Fedor Kanareikin, the former head coach of Spartak Moscow, commented on the club’s signing of 26-year-old Canadian forward William Bitten, describing him as a player who operates at a solid level. He shared these thoughts with the portal Legal betting [Citation: Legal betting portal].
Kanareikin noted that the next step is to assess Bitten’s statistics, watch how he integrates with the team, and how well he settles into the system. He emphasized that Bitten is a capable player and expressed a desire to see this level of play demonstrated in the KHL. The coach added that the upcoming season will reveal whether Bitten adapts successfully. Given the offseason movement in the KHL, Spartak could benefit from adding a player who can effectively fulfill the team’s tasks, according to Kanareikin [Citation: Legal betting portal].
Bitten arrived from the American Hockey League after spending two and a half seasons with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the farm club of the St. Louis Blues. In the previous season, he recorded 17 goals and 16 assists across 68 AHL games. His contract with Spartak runs for one season [Citation: team announcements and game statistics databases].
In the prior season, Spartak finished fourth in the KHL Western Conference standings. During the playoffs, the Red-Whites reached the quarterfinals but were eliminated in a best-of-six series by Magnitogorsk Metallurg, the team that eventually won the Gagarin Cup [Citation: KHL season records].
Earlier statements from coach Krikunov suggested that Dynamo Minsk could deliver a surprising performance in the new KHL season [Citation: team press coverage].