Igor Larionov, the Hockey Hall of Famer who won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, is out as head coach of the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. The club announced Sunday, Oct. 18, that he had left the organization, describing the split as the result of “a joint agreement between the parties.”
The change came after a five-game losing skid that left SKA eighth in the KHL’s Western Conference with 17 points from 15 games. SKA failed to score in either of its last two games, and Larionov’s final game behind the bench was a loss to Lada Togliatti, which had never beaten SKA in KHL play before.
SKA quickly named Andrei Razin as its new head coach on a two-season contract. Razin left Metallurg Magnitogorsk the same day; he had been suspended by that club on Oct. 6 amid conflicts with players, and he previously won the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg in 2023. His first game with SKA is Tuesday, Oct. 20, at home against Avtomobilist, Russian outlet Fontanka reported.
Larionov, 65, took over SKA in the summer of 2025, replacing Roman Rotenberg, and coached 88 games. SKA finished fifth in the Western Conference last season and lost to CSKA Moscow in five games in the first round of the playoffs. His earlier coaching stops included Russia’s national junior team, which he led at the 2021 World Junior Championship, and Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, which hired him in 2022. He also served as SKA’s director of hockey operations starting in 2008.
In Detroit, Larionov is remembered as the cerebral center of the “Russian Five.” The Red Wings acquired him from the San Jose Sharks during the 1995-96 season, and he won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 1997, 1998, and 2002. In the 2002 Stanley Cup Final, he scored the triple-overtime winner in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes, and Detroit went on to take the series in five games. Nicknamed “The Professor,” he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2008.
Leave a Reply