OREANDA-NEWS  Alexey Zhamnov has been appointed head coach of Spartak Moscow, according to the website of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) club.

The details of the contract with the 52-year-old Russian are not specified. At the beginning of February, Igor Grishin left Spartak at his own request, after which Alexey Zavarukhin performed the duties of the head coach. The team failed to reach the KHL playoffs.

Zhamnov has been heading the Russian national team since September 2021. At the moment, the team does not hold official matches, as the Council of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) at the end of February 2022 suspended the national teams of Russia and Belarus from international competitions for an indefinite period due to the situation in Ukraine. Under Zhamnov's leadership, the Russian national team became the silver medalist of the Beijing Olympics. As a player, he became the champion (1992), silver (1998) and bronze (2002) medalist of the Olympic Games, bronze medalist of the World Championship. In the National Hockey League (NHL) he played for Winnipeg, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. After completing his playing career, Zhamnov worked as the general manager of Spartak, as well as Vityaz and Atlanta near Moscow.