A former coach of Russian NHL star Artemi Panarin is advising him to stick with hockey after Panarin's show of support on social media for jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Over the last couple of years, Panarin has been quite vocal about his opposition of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
"I saw all of his speeches on the Internet," Yuri Tryaskin, who coached Panarin in youth hockey, told sport.ru. "I would not like to comment and say everything I think."
"Panarin probably thinks that he can afford this. But this is wrong. Neither he, nor we, do not have deep knowledge, there is no huge amount of secret information that helps to understand the real state of affairs, talk about politics and give assessments. »
Tryaskin continued that he believes Panarin should keep his opinion to himself.
"No need to go there with your opinion. But Artemi somehow sees himself in such a role.," said Tryaskin. "This is not the first time he has spoken about the president, about life in Russia. I will not go deeper. Let it be on his conscience."
Alexander Ovechkin is an outspoken supporter of the Russian president. Panarin's latest anti-Putin statement on social media received support from players and coaches across the NHL and KHL, including Dallas Stars forwards Alexander Radulov and Denis Gurianov, former NHLer and current coach of HC Kunlun Red Star Alexei Kovalev and former Canuck Nikolay Goldobin.
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