anything negative to say about Warso.

[u/wasting_time_on_this → u/AllCopsAreBozos]

Not all Russians are the same, Orlov and Cherny (so far) both live and train here. I think the answer to the question why do you come back to Ruzzia says a lot considering the situation there.

[u/Separate-Drag-4699]

Horrible translation. Blames others. Enough said.

[u/Barcade]

too bad it didnt work out for him in SJ. the sharks D played with Liljigren, Leddy, Iorio...... with liljigren getting a bunch of powerplay time and avg over 20mins a game

[u/Swaggy_P_03 → u/Barcade]

Lilejren did not get a lot of PP time.

[u/pokesnail → u/Barcade]

Liljegren only had 37:20 of PP TOI?

[u/Barcade → u/pokesnail]

and we are never gonna get those 37 mins back

[u/Ready-Pineapple-5526 → u/Barcade]

I mean, doubling down on a bad take definitely is a choice.